John Hersey High School Head Librarian Bruce Janu talks about the school’s namesake Tuesday morning on the eve of the 80th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing that Hersey chronicled. Janu painted the mural of the city’s Genbaku Dome, which was the only structure left after the bomb exploded. Brian Hill/bhill@dailyherald.com

Bruce Janu admits nuclear proliferation wasn’t on his mind on graduation day 1986 at John Hersey High School, when the Arlington Heights school’s namesake returned for a final time to speak at commencement and take questions from students.

“When I was a senior, I just wanted to graduate. And you know, the fact that John Hersey was there, it didn’t really register too much,” Janu said. “I mean, I shook his hand. He was at the graduation. He spoke. But I wasn’t like,

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