Dear grandkids: As I write this letter to you, eleven of you grandkids are 23 years and older. Emme is 16, Claire is 11, and Lily is 9. Cal, you are the oldest at 29. I point this out in order for you to get a perspective on a story about my mother, Adele, who … Continue reading The Little House on…Walker St. →

Like most families in Braidwood in the 1940s and 1950s, meal time was almost always at home except during the school year when lunches were packed in a lunch box or a paper sack. My first two grade school years were at the East Side school…my lunch box also had a thermos of milk. The next … Continue reading Eating Out: a Rare Treat →

“It wasn’t the Nazis that we feared. It was the Soviets.” John Valaitis His story was unknown to me until many years after our playing days at Lewis College. Our 1959-60 team was comprised of teammates from Chicago area high schools, one from Peoria, and one from Braidwood.  Other than their schools, I knew little about … Continue reading John Valaitis: WWII Refugee and Lewis Teammate →

"Mathematics is like childhood diseases. The younger you get it, the better." Arnold Sommerfeld Childhood Diseases and Accidents Childhood Afflictions Scarlet fever, diphtheria, rheumatic fever, influenza, smallpox, mumps, chicken pox, polio, TB, and whooping cough. The one disease that Mom feared the most was “polio.” It seemed as if all the kids in Braidwood sooner … Continue reading Braidwood Health Care: 1940s →

Until one traces his steps backwards, starting with his current state and then patiently walking toward the beginning of his life, only then can he comprehend the "plan-less plan" that evolved. As if it had been designed at the moment of conception and crawled directly to its destiny. Each step had rested on ADAPTING TO … Continue reading Jobs: Adapting to the Unpredictable →

L-R: Judy Stahl, Emagene Hall, Nancy Todd, Pamela Magill, Karen Anderson, Barbara Parrish, Marthanie Carmon Karen and I were both raised in Braidwood but didn’t know each other. Although she is 8 years younger than me, we walked and rode our bikes down the same streets, shopped in the same stores, and knew most of … Continue reading Two Kids from Braidwood: Two Worlds Apart  →

“Isn’t it the responsibility of succeeding generations to capture the best from the preceding generation, build on it, reject the negatives, and establish its own legacy of progress? Many positive elements of the past can serve as a foundation for the future, but we know that the previous era also needs to be critiqued and … Continue reading The “20-Somethings” Will Do It →

“Eenie, meanie, miney, mo…" I was 6-years old, a first grader at the Braidwood East Side School, when I learned that this little ditty contained an offensive word, a word that should not be repeated.  One of my classmates corrected me while we were waiting for school to start that day. The word: “nigger.” Obviously, my … Continue reading Why Racial Justice is Important to Me →