Wally (who went by Aldo as a result of a series of inside jokes) was my friend since 4th grade. He was always brilliant and funny and a bit too angry for his own good. He was headed toward journalism but got derailed in college. The hard drinking probably had something to do with it.
At Yorktown I remember keeping him in line to the best of my ability, which was limited We made a class presentation in UDM during which he devolved into making an enraged, foul-mouthed rant. I more or less had to tackle him out of fear we would both be suspended.
I visited him in Allston, Massachusetts a few years after high school. He was living with his girlfriend, whom I believe he eventually married. She was a deeply sweet and patient person who worked with severely cognitively disabled children — so she was a perfect match for him. I take comfort that there was love in his life.
Wally's flaws notwithstanding, we lost a good one. He lacked self-control and could be angry about mystifying things, but he had a good heart. I will miss his incoherent phone calls each election night. It's too bad he didn't get to witness the election season of 2016 — but then again it would have killed him.
Yep, I remember that now, he was a Vikings fan.....one of those teams with some great years but NEVER won the Super Bowl. I've talked to Buffalo Bills fans, and they feel the same way.
Wally was in the last row of my German 2 class with Frau Holl. The only other girl in the class left midway through the school year and left me alone with a room full of males. Wally and Gino Vacca made up the peanut gallery and were always cracking jokes about the difficulties of German pronunciation, German grammar and the particular way Frau Holl used to purse her lips to show us how to correctly pronounce the umlauts. Thank you Wally for hilariousness in German 2.
Wally would pronounce German phrases in an exaggerated way, just to try to get a laugh out of us, or be outrageous...which was true of a lot of things he did and said. At times, ironically, he seemed to get a big kick out of "Er is tot" referring to someone who had passed away (and of course, now he has, too). He always made a class interesting. He would also doodle cartoons, some of which were quite weird. Of course, German 2 was the year that "Young Frankenstein" came out, sprinkled with German phrases and Frau Blucher (horses whinny in background). I think Wally and Peter Bunnell (and Drew Blakeman and others) were in the group of us that went to see "Young Frankenstein" and "Blazing Saddles".
Although I lost track of Wally after I returned from Japan for my senior year at Yorktown, we were close friends in junior high at Williamsburg. Wally truly had a crazy streak that was a bit beyond the extreme, even for a junior high school kid. One of my indelible junior high memories was of Wally and his Crossman 760 air rifle. Somehow he'd gotten his hands on one of those pump style BB/pellet guns -- the speed of the projectile was determined by the number of pumps. As I recall seven or eight pumps would push the BB along at a muzzle velocity of 760 fpm, hence the name of the air rifle. One day we were shooting cans in Wally's back yard when he turned and says to me, "Herb, I'm going to run around in the back yard and I want you to shoot me so I'll know how it feels. Just give it a couple of pumps." Of course with my questionable junior high judgment I couldn't say no to Wally, so before long Wally was running back and forth across his back yard, following a track like a duck in a shooting gallery. I pumped the Crossman twice, then gave it an extra pump (to compensate for the leaky seal we'd noticed earlier in the day) raised it my shoulder and began tracking Wally. As he made his fourth circuit I discharged the air rifle. Wally gave a huge yelp and fell to the ground, clutching his bottom with his right hand. When I walked up to him he started giggling and said, "Herb, it hurts like hell to be shot!" That had to be the understatement of the day. So of course the next day in Williamsburg gym class as we're changing to our gym shorts and tee, Wally walks down to my locker to proudly show me his newly acquired welt!
Rest in peace, Wally. With you in my life there was never a dull junior high moment!
We crossed paths occasionally since Wally was our mutual friend, but your BB story reminded me of an incident that took place on your back porch (I think) which involved a M-80 and Wally, though I think you were the mastermind behind it. Let's just say that the Timex kept on ticking...
I had totally forgetten about that incident in junior high! It occurred in the screened in porch on the side of house on Dickerson Street, right off the dining room. As I recall there was a flaw in the way I'd wired the device that consisted of several D size batteries, the aforementioned Timex and M-80, along with a low voltage relay. My ears were ringing for hours. That and having to furiously scub the black smudge off the concrete porch floor before my mom got home from work...
Michael Jolkovski
Wally (who went by Aldo as a result of a series of inside jokes) was my friend since 4th grade. He was always brilliant and funny and a bit too angry for his own good. He was headed toward journalism but got derailed in college. The hard drinking probably had something to do with it.
At Yorktown I remember keeping him in line to the best of my ability, which was limited We made a class presentation in UDM during which he devolved into making an enraged, foul-mouthed rant. I more or less had to tackle him out of fear we would both be suspended.
I visited him in Allston, Massachusetts a few years after high school. He was living with his girlfriend, whom I believe he eventually married. She was a deeply sweet and patient person who worked with severely cognitively disabled children — so she was a perfect match for him. I take comfort that there was love in his life.
Wally's flaws notwithstanding, we lost a good one. He lacked self-control and could be angry about mystifying things, but he had a good heart. I will miss his incoherent phone calls each election night. It's too bad he didn't get to witness the election season of 2016 — but then again it would have killed him.
Mike Jolkovski
Joe Paduda
Wally would be proud of his beloved Minnesota Vikings these days. Aldo was always convince his purple people eaters would return to world dominance.
James Scarborough
Yep, I remember that now, he was a Vikings fan.....one of those teams with some great years but NEVER won the Super Bowl. I've talked to Buffalo Bills fans, and they feel the same way.
Stephanie Taylor
Wally was in the last row of my German 2 class with Frau Holl. The only other girl in the class left midway through the school year and left me alone with a room full of males. Wally and Gino Vacca made up the peanut gallery and were always cracking jokes about the difficulties of German pronunciation, German grammar and the particular way Frau Holl used to purse her lips to show us how to correctly pronounce the umlauts. Thank you Wally for hilariousness in German 2.
Stephanie Taylor
James Scarborough
Wally would pronounce German phrases in an exaggerated way, just to try to get a laugh out of us, or be outrageous...which was true of a lot of things he did and said. At times, ironically, he seemed to get a big kick out of "Er is tot" referring to someone who had passed away (and of course, now he has, too). He always made a class interesting. He would also doodle cartoons, some of which were quite weird. Of course, German 2 was the year that "Young Frankenstein" came out, sprinkled with German phrases and Frau Blucher (horses whinny in background). I think Wally and Peter Bunnell (and Drew Blakeman and others) were in the group of us that went to see "Young Frankenstein" and "Blazing Saddles".
John Hirabayashi
Although I lost track of Wally after I returned from Japan for my senior year at Yorktown, we were close friends in junior high at Williamsburg. Wally truly had a crazy streak that was a bit beyond the extreme, even for a junior high school kid. One of my indelible junior high memories was of Wally and his Crossman 760 air rifle. Somehow he'd gotten his hands on one of those pump style BB/pellet guns -- the speed of the projectile was determined by the number of pumps. As I recall seven or eight pumps would push the BB along at a muzzle velocity of 760 fpm, hence the name of the air rifle. One day we were shooting cans in Wally's back yard when he turned and says to me, "Herb, I'm going to run around in the back yard and I want you to shoot me so I'll know how it feels. Just give it a couple of pumps." Of course with my questionable junior high judgment I couldn't say no to Wally, so before long Wally was running back and forth across his back yard, following a track like a duck in a shooting gallery. I pumped the Crossman twice, then gave it an extra pump (to compensate for the leaky seal we'd noticed earlier in the day) raised it my shoulder and began tracking Wally. As he made his fourth circuit I discharged the air rifle. Wally gave a huge yelp and fell to the ground, clutching his bottom with his right hand. When I walked up to him he started giggling and said, "Herb, it hurts like hell to be shot!" That had to be the understatement of the day. So of course the next day in Williamsburg gym class as we're changing to our gym shorts and tee, Wally walks down to my locker to proudly show me his newly acquired welt!
Rest in peace, Wally. With you in my life there was never a dull junior high moment!
Richard Radcliffe (Radcliffe)
John --
We crossed paths occasionally since Wally was our mutual friend, but your BB story reminded me of an incident that took place on your back porch (I think) which involved a M-80 and Wally, though I think you were the mastermind behind it. Let's just say that the Timex kept on ticking...
John Hirabayashi
Richard,
I had totally forgetten about that incident in junior high! It occurred in the screened in porch on the side of house on Dickerson Street, right off the dining room. As I recall there was a flaw in the way I'd wired the device that consisted of several D size batteries, the aforementioned Timex and M-80, along with a low voltage relay. My ears were ringing for hours. That and having to furiously scub the black smudge off the concrete porch floor before my mom got home from work...