Diana Motes:
CLASS OF 1974
Rosedale High SchoolClass of 1974
Kansas city, KS
Shawnee Mission Northwest High SchoolClass of 1976
Shawnee mission, KS
Wyandotte High SchoolClass of 1974
Kansas city, KS
Old Mission Junior High SchoolClass of 1970
Shawnee mission, KS
Diana's Story
Diana Motes-Henderson married her 2nd husband, Earl Gruver in 1979. (We are still married.) Earl had gone to Shawnee Mission Northwest. We both attended Hocker Grove Junior High. Earl was in the 7th grade when I was in the 9th grade. Currently I am a volunteer Legal Assistant at Midwestern Innocence Project. I am a firm believer for the people's rights. Litigation is my field of choice. Presently, I am searching for a paying position as a Paralegal, Legal Assistant or Legal Research Assistant. Before this chosen career, I have worked the past 35 years in retail management. I know how to handle complaints.
2011, Brown Mackie College, Lenexa, KS
Associates of Applied Science, Paralegal
Cum Laude
Student Senate President
International Honor Society, Phi Theta Kappa; Member
PresidentÃÂâÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs Honor Roll, DeanÃÂâÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs List
2001, Kansas City Metropolitan: Maple Woods Community College, Kansas City, MO
Associates of Applied Science: Travel & Tourism Management. I received my degree, then 9/11 happened and over 100,000 independent travel agents had gone out of business. Did you hear that flush? That was my degree going down the toilet. :o{
1976 GED from Kansas City Kansas Community College
1971-1972 Wyandotte High School, Kansas City, KS
1971 Rosedale High School, Kansas City, KS
1970 Hocker Grove Junior High, Shawnee, KS
1968-1970 Old Mission Junior High, Kansas City, KS
1964-1968 St. Agnes School, Kansas City, KS
1961-1964 Frank Rushton Elementary, Kansas City, KS
1960-1961 John Fiske Elementary, Kansas City, KS
1960 Flint Elementary School, Shawnee, Kansas
I have been married to my 2nd husband for 33 years. I have a 38-year-old son, 30-year-old son, and a 27-year-old daughter. I named my daughter, Rebecca, after a positive, upbeat and well-liked classmate that had made a wonderful impression in my memory. Together, we had attended Frank Rushton Elementary. Her mother and my mother were leaders of our Campfire Group. I am the grandmother of only boys; ages 14, 7 and 9 months. I feel totally blessed!
I travel only within the United States, but I would not mind traveling outside the United States. I love to observe nature at its best. Think POSITIVE is my motto. People usually remember me by my laugh, winning smile and positive attitude. ;o}
Full Circle
This is my story about my childhood bully, Craig King. Craig was an extremely tall and muscular boy. He had dark hair and dark eyes. I have to this day, thought he was somewhat attractive (I had never mentioned that to anyone).
I knew Craig King from elementary school, St. Agnes. My personal life was a real mess. I know that it showed when I attended school. Even though children will be children, I had felt that Craig had personally sought me out to pick on. I was only in the 5th grade and did not understand why this was happening. I was withdrawn, did not speak much to anyone and had few friends. Even though we all wore uniforms, children judge each other by the wardrobe hanging in their closet. So, the few friends I had were just as poor as me. Plus, I had physical and mental changes going on. By the time I was in the 7th grade, my hair had gone from blonde to rusty red. The stress from my dysfunctional home life and school life caused me to pull out all of my eyelashes. Seventh grade was the worst of all my years at St. Agnes.
For years, I had to endear the name-calling from Craig King. By then, in my mind I had nicknamed him âÃÂÃÂCraig King Kong.âÃÂàI am from my momâÃÂÃÂs first marriage, so the younger children in the family carried a different last name than mine. Ole Craig King Kong had found a way to combine the last two names and call me by it all of the time. He called me, âÃÂÃÂGulley-Moe.âÃÂàHe would intentionally bump in the hallway. What was worst, my best friends thought it was cute and started picking on me too. Knowing that I would graduated from 8th grade at St. Agnes, I pleaded with my mom to allow me to attend 8th grade at a public school. She did. That summer before I had entered into my 8th grade year, my hair changed from rusty red to platinum blonde and my eyelashes grew back. Eight grade not only gave me a âÃÂÃÂpeace of mindâÃÂàbut for the first time I had confidence in myself. I was not surprise when 9th grade came around and a lot of the 8th grade graduates from St. Agnes attended the public school. By then, I had many friends from the previous year. I enjoyed the new life that I had acquired.
Nevertheless, Craig King Kong thought he could pick up where he had left off with me. He now had two new friends. Every time I think about it, they reminded me of Craig being the big dog and two small pups who would jump all around him trying to do things to please him. Those pupâÃÂÃÂs names were James and John Finley. I do not believe that they are related and the last name maybe similar but not spelled the same. For the first several months, the pups would torment me in front of Craig. I could see the pleasure that Craig was getting while this was happening to me. Again, I pulled out all of my eyelashes. One night, while trying to sleep I came to the realization that the âÃÂÃÂGood LordâÃÂàtouched my life with good people I had at school. I had asked myself, did I want to give all this up or fight for it. I will fight for it! I woke up the next morning fully energized and ready for a new day.
My school day started by walking through hallways of Old Mission Junior High School, when John came up and started pushing me from behind. Suddenly, without thinking twice, I turned around and gave the boy a full force, openhanded âÃÂÃÂB.... Slap!âÃÂàI turned back around and continued to go down the hall to attend my science class. My adrenalin was rushing and I know my eyes setting back into my head, because I was angry. While I was sitting in my chair in science class, James decided that he would place his arm around me and announce to everyone his love for me. Everyone was starring but not laughing. It came to a total shock to everyone wh...Expand for more
en I stood up and gave him a âÃÂÃÂB.... SlapâÃÂàtoo. I believe everyone may have thought that I was either brave or have snapped. I knew I still had one to go, Ole Craig King Kong. I had to calculate on how I was going to get back at him. I did not dare to âÃÂÃÂB.... SlapâÃÂàhim because for one thing, he was a whole head taller than I was. In addition, he would be expecting me to try to slap him as well. I decided to let a few days past before I would get back at him.
The time came within a week after I had taken care of business with his friends. During that time, I had found a thumbtack. I thought of a perfect way to get even with âÃÂÃÂOle Craig King Kong.âÃÂàI was going to put a tack into his chair in science class. Just before everyone sat down in class, I slipped the thumbtack into his chair. As everyone would sit down, I prayed that nobody else would sit in that chair. Luckily, the bell rang, everyone sat down and there was no innocent casualty. However, there was also no âÃÂÃÂOle Craig King Kong.âÃÂàA few minutes later, Craig came walking through the door followed by the teacher. As Craig passed behind me, he pushed up on my chair. Just as fast as he sat down, he jumped back up even faster, saying every dirty word in the book. I felt so satisfied. I let the word out that it was me that had place that tack in his chair. From that moment on, James, John and Craig kept their distance. The last four weeks of school, my family was evicted from our home. We moved in with my grandparents in Shawnee, KS. I finished the last two weeks of school at Hocker Grove Junior High School, never to see those boys again.
Around 1975, for about a year, Steve Duncan, Earl Gruver and Craig King became best of friends while stationed at Philadelphia Navel Yard, Pennsylvania. All three were Marine Corporals serving as Military Police (M.P.) doing Marine Barracks Security Duty. Here are a few experiences that they had shared:
They would have to go into town and fetch back Sailors before they missed their ships. If they had missed their ships then those Sailors were AWOL. All three would go into pubs, pull them out, and then escort them back to the shore patrol. If they had any difficulties with sailors not wanting to get up and leave the bar, then Earl and Steve would send Craig over. Craig did not have any trouble lifting them out of there seat and making them want to leave the bar.
There was a joke between those guys; you know what you call a turd in a toilet? A floater! They would have to guard the gates; one on each side of the gate and one in the shack. It would be a four-hour shift. The M.P. in the shack would relieve the guard at the gate if that M.P. had to go to the restroom. Whoever was stationed in the shack for the day was considered the âÃÂÃÂFLOATERâÃÂàbecause they were allowed to sit down and wait, while the others had to stand.
One of the biggest excitements was when Craig was a floater and Earl and Steve was guards; a cab driver rushed through the gate. Earl instructed by the Sergeant of the Guard to shoot through the back window of the cab. Instead, Earl yelled out âÃÂÃÂHAULTâÃÂàand shot into the air; then aiming the gun directly at the back window of the car, the car came to a screeching stop. When the cab driver was asked, âÃÂÃÂwhy did you stop?âÃÂàThe cab driver responded that he seen in his rear view mirror the gun was aim directly at him. The guys had a good laugh because when the cab driver came to a screeching halt, he was so far down the road the bullets would have never reached him.
They loved to eat at White Castle. One day, they were sitting around the table exchanging stories that moved them the most. The story that Craig told was how he really hated this girl in school. Every chance he had he would pick on her and bully her. One day she put a tack in his chair. Craig went on to say that, it was an eye awaking moment for him. He realized then that he was a bully and he did not want to be that way anymore. Earl said that his friend never bullied anybody around. Earl told me that it was a âÃÂÃÂReal HonorâÃÂàto have known Craig. He went on to say that going through Marine Corp Boot Camp was super tough. For someone to remember a story about a girl and a tack, that story must have really made an impact on that personâÃÂÃÂs life.
Years have past when I had finally met Earl. We were both in our twenties when we met and married. One day, I told Earl the story of the bully in my life. I mentioned the name, Craig King and Earl about fell out of his chair. We have been married for 33 years now. Over those years, Earl never did mention that the man had changed. I have always feared that my bully was still out there somewhere.
2010, I decided to go back to college. Little did I know that I would meet CraigâÃÂÃÂs son, Jacob. My first impression of him was similar, yet quite different of his father. He is as tall and handsome like his father, but he is a gentle giant. I thought, âÃÂÃÂWOWâÃÂànot all King KongâÃÂÃÂs are a threat. After he had told me who your father was, I went back to my husband and asked him again to tell me some stories about him and Craig King. This time he elaborated his stories to me. I thought this was such a great story that I wanted to share. I thank the âÃÂÃÂGood LordâÃÂàfor letting me with meet Jacob. Jacob said to me that his father had told him of the story of the girl, without reason, he hated with a passion, put a tack in his chair. Jacob also said that his father's life changing moment made him become more humble and made him a good dad. My fear of this bully vaporized. More important, I am at peace now knowing that I had influenced his life for the better of the good.
Sad note: Craig King died at home, in his sleep, at the age of 41, from a respiratory infection. Craig would be turning over in his grave if he only knew how our âÃÂÃÂGood LordâÃÂàplanned our lives to become a full circle.
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