Book of Memories for Christopher M. O'Herron

Story shared: M.A.C. Pants

Sat, 12 Sep 2015 21:34:11 EDT

Another story about speech. Nathan, and John helped Me, Adrian, and Chris out to make a video selling a made up product in speech class. The product we made up was M.A.C. Pants. They were the "In" jeans that everyone wanted. We shot our first scene at the old movie theatre where I used to work. He had Chris be a gangster that was trying to steal my pants because they were the coolest jeans around. Then the second scene was at John's house. We had fire works going off for gun fire, and everything. Chris stole my pants and made off with the loot... I talked with Nathan tonight, and he said he still had the video. When I can get my hands on it I will be making a copy so I can share it with Jenny and Mike. They'll get a kick out of it for sure. I will make a copy for myself and keep it to watch too:) I can't wait! Chris and I have been trying to find this one video for the last 15 years. I wish I could watch it and laugh with him about it, but I know he'll be watching it along side me anyway:)

Story shared: Speech

Sat, 12 Sep 2015 21:26:56 EDT

In our high school speech class, me and Cris were in it together. I wasn't always the best at talking in front of people... Of course Chris was the exact opposite. He was always good at talking in front of everyone. He was always a complete riot! I remember a week long stretch where Chris and I had our own separate speeches. They were completely unrelated, but we managed to link them close enough to show the same clip from a movie to add to the speech. The clip was from Terminator 2. The scene was when the star was by a kids playground right before "Judgement Day" and a nuke went off, and incinerated everything. It was a pretty intense clip and our teacher was completely against it, but she never said we couldn't show it... So the first day I had my speech and I showed it. Then Chris went up and showed the clip for his speech. I remember watching our teachers face. She was totally discusted by it, but for a couple kids in high school it was too funny to pass up. We showed it for our next 4 speeches. A total of 10 showings of the Judgement Day clip... Chris and I used to laugh about it all the time. It was so funny. Sorry to the teacher, but it was too funny for us to pass up on. Being able to have Chris in my class really helped me through Speech. It helped me to just be me more than anything just like Chris always did:) He always brought the best out in me!

Story shared: South Hamlin days

Fri, 11 Sep 2015 16:48:19 EDT

I moved to Hamlin in the third grade. I didn't know anyone and Chris was one of the first friends I made. We rode the same bus...85 And had the same teacher Mr Sheets. We played a game every morning on the way to school. "Ninja Gudian". A hand drawn stick figure imaginary world on paper where we would fight bad guys all the while not getting killed by ninja stars flying through the air. Those early days at South Hamlin made me who I am today. Chris was always a part of those early years and stayed a friend all those years later. A loss to everyone but his memory lives on in the sand of the football field and rocks of that little playground where we all stopped being just kids and all became friends.

Story shared: 8th Grade Camp

Fri, 11 Sep 2015 12:50:43 EDT

I was fortunate enough during 8th grade camp to be in a teepee with Chris. During our week at camp we had the usual teenage shenanigans you would expect from a group of boys who were "roughing it". One of the days there Chris, myself and a few of the other guys grabbed all of Peter Sabankski's clothes and threw them in the lake after he stunk up our teepee by peeing on the hot coals. it should go to say that we all learned that pee really smells when it evaporates away. I learned that Chris was a natural at sailing, good grief I don't know what it was with him but going fast always came easy to him. And last but not least I learned that Chris had one heck of a Mr. Shank impersonation, I think he told everyone of us in that group to "stop acting like the east end of a donkey going west" at least twice a day.

Story shared: Thespian

Fri, 11 Sep 2015 12:18:45 EDT

I don't remember what year it was (8th or 9th grade perhaps) but I had a photo of me, some cousins and a guy I liked. Chris grabbed the photo from me and drew on it with a black pen. He scribbled the guys face out then circled my face and made it look like it was a cartoon saying something. He wrote "I am a Thespian!" when he did it, he showed it to me ever so proudly then he tried to clean the pen off and it did not clean off at all. Oh man did he feel bad. He wanted to pick on me but not ruin my photo. He made me laugh instead of angry probably partially because I could tell he felt bad. I stil have that picture somewhere too because it was artwork from Chris :) It was always a picture I could look at and smile for years to come.

Story shared: Classmates

Fri, 11 Sep 2015 12:10:01 EDT

Like Matt, I met Chris in Kindergarten (at least i dont think he was in my headstart and if he was I am ever so sorry for forgetting that but I cannot find my class photo) at South Hamliln School. We were in the same class for Kindergarten all the way through 6th grade. Life got a little rough for me by the time I hit high school that I distanced myself from a lot of my former classmates or also bounced around a bit between schools so sadly my best memories of Chris comes from 7th grade and earlier. My life was a blur from 8th grade onwards that I do not remember much let alone Chris but when I came out of the blur I always inquired from time to time as to how Chris was doing. He worked with my dad for a bit at the state park. My former classmates in a way became like family to me during some of my best years of my life. Specially those who were in my class for 6th grade. Mrs Klemm sure had a way to make the class be more like family than just classmates.

Some of my best memories of Chris came from 6th grade. He and Charles did not get along very well in 6th grade. Chris would constantly call him Chucky and Charles would call him Chrissyfur. Chris would get this stern look about him when he was after Charles meanwhile I swear Charles would be almost in tears sometimes from Chris tormenting him lol. I don't know if it was deliberate or not but Charles started wearing cowboy boots a lot and i remember more than once Charles would step on Chris' foot during one of their little bickerings. One time Charles had just did something to pick on Chris. He was laughing a little bit and then he coughed which caused him to fart at the same time. Man I thought Chris was going to keel over with laughter right there.

I cant remember if this was the same day or another one but I remember Chris laughing hysterically oer something regarding Charles which had his head buried into his arms. Then when he lifted his face snot went from his arm to his nose. Oh he was so embarassed.

Mrs Klemm would not allow insults but we were allowed to tell people to go suck an egg. I know its been over 20 years now but in my perception Chris probably used that more than anyone. And calling someone a Thespian.. He loved calling people Thespians...

Photo shared: Chris.jpg

Fri, 11 Sep 2015 11:54:27 EDT

Story shared: Old Dog Lay in the Summer Sun

Fri, 11 Sep 2015 11:46:53 EDT

Old Dog lay in the summer sun

Much too lazy to rise and run.

He flapped an ear

At a buzzing fly.

He winked a half-opened

Sleepy eye.

He scratched himself

On an itching spot,

As he dozed on the porch

Where the sun was hot.

He whimpered a bit

From force of habit

While he lazily dreamed

Of chasing a rabbit.

But Old Dog happily lay in the sun

Much too lazy to rise and run.

By James S. Tippett

7th grade language arts class we had an assignment where a group of 4 students would memorize a poem then recite it for the class. My group consisted of Doug Horacek, Erik Erickson, Chris and myself. Our poem was listed above.

Our teacher took the picture of our reciting which I still have to this day (and will try to find it) but three of us were standing at the podium to recite our part of the poem meanwhile Chris was laying on the floor. Chris played the part of the dog. He was all sprawled out! When it got to the place like scratched his ear Chris reached up and somewhat dramatically scratched his ear. He always made me laugh.. He didnt seem to be afraid of what others thought of him (if he did he never let on) and I adored him for it.

Story shared: Authors

Fri, 11 Sep 2015 11:10:50 EDT

I didn't get to know Chris very well until we started taking our favorite class together in high school....... shop with the greatest teacher LHS had to offer Captain Koehle. I never knew that two people could bond so much my repeating quotes over and over to each other. We treated everything we heard in there like it was coming from some cult classic movie, which to us it was just as good if not better. At one point in time we decided to write everything we had heard down in a book so we spent 2-3 weeks working together in Study Hall trying to keep our laughter to a minimum. After all our hard work the infamous "Encyclopedia Captain Koehleica" was born. I am pretty sure we used at least 5-6 quotes from this book every time we went out and we always had a good laugh when doing so. Chris never knew that his friendship saved me a lot back then, as my home life was falling apart and I didn't have many people to turn to at the time. But he was always there and he could always tell when I needed a good laugh or two to help out. I considered him more of a part of my family than the majority of my actual family. He was a great friend whom I had no problem calling brother when I referred to him. He will be missed dearly and I hope he has all the cheese he can handle up there.

Story shared: My Brother

Thu, 10 Sep 2015 22:31:40 EDT

It was almost exactly 28 years ago when I walked into Mrs. Radke's Kindergarden classroom. Meeting all the kids in my class. I met one kid who was all full of energy, and laughter. The class clown from start to Finish. Little did I know that I was meeting a friend for life. Chris and I grew up together through grade school in the same class rooms for the most part. Playing on the playground together. Chris was always the fastest kid on the playground. He was like greased lightning running up and down the soccer/football field:) It wasn't until Junior High that our friendship would grow into a brotherhood. Chris and I would hang out every day at school and at each others houses when the weekend would come. By the time High School came we were together at school (sharing lockers), after school driving around town for hours on end, and any other time we could hang out. We would meet all of our other friends where ever we were hanging out. After high school I moved down to Peoria, and thankfully he came down to. He definitely saved my sanity. I was a little out of my league at that point. The only time we weren't always around each other was when he moved to Mt. Pleasant to live with his Sister. I knew he was happy there, but I was thrilled when he moved back to town:) We were right back to hanging out. A couple years later I ended up getting married, but still we continued hanging out. It was easy, because my wife loved Chris as much as I do. He was always such an easy, chilled, & funny person to hang out with. When we had our two sons, Chris became an adopted uncle to them. They have grown up with all of Chris's goofiness, and big heart. He would chase them around the house or the back yard, and I could see them growing into best friends too. They would ask for him to come over to hang out and have a fire, or watch a football game every weekend:) We have been blessed to have Chris in our lives for all these years. Now that we must take a separate path again as we did for a short time years ago, I take solace in the fact that our lives have all been shaped by him, and we all have a piece of him in our hearts. I know that our bond will draw our paths back together someday when it's my time. I know my path will be paved with bricks layed by Chris leading up to his paradise watching the Lions, sitting by a fire, playing cards, watching Scifi movies, just hangin' out doin' what we do, and just simply enjoying hanging out with the people that matter the most. Until we meet again my brother! Love you man!

Condolence From James & Ruth Ann Ricketts

Tue, 08 Sep 2015 22:05:50 EDT

Michael please accept our most sincere condolences in the loss of your son...May God hold you in the palm of his hand while you grieve your loss...Blessings

Photo shared: Matt and Chris.jpg

Tue, 08 Sep 2015 21:14:26 EDT

Story shared: Lumberjack Chris

Tue, 08 Sep 2015 21:11:30 EDT

A few years ago, I was always thinking about cutting some trees down around my backyard at my house so I could get some more sunlight in the back yard. I would always tell Chris that I wanted to cut them down when he would come over and we'd be hangin' out in the back yard. Then one day I must have been pretty convincing about getting them cut down. He asked me for my chainsaw... We sat back in the back corner of my fenced in back yard looking at this one tree that seemed like a good spot to start. There was nothing to the South East or the South West of the tree... Just an open wooded area for the tree to fall to the ground. I went in the garage and grabbed my chainsaw, and brought it out to him. I had never cut any real trees down in my day up to this point, so I was a bit unsure. He seemed pretty sure about himself though. I handed the saw to him, and said "whatever you do, don't hit the fence man". He laughed at me, and gave me a look that said, chill out man, I got this:) I ran inside to get some pops for us for when we got the tree cut down, and could start our weekend fire. After a couple minutes inside, I heard a loud crash. Kristen and I looked at each other, and said "that was fast" almost at the same time. We both walked towards the back door. I could see Chris through the glass in the door, standing out by the back corner of the yard by the corner of the fence. I looked just past him and saw the tree laying on the ground crushing our fence. Chris turned and looked at me with a nervous face, and all I could do was just laugh. It was crazy funny... He sure didn't think so, but because it was Chris, I couldn't be mad. All I could do was laugh. Kristen was laughing too. There was nothing Chris could do to make either of us mad. We knew he had the biggest heart, and was just trying to help. That was the last tree we ever tried to cut down here. LOL

Story shared: My Boys Love Chris

Tue, 08 Sep 2015 20:54:30 EDT

My sons are 4 and 6 now. They have known Chris their whole lives. Chris has been coming over to our house every couple weeks for the day or evening. Me, my wife Kristen, Braiden, and Rowen looked forward to him coming over more than just about anything. He would come over so we could watch the Lions games during the season together. Even though they were usually losing, we still always had fun enjoying the games together. We have had our yearly Super Bowl parties every year since I got married. It was always fun watching Chris do his touchdown dances when his team would score a touchdown. My boys thought he was hillarious. He would chase them around the house, and play games with them, and they just thought the world of him. When the football season wasn't on, it was time for our weenend fires. Chris would show up with a load of wood, and my boys would get so excited when he would come rollin' into the driveway. We would lug the wood to the backyard with him and get the fire started. Chris would play with the boys and was such a good role model for them too. They both looked at him as part of our family. They loved him as much as Kristen and I do. No matter what we would do together was always fun, and whatever we did was always special.

Story shared: Ketchup Noodles

Mon, 07 Sep 2015 12:51:01 EDT

About a year after high school I made a move out of Ludington down to Peoria, IL for a job opportunity. I was there for about 6 months and was going crazy in a new place that was so much bigger than little old Ludington. I used to come all the way back to Ludington about every 2 weeks or so which was 420 miles each way just to see my friends and family. I always hung out with Chris most of the time though... On a few of my trips back I would try to get him to move down there with me and one weekend it actually worked! He didn't take any of his stuff... Just enough clothes to make it until the next time we came back to town. LOL We hopped in my car and drove down there. What he didn't realize is that I never went shopping for food. When we first got down there while he was still looking for a job, I would just take us out to eat at Olive Garden, or Red Lobster, or whatever we wanted that day... One day, I had a long day at work, so by the time I got back home it was like 8 or 9 at night... In my house the only things that I had were Ramen Noodles, Ketchup, and little stupid food like that. When I walked in the door of our appartment, the smell hit me in the face within the first step. Chris had cooked some Ramen Noodles on the stove, and instead of using the seasoning packet, he put ketchup in the pan and cooked it with the noodles. I don't know if anyone else has ever done that before, but if you have you know the horid smell that comes from burnt ketchup on a stove. Its intense!!! I looked at him at the dinner table, and all he did was look up at me at the door with his smiling face. I said "what is that horid smell", and all he did was start laughing loudly (with the awesome laugh that only Chris O'Herron has). All I could do was start laughing. No matter what crazy thing Chris did, when he would start in with his crazy laugh, everything else would just go away.

Story shared: The Chauffeurs

Mon, 07 Sep 2015 12:33:37 EDT

One of my favorite memories of Chris is back in 11th grade. Chris and I were not going to the schools "Winter Wirl" dance that year, but our friend Ben was going with a date... Chris and I offerred to chauffeur Ben and his date. Chris and I got all dressed up in our fanciest clothes:) We stopped at the store on our way out to Ben's house to pick up a 12 pack of Surge pop (which is loaded with caffiene). We hammered down a couple before we even got out there to his house... By the time we got to his Mom and Dad's house, we were already pumped up for life. LOL We walked in to see him Mom and she she took some pictures of us all before we left to pick up Ben's date. Later on you could see that our tounges were already stained neon green from the Surge. When we dropped Ben and his date off at Scotty's here in Ludington, we couldn't contain ourselves. We started running around the building within minutes of arrival. We were going nuts! LOL We then decided to go down to the beach. We ran up and down the beach jumping from one ice mountain to another that had formed along the lake shore... This was probably not a good idea, but it sure seemed like a lot of fun at the time. We made it back to Scotty's just in time to pick Ben and his date up. Ben must have thought we were nuts... Our eyes were the size of half dollars and neither of us could stop talking and going crazy. For Chris and I that was a bit out of the norm... We're both pretty quiet guys, usually totally chilled out, but on this night we were ready to conquer the world.

Photo shared: _26.JPG

Fri, 04 Sep 2015 20:04:49 EDT

Photo shared: _27.JPG

Fri, 04 Sep 2015 20:04:49 EDT

Photo shared: _315.JPG

Fri, 04 Sep 2015 20:04:49 EDT

Photo shared: chris mia 2.jpg

Fri, 04 Sep 2015 20:04:49 EDT

Condolence From Amanda Wheaton-Hepworth

Fri, 04 Sep 2015 14:29:07 EDT

To the family of Chris, I am incredibly sad to hear that Chris has passed away. He was a classmate that always made me laugh and smile. One of my favorite memories was 6th Grade Track and Field. Reid Mullen was running in some sort of distance race. He turned around to see how far behind his competition was and right on his tail was Chris. I can still see Reid squeal as he turned around to regain his momentum while Chris blew past him. I can still hear Chris's unique little giggle he had whenever he ticked Charles off in class. I can still hear him calling him Chucky as those two had fought all year. Boy.... Chris was one of my favorite classmates and I think this world will be at a loss without him in it. Rest in Peace Chris, you are someone who made a difference in my life and I will never forget you.

Photo shared: Chris O'Herron.jpg

Thu, 03 Sep 2015 12:19:58 EDT