Ayyyyy!

This summer's all-school reunion of the District 24/260 Oak Grove Country School to be held the last Sunday of July at the storied Forada, Minnesota Supper Club, is already stirring things up. Schoolmates Ann Marie, LuAnn, Lorlee, Diane and others are getting the word out. It's fairly easy to figure out the class lists: you just look at the annual photographs of the one-room school and go down the aisles and the names soon come back.
There's one face that may not appear in those black and white photos, but we sure hope he can make it. Tom K.

When writers created "The Fonz" for Happy Days, he could have been their inspiration. Tom carefully maintained a jet-black ducktail with curls spilling on his forehead, wore leather jackets with the collar up, engineer boots, tight jeans, studs and rings and a cool attitude. He was a confident, friendly guy, didn't need to be mean; he drove a motorcycle or a loud custom rod with big whites, had a big laugh, a big grin, a big ego and smoked king-sized Pall Malls.
We were very impressed.
Of course he was older and wiser than we were and lived in the big city, St. Paul, which added plenty to his street cred. His mother and stepdad owned a resort on Lake Andrew so he spent summers in the neighborhood and even attended our country school for short stints.
Long before Happy Days ever became a television favorite, Tom was our Henry Winkler, a larger-than-life character you could count on to always be doing interesting things, things we could only imagine and wonder about and not fully understand.
We learned today that Tom is alive and well in Missouri. We learned this on his Facebook page, of all things, after he sent a "friend" request. We sent him back an email. He quickly responded.
He's married and he's busy. They're building a house somewhere and he said he'll get right back to us. Gotta go. No time for writing at the moment. And the reunion? Way too far in the future to know if he'll be there. His mother, Helen, 93, who sold us Dreamsicles and O'Henrys at the resort store, is "still alive and kicking," according to his brief note.
We can't wait to hear more. Whatever it is, it will be interesting. The Fonz is 70?
Ayyyy! Tommy!