Herewith the cast of my 1980 diary:
Lee Ballinger: Lee was definitely the ‘co-star’ of this diary as you can see from the numerous mentions of him from day to day. The postings are pretty much self-explanatory, but indicate a shared sense of slapstick humor. Lee was a year older than me, but in the same grade. We met when I was in first grade so had only known each other for a few months when this diary began. From what I recall, we met on the bus and soon began making visits to each other’s houses. He lived on the very far end of the neighborhood all the way down by Indian Ripple. Lee was kind of a tough kid and we would often get into fights, usually with him kicking my butt. I guess you could say he was kind of the neighborhood bully – but fortunately, we were usually on the same side. Lee was always up for anything, so he often spent the night or went along on family outings with us – and I could always talk him into watching the various odd movies I was interested in (L&H, Hitchcock, etc.). He was also the chap that introduced me to KISS. I last saw Lee in the late 1990’s when he came in to shop at the Dorothy Lane Kroger where I was working.
Mark Staples: Mark moved in next door not long before I began the 1980 diary. He was three years older than me, but I think a bit shorter. He was a very smart kid – too smart for his own good at times – so we could relate on an intellectual level, but he still couldn’t always look past my childish tendencies. Therefore, I would never classify him as a very close friend, but we did play together quite a bit. Mark lived with his Mom only – and she was rarely home, so that gave us lots of opportunities to play with fire and other dangerous things at his place. Mark only attended Fairbrook for one year, before his Mom pulled him out and put him in a private school. I can’t recall exactly when – but I think Mark only lived next door for about five or six years or so before moving off to Germany.
Sunil Doshi: Sunil was my first best friend in school. We met in kindergarten class at Fairbrook and became instant friends. Being rather bright, were quickly branded the ‘smart kids’ but were also equally silly, and thus fairly popular with our co-kindergarten mates. I always enjoyed visiting Sunil’s house and relishing the ‘Indian food’ smell of his Mom’s cooking. He had an older brother, Nilesh, who always picked on us. Sunil moved away after third grade to another part of Beavercreek, so ended up at a different elementary school, the dreaded Valley. We remained good friends through fifth grade, both being interested in professional wrestling and Atari video games. We attended high school together and ran into one another a couple of times in the early 1990’s at various places. Sunil is the type of friend who became a polite acquaintence in later years, the one you just nodded to in the hall. Although I would love to see him again, he has made it relatively clear that he has no interest in reconnecting, which is quite puzzling.
Chris Demeter: Although Chris didn’t play a huge role in this particular diary, we were most certainly friends at this time and went on to be even better friends throughout grade school and junior high. Chris was a little more low-key than Lee, and one year older, so I think as the age gap ratio closed during our later years, we began to have more in common. You can read a lot more about Chris and the time earlier this year that we reunited by clicking here.
Lisa Demeter: Lisa was obviously Chris’ younger sister and was my classmate during first grade. I remember us being fairly close in first grade and of course, I naturally had a crush on her during those early years. We typically only played together for the first couple years that I knew her – before it became ‘uncool’ for her to hang out with us (for her and us both!). We always remained friendly during the later school years. In high school, she was one of the cheerleaders, all of whom I knew fairly well, but wasn’t quite popular enough to date. I last talked to Lisa in the mid 1990’s when I was trying to track down Chris – but haven’t seen her in years. She recently got re-married and is living in Washington.
Kenny Carroll: Kenny was my friend by proximity. He lived just two doors up from me and was the first kid in the neighborhood I met. In fact, I believe it was the day that I moved into the house on April 8, 1978, that he took me back into the woods and introduced me to all of the trees by first name (I soon realized that he was making them up as he went along). Although we remained friends for many years, it seemed like we were always fighting and he would usually end up crying. BUT…in our later early teen years, Kenny began working out and became quite a tough customer. I think age mellowed us both, and we ended up liking and respecting one another. Kenny moved away in the early 1990’s I believe. He once stopped by the neighborhood one time in about 1994 – just before I moved out – and talked to my Mom while driving past our house. Mom asked him if he wanted her to go in and get me and he said no. Too bad…I’d really like to see him again.
Larry Nichols: Larry was one of those short-term friends – the kind you only hang out with maybe for one year during school…or even less. Yes, we were best buddies for a very brief time and that is why I went over to his house to spend the night on January 25, 1980, as recorded in this diary. We continued to go to school together for the rest of our lives as far as I know, but don’t think we really ever spoke much through the years. I mention him here mostly to point out that fascinating phenomenon made up of people that brush through your life – and mean a great deal at the time – but are consigned to ‘mere acquaintance’ level shortly thereafter.
Greg Mulhern: Greg and his two older brothers Chris and Dan lived across the street from Kenny. This family was interesting. They had the oldest house on the block and were all smart as whips, yet they lived in an old-run down house full of junk that I think I entered only once or twice. Greg was very quiet and usually looked at me with a sense of disdain. His older brother Chris was even farther out than Greg was, but his oldest brother Dan would often talk to us kids and give us intellectual advice – kind of like Gus the Fireman. Greg was five years older than me, so was never really a friend, but did hang out with Mark a lot. Since Mark’s age was right between mine and Greg’s, I did have occasion to play with both of them at times. However, when they built a fort next door at Mark’s, they wouldn’t let me in.
Continue with 1980…
Leave a Reply