Schoolmate Brad Williams

The Wisconsin State Journal has a front page article on former schoolmate Brad Williams. Unfortunately the article doesn't seem to be posted online so there's no link available. However, an article of a similar nature appeared in the LaCrosse Tribune last year. The article is on hyperthymesia, which is defined as having a superior autobiographical memory.

Brad is 51, so he is a few years behind us but he also skipped a grade. His brother Eric is working on a documentary on hyperthymesia. There are some interesting video clips posted online. Brad's mother, shown in one of the clips, shows a resemblance to Mrs. Gauger, the fifth grade teacher who taught some of us. Which is to be expected, since Mrs. Gauger was Brad's grandmother.

I don't remember much about fifth grade, except that was when the class started doing spelling bees. And I discovered I was a pretty good speller when Claudette Clark and I spelled down the rest of the class. Brad, as you may remember, was the state Spelling Bee and went to teh national bee in Washington.

Brad went into radio news, which was my field for many years. Shortly after I left KLMS radio in Lincoln, NE, Brad started working there. He went on to WIZM in LaCrosse, a station which is part of the Midwest Family chain, where he still works. Before I went to Lincoln I worked at WISM in Madison, also part of the Midwest Family chain. My ability to remember obscure trivia sometimes astounds my family (and has established my reputation in Trivial Pursuit). However, nobody remembers details like Brad obviously does.