John and I were good friends during our years at Taft. He was a shy person with a closed circle of friends and I feel fortunate to had been included in some of his adventures. He took me along in his 67 Camaro to see “2001: A Space Odyssey” in Cinemascope in Norwood. It’s still my all-time favorite movie. In 1968 we went to Cincinnati Gardens to see “The Jimi Hendrix Experience”. I think about that concert every time I pick up my Stratocaster and play "Purple Haze". One summer we rented a canoe at Hueston Woods and John (who couldn’t swim) fell off the dock. He about pulled my arm off when I somehow managed to pull him out. After his near death experience, he laid on his back, soaking wet on the dock and broke out into that contagious laugh of his. I can still her him laugh. I am very saddened that I will never be able to resurrect that friendship with “Big” John again.
Harry Eugene Toennisson
John and I were good friends during our years at Taft. He was a shy person with a closed circle of friends and I feel fortunate to had been included in some of his adventures. He took me along in his 67 Camaro to see “2001: A Space Odyssey” in Cinemascope in Norwood. It’s still my all-time favorite movie. In 1968 we went to Cincinnati Gardens to see “The Jimi Hendrix Experience”. I think about that concert every time I pick up my Stratocaster and play "Purple Haze". One summer we rented a canoe at Hueston Woods and John (who couldn’t swim) fell off the dock. He about pulled my arm off when I somehow managed to pull him out. After his near death experience, he laid on his back, soaking wet on the dock and broke out into that contagious laugh of his. I can still her him laugh. I am very saddened that I will never be able to resurrect that friendship with “Big” John again.