A Lost Friend

Casey was my Dad's closest friend since childhood. Dad and Casey went to high school together in Lithuania. They also attended college as fellow Displaced Persons, and they remained tight during the time the two men were in Germany.

After my Parents emigrated to the United States, Dad remained in touch with Casey for a time. Casey settled into a new life near Bogota, Columbia.

The two men saw each other only one more time after the war years. In 1955, Casey visited my Parents once my Parents had moved to Suburban Chicago. It was during that visit that Casey brought my mother the Colombian pocketbook that she carried for many years. Casey also gifted a small oil painting, depicting a typical Colombian village. You can see the framed piece here, behind the swell lamp and again here, behind my Dad's head.

My Dad and Casey lost touch after the mid-1950s, and we don't know what became of Casey.

 
Stuttgart, Germany, 1946. Casey and my Dad pose for a photo as fellow college students. My Dad had elegant hands.
 

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Suburban Chicago, Summer 1955. Casey stands near the door of my Parents' new apartment building during his last visit with my Dad.

An Influential Friend

When my Dad was a high school student, he had planned to study medicine. In his teens, he became close friends with a classmate, Casey. Casey convinced my Dad that it would be more interesting for the two of them to study agricultural sciences together.

My Dad and Casey enrolled in the agriculture program in Lithuania. When they fled to the Displaced Persons camps at the end of the war, Dad and Casey continued their studies in Germany. Dad took classes in Stuttgart.

The plan to study agricultural sciences was a wrong turn for Dad. When he emigrated to Brooklyn—and then relocated to urban Chicago—there was little demand for someone with an agriculture degree. Dad therefore retooled himself and went back to school in the States.

Casey emigrated to South America, where he put his agricultural training to use. He became the owner of a coffee-bean plantation. Casey sent photos to my Dad of himself riding horseback around his property and harvesting his crops. Late in the 1950s, Casey sent my Mom a Colombian pocketbook that she carries in this photo.

Do you have a person in your history to whom you attribute a "sea change" in your life? Or is there a moment you can identify as a turning point for you?

Kaunas, Lithuania, June 1941. Casey and my Dad take a break during classes during their first year in college.

A Shared Joy

Columbia, 1954. Casey knew about my Dad's love of kayaking. Casey wrote, "Here's another Lithuanian friend with whom I've had great success kayaking."

Day Trip

My Dad and his friend, Casey, took a day trip to Akademija, a small town near Kaunas, Lithuania.

This is another photo on which my Dad wrote the precise date.

Dotnuva, Lithuania, February 12, 1943. Casey balances on a folk art wood carving.

Exchanging Portraits (Part 43)

Vienna, Austria, about 1948. Someone painted a portrait of my Dad's friend, Casey, and Casey photographed the painting.

Cooling Off

Colombia, September 1954. My Dad's friend Casey and his kayaking companion jump in. Casey wrote, "We're in the lake already."

City Tour

Vienna, Austria, about 1949. My Dad's friend Casey visits Maria-Theresien-Platz.

Loading

Colombia, 1954. Casey and a friend prepare to leave for the kayaking trip.

Cigarette Break

Colombia, about 1952. My Dad's friend Casey—in the plaid shirt—meets with fellow immigrants on his coffee-bean plantation.

A New Environment

Colombia, about 1954. My Dad's friend Casey sets out for morning chores.

Boggy Reunion

 
Colombia, 1954. My Dad's friend Casey sent this snapshot to illustrate the flora near his farm.

Field Work

Colombia, about 1954. Workers at Casey's coffee plantation tend the field.

Travel Clothes

Unknown Location, about 1949. My Dad's friend Casey sent this vacation memento.

Why so Glum?

Forest, Lithuania, about 1938 or 1939. My Dad, on the right with the eye glasses, cooks some food over a campfire. Dad's friend Casey sits in the back, with the curly shock of dark hair.

War was just around the corner.

Dad wrote a precise date on this photo: April 30, 1939. I don't know whether the date signified a school-related milestone, or whether he remembered the date because World War II erupted in the European theater three months later, when Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939.

This photo may be from a high-school field trip. My Dad studied at Aušros Gimnazija in Kaunas. Here, the boys wear those uniform caps that identify the high school.

Kaunas, Lithuania, April 30, 1939. My Dad—on the far left, with a carnation in his lapel—is with some high-school classmates and teachers. Dad's friend Casey stands in the center, wearing the unbuttoned, light-colored trench coat.

Another Mystery Location

Lithuania, about 1943. My Dad popped this snapshot of his friend, Casey, into an envelope marked "Lietuva," or "Lithuania." If you know the location at which Dad took this photo, then please leave a comment.

Familiar

Colombia, August 1954. My Dad's friend Casey wrote, "We're kayaking, and we approach a lake. The view through the trees was so familiar, this could have been in Europe."

Another Glimpse at the Party

Here's a third view of the guests at my Parents' wedding reception:

Schweinfurt, Germany, 1948. My Dad's face is partially visible on the far left. The young man sitting between the two women is my Dad's friend, Casey. Check out the hydrangeas.

Adjusted

Colombia, about 1954. My Dad's friend Casey has adapted to the new, South American, life.

Oakbrook Center Opens

Oakbrook Center opened in March 1962, and our family began frequenting the shopping center a few months later.

Oakbrook was a special place. Even if a family could not afford to shop at all of the stores, it always could enjoy the flowers and other seasonal decorations.

Oakbrook punctuated many occasions for me. I went to the old Oakbrook "UA Cinema" on my first date. The movie was A Touch of Class with Glenda Jackson and George Segal. I had dinner at "The Magic Pan" on the night I graduated from high school. I used to meet my Godmother at Henrici's for lunch. When I started interviewing for university jobs, Mom took me to Oakbrook to select a suit. After I got a job, she indulged me by buying a pair of unforgettable shoes at one of the Oakbrook stores. Mr. Irene and I selected our engagement rings at the Oakbrook Marshall Field's. Mom and I picked out Mom's "mother-of-the-bride" dress at Oakbrook's Lord & Taylor.

Oakbrook, Illinois, August 1962. The shopping center always plants beautiful flowers. In the spring, it is full of tulips. That's the famous, round Sears store in the background.
 

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Oakbrook, Illinois, August 1962. My paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, my Mom, and I sit near one of the fountains. We are in front of the Sears store. Mom holds the pocketbook that my Dad's friend, Casey, brought from Colombia.
 

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Oakbrook, Illinois, August 1962. Ah! That dress is so fresh in my memory, I can almost hear the rustle of the fabric.
 

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Oakbrook, Illinois, August 1962. Well, hello there.