My good friend Tom Zielinski Passed in the early 1970s (I forget exactly when ) while attending BGSU. He had become diabetic and his passing was related to the disease. Ken Zuercher
My very good friend Tom was an absolute joy to know and run around with. He and I often argued over who had the oldest car at Start HS - he had purchased from the plant down in Lima, OH, a used 1957 Cadillac hearse. I owned a 1958 Ford T-Bird. We finally settled on him owning the oldest vehicle and me the oldest car.
Our memorable trips to Cedar Point and Put-in-Bay were fun. While driving to Put-in-Bay with Barb Kridel, Drew Arvay, me and of course Tom at the wheel of his hearse, we came upon an unsuspecting car full of folks and when we passed them, the wife and kids looked over and at that very moment, Drew, who was laying in the back playing like he was dead, suddenly sat up and waived at them!!! Well, it was very shocking indeed for the other car full of people and then they started to laugh with us about the prank as we drove on by!
When we took the ferry over to Put-in-Bay, they charged us for 2 cars because the hearse was so big!
We also took it to the Miracle Mile Drive-in at Jackman and Laskey Roads whenever there was a horror movie showing. We always attracted a crowd of other kids, who thought it was so cool!! Check out the picture of it all decorated as a float in the school parade, in our year book.
The Summer of '69 Tom and I replaced the mufflers on it. His dad was not very happy with us, as we had the hearse up on blocks in the driveway for about two weeks. If anyone ever asks you about the exhaust system on a '57 Caddy hearse, tell them that it has four mufflers and eight resonators!!! I know - I helped Tom replace every one of them...............
Tom was away at college at BG and we heard that he was found dead in his apartment, after a few days of not showing up for class. He was taken from us way too early in life and he was one of those fun people that you always wanted to know and hang out with. We used to go over to the Laskey Pizza Hut, which was one of our favorite hangouts. I remember when he developed Diabetes during his senior year at Start. He was the first young person that I knew who was "sick." We were all invincible back in our HS youth. He used to have diet pop and "near beer" at parties and the disease didn't stop him from enjoying life.
I also had the privilege of riding in Tom 's hearse to Put-In-Bay. Tom and I "liked" each other in sophomore year. We were in Happy Haver's honors English class and got in trouble for holding hands while watching the movie "The Red Balloon" in the Little Theater. Fortunately for Tom and I, I had already read the book and could answer all the questions she kept throwing at me because she thought I wasn't paying attention to the movie (I wasn't).
Headline: Thomas W Zielinski Name: Zielinski, Thomas W Date of death: Nov 8, 1978 Age: 26 Address: Lima, OH formerly of the 1600 block of Stanberry Ct Spouse: None listed Source: Newspaper: The Blade
Kenneth Zuercher
My good friend Tom Zielinski Passed in the early 1970s (I forget exactly when ) while attending BGSU. He had become diabetic and his passing was related to the disease.Ken Zuercher
James Brenizer
My very good friend Tom was an absolute joy to know and run around with. He and I often argued over who had the oldest car at Start HS - he had purchased from the plant down in Lima, OH, a used 1957 Cadillac hearse. I owned a 1958 Ford T-Bird. We finally settled on him owning the oldest vehicle and me the oldest car.Our memorable trips to Cedar Point and Put-in-Bay were fun. While driving to Put-in-Bay with Barb Kridel, Drew Arvay, me and of course Tom at the wheel of his hearse, we came upon an unsuspecting car full of folks and when we passed them, the wife and kids looked over and at that very moment, Drew, who was laying in the back playing like he was dead, suddenly sat up and waived at them!!! Well, it was very shocking indeed for the other car full of people and then they started to laugh with us about the prank as we drove on by!
When we took the ferry over to Put-in-Bay, they charged us for 2 cars because the hearse was so big!
We also took it to the Miracle Mile Drive-in at Jackman and Laskey Roads whenever there was a horror movie showing. We always attracted a crowd of other kids, who thought it was so cool!! Check out the picture of it all decorated as a float in the school parade, in our year book.
The Summer of '69 Tom and I replaced the mufflers on it. His dad was not very happy with us, as we had the hearse up on blocks in the driveway for about two weeks. If anyone ever asks you about the exhaust system on a '57 Caddy hearse, tell them that it has four mufflers and eight resonators!!! I know - I helped Tom replace every one of them...............
Tom was away at college at BG and we heard that he was found dead in his apartment, after a few days of not showing up for class. He was taken from us way too early in life and he was one of those fun people that you always wanted to know and hang out with. We used to go over to the Laskey Pizza Hut, which was one of our favorite hangouts. I remember when he developed Diabetes during his senior year at Start. He was the first young person that I knew who was "sick." We were all invincible back in our HS youth. He used to have diet pop and "near beer" at parties and the disease didn't stop him from enjoying life.
I am a better person for knowing him.
His friend in life,
Jim Brenizer, Class of '70
Sally Horsman Collins
I also had the privilege of riding in Tom 's hearse to Put-In-Bay. Tom and I "liked" each other in sophomore year. We were in Happy Haver's honors English class and got in trouble for holding hands while watching the movie "The Red Balloon" in the Little Theater. Fortunately for Tom and I, I had already read the book and could answer all the questions she kept throwing at me because she thought I wasn't paying attention to the movie (I wasn't).Jo Anne Michael (Killion)
Headline: Thomas W ZielinskiName: Zielinski, Thomas W
Date of death: Nov 8, 1978
Age: 26
Address: Lima, OH formerly of the 1600 block of Stanberry Ct
Spouse: None listed
Source:
Newspaper: The Blade