Fifth-graders put feelings into words

6/15/2003

Words aren't enough sometimes to describe the people we love - as Joyce Swin's fifth-grade students at Wayne Trail Elementary School in Maumee showed when they wrote tributes as a class project.

They punctuated their notes with hearts and smiley faces, stars and squiggles, X's and O's.

Here's what a few of the students wrote:

Joe Milliron says Grandpa Gene Roberts encouraged him not to give up when he was feeling bad about a baseball play. “He has been my influence since he has never quit at anything,” Joe adds.

Jillann Henry's grandfather, Mike Kudas, lives in Las Vegas, “but every time he calls I feel loved and I tell him everything that happened ... I feel like I can see him smile right through the telephone.”

Nikki Dibble writes: “Once when my room had green walls my grandpa [Ed Dibble] painted my walls blue all by himself. That is how nice and cool my grandpa is.”

Lindsay Heinl says that although her grandfather, Milan Drake, has passed away, “I still feel him in my soul.”

Kelsey Gladieux remembers that when she needed help with homework, Norm Gladieux “realized that I was struggling, and he helped me even though he was really sick and weak.”

Drew Cleghorn confesses that Ed Cleghorn “always helped me keep secrets like losing my baseball mitt and breaking a window at my house.”

Alex Perry says Gene Walters is always there for her. “For instance, if I need help finding a gift for my mom or other relative, he'll give me ideas [and] then take me out to buy it. Or if I broke something, he would help me replace it.”