Awake: 5:00am Temp inside=66 sleep 5+58 overnight inside HWH
factory, Moscow, Iowa.
Kathy is up early @ 6:00am. We pack our little tote bags, retract our
slides, talk with Stacy & Tim a little who are working on that 30 ft slide
project & then, ask to have the big bay door opened to re-park our coach
in one of the outside camping sites. After loading a few clothes & the
tote bags into the Suzuki, we leave the HWH facility @ 8:15am. It’s about
210 miles to our destination in Chicago, Illinois & it took us close to 4
hrs.
Kathy hints for me to drive by her old homestead on 72nd Court in Elmwood
Park. The place looks good as well as the neighborhood in spite of all the
changes since she has seen it last. Just a few blocks away is Johnnies: we
must stop there for lunch & have her favorite & mine: Italian beef
sandwich. Wow! Now that’s something that hasn’t changed. We place an order
for 2# of Italian beef with gravy and peppers for tomorrow’s pickup. Next,
I try & find my ole hangout in Franklin Park where I lived while attending
college in Chicago. I had to ask a fellow where the church was......then I
found the former home of Mrs. Ferro whom Neal, a classmate, & I rented
from for almost a yr. She was a really nice lady.
Then to Schiller Park & our Comfort Inn; along the way, we pass Elmwood
Park High School where Kathy & I first met in the fall of 1959. Ahaa,
memories! We shower and change clothes and drive around Kathy’s
grandmother’s old house & neighborhood on the way to Saint William’s grade
school which Kathy attended. We join some of the class of 1956 & their
spouses up front in a reserved section of St William’s church for 4:30pm
Mass. The church and school facilities have seen a lot of changes in 50
years as have the students of the class of 1956. One of the first
classmates Kathy sees is Frank who married Judy, one of Kathy’s childhood
neighborhood playmates,.…and the reminiscing begins! Then, of course,
there was Sylvia, one of the organizers of this reunion; she and Kathy
have been good friends since 4th grade, having attended the same high
school and maintained a close relationship thru marriage and kids..
Afterward, we drive over to The Elmcrest, a banquet facility owned and
operated by one of Kathy’s grade school classmates, Jim, and his brother,
Al, where we enjoy a social hour with hors d'oeuvres and open bar, dining,
dancing & celebrating the evening away. A total of 78 students & spouses
out of a class of 120 students are in attendance. Kathy was obviously
well liked in grade school as she was kept very busy visiting with a lot
of her classmates. Class pictures of the students that were enlarged and
hanging on the walls drew a lot of attention. One of the girls even
brought her 8th grade autograph book which was a hoot to read. One of
their favorite teachers, Sr. Paula, flew in from CA and was a delight.
Each of the students was introduced and stood up for all to see and then
memories in a picture presentation of some of the individual “kids” when
they were in grade school as well as pictures from this evening was shown.
It was a great evening but ended too soon for Kathy as she had several
people she still wanted to visit with longer.
High temp 58 Lights out: 1:15am
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