John and I first met at Junior High School 158 in Bayside. John had just moved into the area, which was known as the Bayside Golf Links, where all new homes were constructed. His house was about two blocks from mine. He was new to the area and didn’t have any friends yet. One day this guy named Phil was making fun of him and calling him a “whop” well, of course John took offense to that and a fight started. John beat this guy up so badly that I had to pull him off because I thought he was really going to do some severe damage. And that was my first meeting with John. We got to know each other very well after that and became best friends. And he was my best friend for years. We got into so much trouble together and played hooky a lot in school. In fact, we got into so much trouble that his mother, Helen, finally took him out of Bayside High School and put him into a private school in New York City. Fortunately that did not stop us from seeing each other every day.
We played hooky with one or two other guys. John would love to play practical jokes on the guys that we were with. He decided one day that we were going to barbecue hamburgers. John took out some hamburger patties and then I saw him reach for a can of Kennel Ration dog food. I said ‘what are you doing?’ and he said I’m going to make these guys hamburgers with the dog food and see what they say.” Well he did, and they loaded them up with ketchup and pickles and ate them like they were really good hamburgers. The crazy part was that they wanted to know if they could have another one!
Then he would take his father‘s bottle of vodka, empty it out into a jar, and fill it with water and tell the other guys it was vodka and his vodka was so good that you wouldn’t even know you were drinking vodka! Well, believe it or not we started acting like we were getting drunk, so they started doing the same thing. John said “can you believe it? You can plant something in somebody’s head and they actually believe it.”
Then there was the time that he had the idea that we could start a singing group. John and I and three other guys started going to tunnels bathrooms, etc., and trying to be doo-wow stars! But that didn’t last too long because my mom and John‘s mom put a Kabash on the whole idea. They said we sounded terrible! To this day, I think they were wrong. We were up-and-coming stars!
Even though John was going to school in the city, we made arrangements to meet every night and walk our dogs and smoke cigarettes. One time his uncle Dominick saw us smoking and offered us $100 to stop. We didn’t stop, but we told him we did. It didn’t work and he caught us. Then there was the time John and I thought we were going to be bodybuilders. He would come to my house and we would lift weights. Every week we would take out the tape measure and measure our biceps. That didn’t last too long either. But we had so much fun. We just enjoyed being around each other, and laughing.
And then one day …we were hanging outside McNally‘s candy store, and noticed a new house had been built across the street. One day a family started to move into that house. And that was it! Along came Alice!
The only time I could get to see John after that was if we double dated and I always tried my best, especially when I came home from college on the weekends, that I would have a date so we could get together. But Alice was the best thing for him He really started to get serious about things because he knew they were going to get married.
It was my honor to be a member of their wedding party. John was one of the ushers in my wedding party as well. In fact, the one who ran out for the beer when the photographer took so long taking photos at the park. We came to the reception as one happy group! Back then it was customary to have someone in your family be your best man. But I would have picked John in a heartbeat. He was always there for me, even after we were both married. We still loved to get together and go out to restaurants with our wives.
John went to Florida on his honeymoon. I think it was after his honeymoon that he told me that if he ever had the chance he was going to move there. I always thought he was just talking about it and didn’t mean it. But John was true to his word. And when it happened it crushed me because my best friend was moving away from me. At that time there were no computers and no FaceTime, just old landlines. Then life gets in the way and we had less contact with each other.
Conversations got less and less but my memories did not go away. I will miss the chance to talk to my old friend, just one more time.
My best friend growing up and my best memories. Now you are with Jesus John and you can’t beat that! One day we will meet again…
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