Dear Dad ("Sir") -
Remembering you on Father's Day 2019, and thought I'd give you an update on the family, and life in general. First, an update on Mom: She's hanging in there at Sunrise, and doing ok, although she misses you very much. But she's being cared for, and Paul and Kar visit regularly on Fridays and Sundays - bring her a meal, supplies, snacks (cheese puffs and Quinoa chips!), keep her wine bar fully stocked and keep her room clean. So she's comfortable, but the food is still lousy. She's ok with breakfast and lunch, but generally skips dinner. Has a regular group she sits with, including a woman named Ruth that she's become friendly with. Otherwise, she says that most of the ladies she sits with are "out of it," and can't really hold a conversation.
The big news to share is that Kate got married last week to Ian! Beautiful wedding ceremony at the Valley Forge Chapel. Eileen and I rented a van, and took Mom to the wedding and the reception, which was at the Philander Chase Knox Estate, right nearby in Valley Forge Park, just across the covered bridge. Knox was a politician who was Attorney General under Teddy Roosevelt, and then Secretary of State under Taft. He built the Estate in the late 1800's, and lived there until he passed in 1903. Robert Ryan Caterers runs the place now, and has turned it into a lovely wedding venue.
Big crowd was there - probably over 150. Joe's family was all there: Gene (he looks great - still going strong, and did one of the readings); Christopher and Gina and their 2 girls, and Chrissy was there too - lives in Florida now with husband Rudy; Ann and John - (he's the Optometrist, remember?); and Jane was there, too with Seamus and 3 of their kids. Willie and Bonnie were there, too - with "the midgets" who are all grown up! Kristen is into fashion and makeup, wants to be a chemist, and Daniel is tall and handsome, and in college now. Karen's old friend Evie was there with husband Howard. Howard finally sold his printing business, and coaches soccer at Haverford in retirement.
Mom stayed at the wedding reception until pretty late - wasn't until around 10:00 pm when we got back to Sunrise. Mom said she had a wonderful time, got to see a lot of friendly faces, and had a nice dinner with a glass of wine, cake and coffee, too!
On the sports scene, Villanova made it into the second round of the NCAA tournament, and hopes were high that they’d repeat (they won the tournament again last March!). They beat Seton Hall in the first game - and I went to that game at Madison Square Garden with cousin Pete! But the Wildcats then ran into a tough Purdue team, and got thumped in the second round 87 - 61. They took the choke big time! Virginia eventually won the title - beat Texas Tech in the championship game. The Phillies are doing well this year - now just a game and a half behind the crummy Braves. But they’ve got no pitching, as usual, and I don’t think they’re going anywhere. Spent $330mil on Bryce Harper - an all time record deal, that took him out of free agency from the Nationals, which I’m happy about, but I think the jury’s still out on him. He’s got 12 homers, but only a .250 batting average so far this year. Hope it’s not another Ryan Howard bust! Eagles made it into the playoffs, but weren’t able to repeat (they won the Super Bowl in 2018!). Crummy Patriots won - beat the Rams. It was a lousy game this year, Rams just didn’t show up.
We just finished up the Horse Show a couple of weeks ago, and Eileen was Co-Chair this year! Big job, but she did really well - and I was really proud of how she handled all of the politics beforehand, and a bunch of issues that developed during the show. You would have loved hearing the crazy stories about Devon this year - they even had a mom with her two daughters arrested for shop lifting! Speaking of stories; Eileen’s business is still going strong, and she still works with all of those nutty contractors you used to love hearing about! Main Line Richie the painter, and Doughboy the delivery guy. She’s got another project in Nantucket, and will probably have “Dough” the delivery guy handle all of the furniture deliveries. They have to drive the delivery truck to a Ferry in Connecticut, and then take the Ferry to Nantucket - big production! She misses telling you her stories, and hearing your laugh, but we still tell Mom about all the craziness with Eileen's projects, and she loves to hear about them.
I’m still working at Olympus, and really liking my job! Responsibilities changed in April, and I now have a few people reporting to me. Gave up the Ethics Officer role after 4 years. Transitioned it over to our Compliance department. It was a good run, and I’m happy I did it, but the Officer job had grown to a point where it needed more bandwidth to keep it going. So it was a good move for me. I’m still in HR, managing compliance, and running that employee hotline we used to talk about (and have a few laughs about). Some of the things our employees report are just crazy - you can’t make this stuff up! I hope to retire from Olympus - maybe another 5 years or so?? But I do enjoy it, so no hurry at this point.
So that’s about it for now. I miss you, Dad, and miss our great conversations. But I know that you are in Heaven, and that it is a wonderful place, beyond imagination. And I know that Mom wants so much to see you again and be with you there someday. For now, she is patiently waiting, and is well taken care of. So please don’t worry, she’s doing fine.
So I hope to keep in touch over this remembrance website, and will share stories and updates from time to time.
Love always, Jimmy
