Verne Troyer

I have only met one 'celebrity' in my entire life, and that was before he was a celebrity.

Namely, Verne Troyer, the midget who played Mini-Me in the Austin Powers movies. I've never seen any of them because I believe they are quite risque and I avoid movies like that.  And they just aren't my kind of movie anyway, I think.  I dislike far more movies than I like.

ANYWAY, we went to high school together.  We graduated in the same class.  He died last week, at age 49.

To my knowledge, I never exchanged a word with Verne Troyer, which is weird and sad because it was a small class of only 93 students.  I was a super awkward geeky teen and Verne was incredibly popular and outgoing. He was an amazing guy.  He wasn't a particularly strong student so we didn't share any classes, I think.  But yes, he was homecoming king and everyone liked him. He was very short, like 2 foot 9 inches tall.

I admire him for going on to make a life for himself in spite of a pretty serious disability of being very tiny in a world which wasn't set up well for him.  Sadly, he struggled with alcoholism.  Death cause is currently not being released publicly, and I don't need to know of course.

I am just sad for him and his family. Of course, people in their late 40's die all the time but someone my age, from MY CLASS in high school just passed on.  I read somewhere that he had been baptized recently so I hope and pray he is at peace in Heaven with the Lord.

As long as I'm name dropping, I'm actually distantly related to Tom Selleck, who has lived long and prospered :-).  He is my mother's second cousin.  He spent early years in Detroit, I believe, which is why he played a Tigers fan in Magnum P.I.

I read up on Selleck recently and it sounds like he is a good guy, very committed to his wife of decades, and to their daughter.  It's always good to read about a celebrity marriage that lasts. His previous marriage failed and he said he was spending 90 hour weeks working on Magnum P.I., so sounds like he sort of blamed himself.  Which is realistic, really -- it is hard for a marriage to do well when one partner is gone all the time.

Rest in peace, Verne Troyer.