Eddie "Squirrell" Waller was a fascinating guy that I got to know in our junior year when he helped out with the school's "underground newspaper," The Farmer's Guide. He was one of our more energetic paperboys -- selling the four-page monthly for a dime.
Where did he get his nickname? As I remember somebody dared him to streak at Mohawk Park, which he did ... and climbed a tree. Somehow that earned him the nickname, which stuck.
He sportingly agreed to be the newspaper's candidate for Student Council vice-president. I got to deliver his nominating speech. In his pitch to the student body, he delivered what I considered to be a classic line, gesturing to the jocks, cheerleaders and other familiar candidates on stage behind him as he asked the audience, "Why, year after year, do you vote for these people ... who won't even speak to you?"
He was the populist candidate. He also lost by a landslide to Mike Fink.
I ran into him years later at the laundromat at Admiral and Mingo. I was still single. He was married and told me in great detail his interest in "StarTrek," which at that time was being revived in movies. He told me if he had a son, he would name him after Mr. Spock's father, Sarek.
When I read Eddie's obituary in an Oklahoma City-area newspaper (found by Jan Lemoine), I was pleased to see that he had been successful in business and had a nice family ... and had not named any children after StarTrek characters.
Rob Kerby
Eddie "Squirrell" Waller was a fascinating guy that I got to know in our junior year when he helped out with the school's "underground newspaper," The Farmer's Guide. He was one of our more energetic paperboys -- selling the four-page monthly for a dime.
Where did he get his nickname? As I remember somebody dared him to streak at Mohawk Park, which he did ... and climbed a tree. Somehow that earned him the nickname, which stuck.
He sportingly agreed to be the newspaper's candidate for Student Council vice-president. I got to deliver his nominating speech. In his pitch to the student body, he delivered what I considered to be a classic line, gesturing to the jocks, cheerleaders and other familiar candidates on stage behind him as he asked the audience, "Why, year after year, do you vote for these people ... who won't even speak to you?"
He was the populist candidate. He also lost by a landslide to Mike Fink.
I ran into him years later at the laundromat at Admiral and Mingo. I was still single. He was married and told me in great detail his interest in "StarTrek," which at that time was being revived in movies. He told me if he had a son, he would name him after Mr. Spock's father, Sarek.
When I read Eddie's obituary in an Oklahoma City-area newspaper (found by Jan Lemoine), I was pleased to see that he had been successful in business and had a nice family ... and had not named any children after StarTrek characters.
I will miss him at the reunion.