Paul Richard Hain

Yesterday, Maxwell and Marcie, our two standard poodles took a walk with me as the day was transitioning to nighttime.  The sun had set about fifteen minutes earlier.  The sky was a beautiful mix of deep colors, cloud   formations and the dark azure above me.  It was a magnificent moment that faded over the next five minutes or  .  so.I was so grateful to have lived to see it.  My dogs pay little attention to the sky.  They like sniffing the leaves along the edge of the road.  They are my companions, though and we enjoy each other's compan.

Another of our tribe of Niles West Indians has left us.  I got a call from Cathy, Tom Hansen's wife who told me that he passed away yesterday as the day came to an end.  He was in the Cleveland Clinic, awaiting a heart transplant when he lost his battle.  This must have happened when I was watching the sky.  I don't know if it's soulfulness, sentimental, wishing or if there is something more to it, but the sky holds a mystical magnificence to me and it is my hope that those who have passed somehow are enjoying the same beautiful view, as me.

Tom was a sprinter in high school.  He could run, and after a race, his heart-rate would be in the 50's. We joked about how that was possible.   About five years ago, his heart would go so slow that he began to black out.  That began treatment including a Pacemaker and heart monitor.

His career had been a professional black smith in southern Illinois.  Cathy retired as a school librarian and Tom sold the black smith shop.  They headed west to Placitas, NM and personally built a beautiful desert hacienda bed and breakfast called The Blue Horse.  They ran it for about 15 years.  About a year ago, they decided to sell The Blue Horse and move to Cleveland, OH where their oldest daughter and family live.  Good thing.  Because Tom's health problems got worse and were well-served by the Cleveland Clinic.  Tom and Cathy have two daughters, Laura and Carrie and four grandchildren.  

Tom and I were friends for more than sixty years, and I will miss him dearly.  No arrangements are made at this point.  For those of you who knew Tom and want to send a card, please contact me for the address.

David Steinberg (Noel)

Great  memories about Jack and Paul!

All the Best to Jane Stenson grads, 

David Steinberg Noel

Jack Edmund Bookwalter

Jack Edmund Bookwalter

Jack Edmund Bookwalter

Jack Edmund Bookwalter

Stewart Myrent

Paul, saw your post about the passing of Tom Hansen, your friend of 60+ yrs.  I don't remember Tom, but I'm pretty sure we had a graduating class of 450-500 students, & I'm sure I couldn't possibly have met everyone in the class.  I seem to remember having closer relationships with those who attended grade school with me, in my case Lincoln Hall.  One of the weirdest things about being in your early (mid?) 70's, is that, you can know a person for 60+ yrs.  The first thing I think of when I hear of a couple celebrating a 50th or 60th wedding anniversary, is that they BOTH lived long enough to reach that milestone.  My parents were married for 35 yrs., but my mother passed in 1976 (over 40 yrs. ago) from breast cancer, at age 53.  My father made it to 90.  I'm fairly confident my parents would have made it to a 50th or 60th anniversary, if my mother had survived.  Which is why I've been thinking for the longest time, that if you're in a long-standing relationship with another person, you would prefer to be the first to go.  At that point, any problems you had are done, over.  For the one who's left, however, it's a totally different story - any problems are still there, & you have to deal with the loss of this very important person in your life.  But, Paul, I really liked the story of Tom & his wife moving to Placitas, NM (wherever that is) & building a hacienda bed & breakfast - The Blue Horse (good name).  Sounds fairly idyllic to me.  So, he had a good life - and you & his wife & his 2 daughters are left behind to deal with this loss.  Sorry to hear about it, even though I don't remember Tom.

Stewart Myrent

After my last post, I realized some of you, maybe not many, have already reached, or are fast approaching, a Golden Wedding Anniversary, & are looking forward to a 60th.  Congrats!  You are truly blessed.  And, also very lucky, of course.   My marriage lasted 22 yrs. & I am still very close with my ex-wife.  She is one of the all-time great girls!  (Although she is 63 now - maybe I shouldn't refer to her as a girl.)  But, that's another story.  So, I started thinking about these long-standing marriages, 50 yrs. plus, & I started wondering, after the first 20 or 30 yrs., is part of it, in fact, habit?  I realize part of it, is acceptance.  None of us is perfect - even though we are looking for that perfect person (the one that has 0% chance of actually existing) & we finally realize that THIS other person, is as close as I'll ever find.  So, it's OK if they're 95% of my ideal.  I'll just have to accept them with their (few) flaws, or faults.  So, I am curious, first of all, how many of you have already celebrated, or will soon celebrate, a Golden Wedding Anniversary?  I would also appreciate any feedback on my thoughts about long-standing marriages.  I would be very interested to know.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Crossing the threshold - our children are messengers to a future we will never see.

Condolences to Tom Hansen's family and friends.

Nancy Doyle (Sudlow)

My granddaughter is a junior at Niles North and participates in several choral groups at the school.  Last night was their winter concert.  They ended the program with the Hallelujah Chorus just as we did at our winter concerts over 50 years ago.  It was wonderful.  Such good memories.

Beverlee Ann Arpan (Marshall)

Nancy,  I also remember our Christmas concert senior year when a member of concert choir, with Mr. McGee at the helm.  Funny what the mind retains. I remember singing with Snookie Perri, Pat Bateman and Janis Kliphardt in the alto section.  My twin brother, John, and Len Bennett sang in the base section, Kerry Kenney and Lee Miller we’re part of the tenor section, and Amy Gabriel, our best soprano, years later, sang with the Chicago Symphony.   Nancy Doyle and Holly Thompson accompanied the choir and orchestra on the piano.  The Hallelujah Chorus was the highlighted finale. Thanks for the fond memories, Nancy, who remains a close friend to this day.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

   What will money buy?

Paul Richard Hain

Some of us who were part of the Concert Band joined the Orchestra and Choir to perform the Hallelujah Chorus. I remember it well, the antiphonal sound and blends of voices and instrument. A few concert band members that come to mind are Jack Bookwalter, Nancy Novak, Scott Mermel and Mike Hansen. I'm sure I am missing others. That program was always a highlight for me each year.  Was it just my perception that Mr. Magee barely tolerated us band members?

Beverlee Ann Arpan (Marshall)

Anyone have a guess what Janis’s post of a banana duck taped to ? with the caption “what will money buy?” means?  I haven’t stopped laughing.

Scott Mermel

The "Hallelujah Chorus" will always be a fond memory for me (even though I'm Jewish!).  If you remember, we had band members in the balcony and along the sides of the auditorium, so the sound produced was incredible!  Every time I hear it played during the holiday season, I remember the times we performed it during the Christmas Concert at West.  It's become more poignant recently as when I hear it, I remeber recent the losses of Mr. Groeling and our classmate and trumpet player, Larry Burkhardt.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

    How do we place value on material goods?

    A banana duct-taped to a wall sold for $120,000 at Miami's Art Basel this week.

    Two of three editions have been sold, each for $120,000.

    The final edition is expected to go for $150,000.

 Why?

    What happens when the bananas start to rot?

    No problem,

    the art connoisseurs buy more bananas to duct-tape to the wall.

 Art is in the eye of the beholder.

    Facts are not.

    Neither is hunger.

Beverlee Ann Arpan (Marshall)

Yikes!  And, there is no accounting for taste.  

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Does anyone know?

Is the banana duct-taped to the wall a scam?

There's nothing new about fake news, it's old as time.

Things we think or wish could have been true are easier to believe.

Are these banana transactions plausible?

The artist claims he spent a year working on the piece (yes, he really said that), "agonizing over whether to make the banana resin or bronze"... but eventually woke up one day and said, "the banana is supposed to be a banana."

Paul Richard Hain

Very interesting explanation regarding the state of art appreciation these days, Janis.  Do you think the purchasers that paid $120,000 may have been contributing to a group that supports the arts?  I'll tell you a true story. In the summer after my sophomore year in college, I met a small group of art students.  One was a man eight or nine years my senior.  What some would call a perpetual student.  He complained how art students (like himself) struggle to make enough money for paint, brushes and canvases while Picasso was the wealthiest artist on the planet.  Couldn't he donate some money or even a pencil drawing to hungry art students so they could continue their education.  

The friends convinced him to put his request in a letter and mail it to Picasso, who at the time was living in the south of France.  He airmailed off his letter and did not think of it again.  One day the letter came back marked "return to sender."  On the back of the envelop, Picasso had drawn a pencil drawing of a horse and tree by a balcony and signed it, "Picasso."  What a surprise!  Picasso (unless it was his publicist) had slit open the envelop, carefully taped it shut and wrote "return" on the front.

The art student now had an original Picasso.  Would he sell it to buy art materials?  No way! He kept it!  That a letter with a picture drawn by Picasso made it back to the sender without getting stolen amazes me.  That is a true story and I would not have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself.

Stewart, I guess I am a lucky guy to have known Tom Hansen for 64 years.  He is not the only long-time friend.  Jack Bookwalter is a friend even longer than that by about a year and David Steinberg Noel is right about 60 years.  The Message Forum helped bring us back together after our lives diverged from high school.  Nowadays, life has changed from ambition to caring about people old and new.  Scott spoke true words about the large role Mr. Groeling played in the lives his students. As adults a few years before his passing, he would join our German Band reunion at Mermel's house and bring the music and laughter back again.  Let those good memories swell up in thought.  That's what matters.

Scott Mermel

The banana was eaten as "performance art"!!!  Read this article:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/performance-artist-eats-120-000-banana-duct-taped-wall-calls-n1097696?cid=public-rss_20191208

You couldn't make this up!

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

                        "Hungry Artist"  

a performance artist ripped the banana duct-taped to a wall from its delicately positioned perch, ate the banana, and called it "very delicious".

The gastronomical action was proclaimed "art performance" at Miami's Art Basel.

Gallery spokespeople said, "The art work was not destroyed by the performance artist."

"The banana is the idea."

The banana comes with "instructions" that "the banana should be replaced as necessary."

Scott's link, a click away:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/performance-artist-eats-120-000-banana-duct-taped-wall-calls-n1097696?cid=public-rss_20191208

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Carnivore: "I only eat meat."

Herbivore: "I only eat plants."

Omnivore: "Food is food."

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

We are all septuagenarians.  Some of our classmates will live at least 25 more years.

Some of our classmates have children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren(?)

This site gives us the opportuntity to celebrate our classmates and the memories we share, and to move forward in the company and with the perspective of dear friends and acquaintances, looking to the future.

Paul, as you share, the struggle of young artists is storied... crazy as the banana transactions are, if interest in the banana duct-taped to a wall could be measured in $$$, it seems there would be thousands for paint brushes, canvasses, tubes of paint for young artists and for art education.

Stewart Myrent

I just wanted to relate an amazing thing that I was part of this past weekend.  I had been invited to an engagement party for my niece, Emily (my brother's daughter) & her fiance Brendan at their bldg. in downtown Chicago, by Navy Pier.  The party started at 6PM & around 8PM, Emily's brother, Noah, made an announcement that we know you all think that you're here for an engagement party, but we're not going to wait to announce a wedding date, because we're going to do the wedding tonight.  There were probably 80-100 people there & everyone was shocked.  I actually thought that I hadn't heard him correctly, but I did.  My nephew had been ordained by Universal Life Church, to marry people in a specific state, for the nominal fee of $40.  They then read their vows, which I really liked when my niece mentioned, in her vows, how much they laugh together all the time.  The reason I really liked that, is that at the pizzeria where I work, with many young kids (late teens to early 20s), I have told quite a few of them, that when they are choosing a mate & deciding to settle down, the most important thing to find in a future partner, is a well-developed sense of humor, because they're going to need that down the road, to deal with the inevitable bad things, that will be coming their way.  I don't know if any of them got that, but I'm fairly sure, you all do.  Don't know if Noah's authority to marry people in Illinois is legal, or not, but they had gone to City Hall in Chicago the day before, & gotten married there.  Needless to say, everyone there were not only shocked & stunned, but had (of course) a great time.  Well, not everyone there were shocked & stunned, because my brother & his wife, Emily & Brendan, Brendan's parents & Noah & his wife, were all in on it.  There was one other person who knew, my daughter, Lauren, who is pretty close with Emily, & she never said a word.  I had picked up my stepmother in Buffalo Grove & my daughter (who moved to Bucktown in early August) on the way to the party.  I wound up putting on over 100 miles that day, but I didn't really mind, as it was the best wedding I was ever at.  After I got home around 11PM , I sent Emily, my brother & Noah texts, telling them all how much I loved what they did & how great the wedding was.  When I wasn't sure if I could get that night off from work, my brother told me that if I couldn't get that time off, they were going to have to tell me about the wedding plans.  But, I did get the night off & I'm so glad that I did.  I would have hated to miss the occasion & how horrible it would have been if I had to call my daughter on Sunday, to see how the engagement party went, only to find out that I had missed my niece's wedding.  I had NEVER been to a wedding like that.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Happy🎂Birthday, Fran.

Hope your day and the year ahead are filled with love and happiness and light.

For me you are a beacon,

you lead the way to a season that is a celebration of light.

Thanks always for encouragement and support as you beckon us forward...

Happy Birthday and all good wishes, Fran.

Janis