When you are dead, you are not forgotten.

If you don’t believe it, just take a gander at the school board ballot for Salt Creek’s upcoming election. Four people are on the ballot, but the strange thing is that one of the candidates, John Wargo, is dead.

Wargo died Oct. 13 following a heart attack. His name was on the ballot prior to his death and it has yet to be removed. However, now that the deadline (no pun intended) is past, his name cannot be removed. So, he could retain his seat as board member of Salt Creek Elementary School District 48.

Salt Creek Superintendent John Belletini said Wargo “will receive a lot of votes because many people may not be aware he had died.”

It is a bit amazing to think that the residents of the district do not know that Wargo died. He served on the board for 18 years, and he was a self-employed accountant and a major influence with the board because of his financial expertise.

Even though he was on the board for nearly two decades, his death remains a mystery to some, and now that he remains on the ballot, another mystery might be unfolding. This time it has to do with what will happen if he is elected. Representatives from the district say this type of thing has never happened before.

For the school district, this could be a trying time. For Wargo, this could be another chapter in a life that many thought was over.