Editor’s Note: In December 1988, Cathy and I had the usual Christmas gathering for family at our home in Northbrook, Illinois. Time or a defect, or both, has rendered inaudible and unwatchable the 8mm tape of the event. I was able to salvage a few still frames showing most of those in attendance. In this one minute montage of rescued still frames, it’s hard to recognize who’s who even with the added captions. It’s even harder to think people were having a good time. Nonetheless, see if you can recognize, Livie Riboud, Mel, Owen and Willard Thompson, Irene and Ray Walters, Patricia and Walter Heffron, Roberta, Jack and Meg Lynch, Margaret Casey, Frank, Susan, David and Austin Lynch, Noah and Kris Wernstedt, Sarah Lynch, and my brother Dick Bowe with his wife Greta.

One particularly fond memory of mine from this evening is when I introduced Frank Lynch to our cul-de-sac neighbor John Stamos. Frank immediately recognized John as one of the seven Illinois Supreme Court Justices. With faux humility and a smile on his face, Frank extended his hand, bowed as if about to kiss John’s ring, and said to him in a low voice, “Your Grace.”