Johnny was with another boy, playing at a place that stored sand and gravel, when they dug a tunnel in a pile of sand. They had gotten on their bicycles and started home, when Johnny remembered that he left his watch in the tunnel.
After he died, his mother came to our 6th grade classroom to give us some of his toys and trinkets. She said she wanted his "friends" to have his things. Well, some of the kids were Johnny's bullies, not friends. His mother's heart was broken == and I remember thinking that it was a blessing she did not know what he suffered.
These details remain fresh, because this was my first realization that a kid I knew could die.
Coincidentally, when I moved to Gloversville, my geometry teacher was related to Johnny Swenson.
Brenda Hessney
Johnny was with another boy, playing at a place that stored sand and gravel, when they dug a tunnel in a pile of sand. They had gotten on their bicycles and started home, when Johnny remembered that he left his watch in the tunnel.
After he died, his mother came to our 6th grade classroom to give us some of his toys and trinkets. She said she wanted his "friends" to have his things. Well, some of the kids were Johnny's bullies, not friends. His mother's heart was broken == and I remember thinking that it was a blessing she did not know what he suffered.
These details remain fresh, because this was my first realization that a kid I knew could die.
Coincidentally, when I moved to Gloversville, my geometry teacher was related to Johnny Swenson.