The Eighth-Grade Science Fair

Although Mr. Irene and I grew up in the same Chicago suburb, we attended different grade schools. Both schools were Catholic insitutions, run by nuns, but they stood at opposite ends of the town, about eleven blocks apart.

Mr. Irene and I each enrolled in our grade schools' Eighth-Grade Science Fairs. Participating schools sent two or three "winners" to the Illinois State Science Fair. The Illinois State Science Fair took place at Assembly Hall, on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Coincidentally, both Mr. Irene and I were sent to the Illinois State Science Fair by our respective grade schools. That's the first time we officially intersected, even though our families had known of each other since the Displaced Persons days back in Seligenstadt.

Urbana, Illinois, May 11, 1972. We arrive at Assembly Hall. Did most land-grant universities build such mushroom-cloud structures?

*     *     *     *     *

Urbana, Illinois, May 11-12, 1972. Mr. Irene stands next to his science project. His patterned shirt complements the plaid jacket.

*     *     *     *     *

Urbana, Illinois, May 11-12, 1972. My poster looks more professional, no? I sewed that dress. It was a pink-and-white polyster piece.

*     *     *     *     *

Urbana, Illinois, May 12, 1972. It's the awards ceremony. My Dad had a wicked sense of humor.