Circle Game

Dave Mahoney and Norm Ladd at quarry. Photo by Kim Torgerson.
Dave Mahoney and Norm Ladd at quarry. Photo by Kim Torgerson.

Dave died fifteen years ago. And now Norm. We were so full of life. It doesn’t seem possible. But then again it does.

Norm was in my sister’s class, two years behind me, but we were friends in high school. Our moms were friends before we met. When I went away to school in Indiana Norm’s mom called me to say Norm had run away. “He’s coming out to stay with you,” she said. Sure enough Norm stayed in my dorm room for a week or so and then returned home.

I met Pam in Indiana and she came to visit me in Rochester over the summer. We went swimming and I remember introducing Pam to Norm. They became an item that day. A long run. Norm joined the army during the Viet Nam war but never saw combat. He worked in a shop and made hash pipes out of plumbing parts. I remember them being hot as hell, almost too hot to hang on to. Pam’s father owned the Colonial Motel in Indianapolis. I remember him backing a trailer into number 10 Monon Drive in Bloomington. I lived there with Pam and Dave and a few other friends while Norm was away.

Norm and Pam were married at at Norm’s parents’ house in Webster. The Bloomington crew was all there. Pam got pregnant and they moved to a big house. I stayed there rent free as a babysitter and learned how to change diapers. Chinaboise rehearsed in Norm’s basement.

Norm’s sudden death provided the opportunity to talk to Kim. She took the photo up top. We will reach out to Pam. It’s a Circle Game.

2 Comments

2 Replies to “Circle Game”

  1. So sorry. What a beautiful video. Only you and your friends could make the suburb of Webster suburb look like some kind of mix up of heaven and hell. Mostly heaven though, with the studies of your friends. God bless Pam and Norm.

  2. Thank you so much, Paul, for posting this. It is truly a treasure. I am balling my eyes out watching that 8mm film of Norm & Pam’s wedding. We are devastated beyond words. I imagined Norm and Pam, Konstantine (my husband and Norm’s friend) and I going to Jamaica together. Imagine, Jamaica with them. Now, I can’t even imagine going without him.

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