I remember Laurie's smile and his humor. I googled his obituary and found this quote from his daughter:
" Mr. Hellman's daughter, Amanda Hellman of Atlanta, recalled that as a child, her father had convinced her that until the age of 5, he had been a kangaroo. "I'm an adult now, and I know better, but I still have these memories of my father when he was a kangaroo." "
I am pleased to read that Laurie the man was true to Laurie the boy as I knew him.
Geez....I fell in love with Laurie in the second grade and annoyingly chased him around the playground every day after lunch at North Avondale School! He was genuinely a very kind person!
As far as I know, Laurie and I were the only couple from the class of 1963 to marry. Two wonderful children, Andrew (36) and Amanda (29), resulted. Both are smart like their father. We divorced about the time of the last WHHS reunion which he did not attend. I sure wish he could be there for the 50th reunion. As his health began to decline, I spent some time with him - some family holidays, visiting for lunch, or just to talk. I am glad I had that time to let him know I cared. Even though we were divorced, he always had my back and I know that he cared too. I miss his dry humor, his crazy impersonations, and his dramatic rendition of his favorite saying in Latin – “Arma virumque cano, Troiae qui primus ab oris”. Can someone translate?
I was sorry to hear of the passing of Laurie Hellman. Laurie was both a teammate on the Cross Country Team and its journalist through his “Hell’s Fire” column in the Chatterbox. The 1963 Cross Country varsity won the Public School meet series, as well as the District, and went to the state meet in Columbus. The varsity ran 7 runners of whom the first 5 counted. Cross Country was not a sport that cut people, so all who were willing to put out in its grueling practices were on the team. The core of the varsity was Randy Katz and 5 underclassmen. After Mark Lindberg was injured, the 7th spot was up for grabs. The rest of the team ran in reserve races and anyone who beat the time of a varsity runner got points toward a letter. We had a lot of letter winners. The reserve team also won the Public League Championship in a close competition with Withrow. Many of the reserves were classmates, including Laurie, Dave Bukey, me, Dave Kern, Jerry Fleg, Joe Budro, Wendell Drew, Ken Kaemmerle and the heart and soul of the team even though he never finished high in the standings, Lew Lutton. All of us got to go with the varsity to State where we were strategically distributed around the course to cheer on the varsity. This all may seem small in the general scheme of things Walnut, but this experience and the relationships with Laurie and the others were really important to me.
John Kyle
I remember Laurie's smile and his humor. I googled his obituary and found this quote from his daughter:
" Mr. Hellman's daughter, Amanda Hellman of Atlanta, recalled that as a child, her father had convinced her that until the age of 5, he had been a kangaroo. "I'm an adult now, and I know better, but I still have these memories of my father when he was a kangaroo." "
I am pleased to read that Laurie the man was true to Laurie the boy as I knew him.
Julie Shavzin (Cohen)
Geez....I fell in love with Laurie in the second grade and annoyingly chased him around the playground every day after lunch at North Avondale School! He was genuinely a very kind person!
Susan Collins
As far as I know, Laurie and I were the only couple from the class of 1963 to marry. Two wonderful children, Andrew (36) and Amanda (29), resulted. Both are smart like their father. We divorced about the time of the last WHHS reunion which he did not attend. I sure wish he could be there for the 50th reunion. As his health began to decline, I spent some time with him - some family holidays, visiting for lunch, or just to talk. I am glad I had that time to let him know I cared. Even though we were divorced, he always had my back and I know that he cared too. I miss his dry humor, his crazy impersonations, and his dramatic rendition of his favorite saying in Latin – “Arma virumque cano, Troiae qui primus ab oris”. Can someone translate?
Stanley A Hirtle
I was sorry to hear of the passing of Laurie Hellman. Laurie was both a teammate on the Cross Country Team and its journalist through his “Hell’s Fire” column in the Chatterbox. The 1963 Cross Country varsity won the Public School meet series, as well as the District, and went to the state meet in Columbus. The varsity ran 7 runners of whom the first 5 counted. Cross Country was not a sport that cut people, so all who were willing to put out in its grueling practices were on the team. The core of the varsity was Randy Katz and 5 underclassmen. After Mark Lindberg was injured, the 7th spot was up for grabs. The rest of the team ran in reserve races and anyone who beat the time of a varsity runner got points toward a letter. We had a lot of letter winners. The reserve team also won the Public League Championship in a close competition with Withrow. Many of the reserves were classmates, including Laurie, Dave Bukey, me, Dave Kern, Jerry Fleg, Joe Budro, Wendell Drew, Ken Kaemmerle and the heart and soul of the team even though he never finished high in the standings, Lew Lutton. All of us got to go with the varsity to State where we were strategically distributed around the course to cheer on the varsity. This all may seem small in the general scheme of things Walnut, but this experience and the relationships with Laurie and the others were really important to me.
Julie Shavzin (Cohen)
Nothing, absolutely nothing, is or was small as each experience enriched some one! Thanks for sharing!