Tracys Territory: Remembering Brigette, 1961-1978

With the end of the school year upon us, with many seniors graduating, I tend to reflect back to the last days of my school year as a junior. There is such an excitement in the air as the seniors from many schools anticipate the end. And the excitment I felt leaving school as a junior and coming back to finally, be a senior!  

It is one of those times when change is actually good and these wonderful young adults are ready to embark on what they often think of as the "First day of their Life." I had a remarkable friend that I pretty much spent time with from the first day at Stowers Elementary School, Carmenita Jr. High and Cerritos High School. Her name was Brigette Mareik and she was that one! You had the athletic girls, the cheerleaders, the trouble makers, the so-so girls, the not so pretty girls that were so darn nice, they had more friends than anybody, and then you had that one that you could not put in a category because everything about her was special.

It is really hard to imagine that she has been dead for more than 30 years.

She was always very quiet which opened her up to criticism I mean come on, girls needed to find something wrong with her because she was that beautiful. She would walk with her head down because she was shy but, our school mates would say it was because she was stuck-up. She was a model and went on the same photo shoots as Heather Locklear (before she was famous). She modeled for great designers, and I have a picture of her with "Blackwell." She won runner up for Miss Teen USA. She appeared on "Merv Griffin" when he had a talk show, and she was "hated!"

Girls could not say that they hated her because she was beautiful—that would show their insecurity. They had to make up other things. Well, my beautiful, quiet and heartbroken friend committed suicide on July 5, 1978 by taking poison. Just out of school with, we were going into our "Senior Year." My beautiful friend who was lousy at sports, did not really like to wear dresses, contributed the money she made modeling to her household because her father left and her mother cleaned houses to keep food on the table. This conception that people had of her, stuck up, model, "Life of Riley" was the total opposite of the selfless, loving, insecure, heartbroken and lost young girl.

With all of the attention on bullying, lets remember that it can happen to anyone, at anytime, and whether or not kids realize it now, they will regret not being a better friend later. I loved my friend and I will miss her until the day I die. Let's take care of what we have now—let's come alongside the broken-hearted, the friendless, the insecure no matter how they act or what they look like, because it goes deeper than anyone can imagine. Let's teach our kids to love. Let's ask them about kids that have it harder than they do and let's ask them to reach out to these kids at school.