Thanks so much Drew Nantkes, for posting the obit for dear Russ McGregor. What a brilliant, brilliant man he was, and what a mark he left upon this planet! It is no surprise however, as I recall what a fine young man he was during our 4 years at Rummel. Whenever you next speak with his wife Gloria, please relay that you shared this with us. Russ carved out for himself a fine legacy. Tell her that her dear husband will always be in our minds and our hearts, my friend. Mike
I'm going to post this here and on Drew's page on this site. Russ, Jim Coenen, and I used to eat lunch together; sometimes Otis would join us, too.
Russ and I went to one of our counselors together during our Junior year to request that we drop Spanish class, because the teacher from Guatemala had totally lost control of the class (I can't remember her name) and we thought that a study hall would be a better use of our time.
We also conspired to organize a protest in 1969, which we presented during a school assembly. We suggested that we skip school on a particular day to register to attend a public school as a way of showing how many students were attending parochial schools, which we thought deserved some taxpayer support. I quoted H. Rap Brown. The full quote was, "Those laws that keep them up, keep us down. I say violence is necessary. It is as American as cherry pie. To be successful in struggle requires remembrance of the Creator and the doing of good deeds." I only used the "violence" part, so it wasn't a good choice of words and wasn't even relevant to our proposal; therefore, it caused quite an uproar. Brother Timothy had to hide us in his office until things died down and we could exit school safely.
I remember three events that happened outside of school involving me and Russ. The first was on April 4, 1968, the day that Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot. I went to Russ' home that night and we spoke about whether it was possible to stop gun violence in our country. The next day, we went to K-Mart and found a variety of weapons were readily available for purchase. It seemed as hopeless then as it does today, in the era of school shootings.
The other two events happened after we graduated - the first was a double date with Russ and his girlfriend, who happened to be a young white blonde-haired woman. I think we went out to a movie and got something to eat together. My date was Mary Ellen, a neighbor from across the street from where my family lived on 39th Street in North Omaha. Her father told my father that the four of us had been seen together on Dodge Street or somewhere out in West Omaha. My father objected to me taking Mary Ellen out on a date with a mixed race couple and after I argued with him vehemently about it, I used a four-letter word and he decked me.
The last time I saw Russ, my family had moved to the Quad Cities area (Moline . Rock Island - Davenport - Bettendorf) and while I was hitch-hiking across Iowa to visit with Jim Coenen in Omaha, I stopped to see Russ at Grinnell College. I ended up spending the night, sleeping on the floor of his dorm room. Russ had the best music and we smoked some pretty good weed to help us enjoy it even more.
Michael Triba
Thanks so much Drew Nantkes, for posting the obit for dear Russ McGregor. What a brilliant, brilliant man he was, and what a mark he left upon this planet! It is no surprise however, as I recall what a fine young man he was during our 4 years at Rummel. Whenever you next speak with his wife Gloria, please relay that you shared this with us. Russ carved out for himself a fine legacy. Tell her that her dear husband will always be in our minds and our hearts, my friend. Mike
Charles Thomas Cook
I'm going to post this here and on Drew's page on this site. Russ, Jim Coenen, and I used to eat lunch together; sometimes Otis would join us, too.
Russ and I went to one of our counselors together during our Junior year to request that we drop Spanish class, because the teacher from Guatemala had totally lost control of the class (I can't remember her name) and we thought that a study hall would be a better use of our time.
We also conspired to organize a protest in 1969, which we presented during a school assembly. We suggested that we skip school on a particular day to register to attend a public school as a way of showing how many students were attending parochial schools, which we thought deserved some taxpayer support. I quoted H. Rap Brown. The full quote was, "Those laws that keep them up, keep us down. I say violence is necessary. It is as American as cherry pie. To be successful in struggle requires remembrance of the Creator and the doing of good deeds." I only used the "violence" part, so it wasn't a good choice of words and wasn't even relevant to our proposal; therefore, it caused quite an uproar. Brother Timothy had to hide us in his office until things died down and we could exit school safely.
I remember three events that happened outside of school involving me and Russ. The first was on April 4, 1968, the day that Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot. I went to Russ' home that night and we spoke about whether it was possible to stop gun violence in our country. The next day, we went to K-Mart and found a variety of weapons were readily available for purchase. It seemed as hopeless then as it does today, in the era of school shootings.
The other two events happened after we graduated - the first was a double date with Russ and his girlfriend, who happened to be a young white blonde-haired woman. I think we went out to a movie and got something to eat together. My date was Mary Ellen, a neighbor from across the street from where my family lived on 39th Street in North Omaha. Her father told my father that the four of us had been seen together on Dodge Street or somewhere out in West Omaha. My father objected to me taking Mary Ellen out on a date with a mixed race couple and after I argued with him vehemently about it, I used a four-letter word and he decked me.
The last time I saw Russ, my family had moved to the Quad Cities area (Moline . Rock Island - Davenport - Bettendorf) and while I was hitch-hiking across Iowa to visit with Jim Coenen in Omaha, I stopped to see Russ at Grinnell College. I ended up spending the night, sleeping on the floor of his dorm room. Russ had the best music and we smoked some pretty good weed to help us enjoy it even more.
RIP, Russ. You are missed.