Thomas Jones

Hi DiAnne, I remember you from the old photo....You were very quite as I remember. I felt like I walked the halls of Mac in relative obscurity except for a few people. I was looking at some to photos of class pictures and one person I noted was Ann Transou for some odd reason. But I could not remember her name and voila your note! I was really stopped cold seeing the news about Ricky. As I said I was not close to him after we returned to San Antonio when I started 8th grade but we in such close proximity in 3rd grade that our back doors seemed connected.

I pulled up my personal email.... And there was a death notice from MacArthur HS class of '71. It usually is someone I barely remember or knew. Today was different, "Ricky Rupert" was a childhood friend from 3rd grade when we lived in San Antonio the first time. I was not close to him when we moved back to SA in 8th grade.

I remember vividly the day I met him. We had just moved and I had not start school yet at Wiltshire although it was mid-school year. I set out to make new friends and was scouring the neighborhood on my bike. I rode past Ricky and Lance Chitwood as a began my quest. Seeing few kids out playing I headed back and stopped where Ricky and Lance were standing in Ricky's front yard and said "Haven't I seen you two before?" I must have watched way too many films and was being 'clever' not knowing what to say. "No" they replied. I retorted "Yes I have just about half an hour as rode by you here." They laughed and we were friends for the next few months before my father was transferred to Alaska. 

RIP, Ricky.