We were saddened to hear of the recent
passing of two of our classmates, Pat Magourik and Glen Wheeler on the
same day, July 12th, 2005, Pat in Florida and Glen there in Cahokia.
Those of you who know and remember the
Magourik family may recall there were 12
children, Shirley (deceased), Charles
"Buddy" (lives in FL), Charlene (deceased), Pat (now deceased),
Maurice "Sonny" (back in the Cahokia area), Karen (lives in Texas I
think), Jeanie, Pam, Bonita, Dennis, Kenny and Tommy, most of the
latter who live in Florida.
Pat had suffered some ill health and was
also involved in a serious automobile accident shortly after having
surgery about one or two years ago. I have known the Magouirk family
for almost 60 years having attended school with several and was a
close friend with Sonny. We ran together from grade school days into
our teens and long after.
I recall the Magouirk's were one of the
very first Cahokia families to have a television. My brother Ronnie
and I used to ride our bikes about a mile to the Magouirk's house on
Saturday nights to watch wrestling with them. They were a gracious
family.
I don't know too much about Glen, who many
of us affectionately new as "Moon Eyes"' except that he was a nice guy
and fun to be around. He attended our picnic last year for the first
time and was included in a group photo with "the guys".
Cecil Comte recalled that Glen once cut
his severely finger in shop class on a band saw and that Glen's finger
never was right afterwards, that you could still see the evidence
after all those years.
Like Pat, Glen had also suffered ill
health for the last couple of years. Cecil Comte and I both think it
was Lou Biggs who dubbed Glen Moon Eyes due to what Lou thought was a
dreamy-eyed look.
In another life back in the fifties and
sixties, I was a friend of both Pat and Glenn. I talked to Pat on the
phone over a year ago and got to see and talk to Glen last year at the
picnic. I'm thankful I had the opportunity to let both of these
classmates know I had not forgotten them. If any of you have
remembrances of these classmates please email me and I'll post them.
