Remembering The Forgotten

Did you wonder "Whatever became of..." (fill in the name of one of our number, one of the easily forgotten).?

I have. It troubles me at times. They were so easily written-off. Whatever became of...
Thomas West. He wore the same blue gown that we all wore (the fellows, that is... the girls wore white). He graduated with us. Although originally a member of the Class of '61, for our last 3 years at MCHS, he was one of us. We all knew Tom had quit school to join the Navy, and had then left the Navy and returned to MCHS, eventually graduating as a member of the Class of '62. He was an "okay guy", but none of us ever went out of our way to make him feel "welcome" as a member of our class. I know I didn't. A few days before graduation I decided to walk home from school, instead of riding the bus. Tom was walking in the same direction, so we walked together...and talked a bit. Shortly, Tom said "This is where I live...with my Dad". I suddenly understood more about Tom than I had learned in the years we had sat in class together. ..and I felt very ashamed. Ashamed that I had so much...my own room, a fairly big home...two parents. And others had so little. And I hadn't even noticed.

Whatever became of Martin Murphy? He too was a member of our class toward the end.
Along with many other classmates, I was guilty of "poking fun" at Marty...for his gullibility...for his social awkwardness (as if I had room to talk!).

Whatever became of Kenny Shields? He was placed in our class, sometime around 1957
(I think), after being held back in elementary school. Kenny's claim-to-fame was that he could belch smoke "at will", having been an habitual  smoker since 2nd grade.
I always thought Kenny "looked odd"...almost as if he were of Chinese descent.
From today's perspective, I believe I can recognize in his facial structure the hallmarks
of fetal alcohol syndrome. Most likely, Kenny never had a fighting chance.

Looking back from the perspective of six decades and then some, I wonder what I "saw" then, why I did the things I did, and why I wasn't a bit more kind. How about you?