He was in the first third grade class I taught at Saint Mary’s School in Morris, Minn. All 34 of my students were dear to me, but Mark Eklund was one in a million. Very neat in appearance, but had that happy-to-be-alive attitude that made even his occasional mischievousness delightful.
Mark talked incessantly. I had to [...]

You thought you were happily smiling at your child from a hard stadium seat or a hot packed auditorium, but your child looked at your face and saw approval of him and joy in what he was doing.
You thought that you were just patting him on the back or on the head, or just ruffling [...]