Flight

Venice, Italy, April 1984. If you visit Venice, then expect—and accept—tourists (and pigeons).

My alma mater is in the news.

A Newsweek article about Trinity High School.

Thanks to my classmate Nora for pointing this article out to me.

Departing for Spring Break

Evanston, Illinois, March 1977. Mr. Irene's freshman-year roommate travels in good company.

Remember when 17 politicians ran in the primaries?

That was in 1976. One of the candidates was Terry Sanford, a former North-Carolina Governor and President of Duke University. He later served in the United States Senate.

Sanford also served as chair of the ITT International Fellowship Committee. Sanford and his wife, Margaret, toured southern Italy with the American recipients of the 1983-1984 fellowship.

When I met Governor Sanford, I did not know who he was. During the trip, I learned he was a true gentleman. He was kind in spirit, thoughtful, and buoyant.

Positano, Italy, May 1984. This was a memorable meal: spaghetti with cuttlefish and squid.

"How yarn bombing grew into a worldwide movement."

A TED Talk.

Clinical Education

Erlangen, Germany, about 1946 or 1947. Mom remembers many medical-school clinics in the center of the college town.

Religion Class

River Forest, Illinois, January 13, 1976. Religion classes were mandatory at my high school. Few of us took the classes seriously, and we usually tried to find a course that wasn't very "religiony." This photo is from one of those classes, Marriage Class.

The requirement that students wear uniforms did not mute self-expression.

Castle Park

Erlangen, Germany, about 1946 or 1947. Here's another postcard Mom saved from her medical-school days. This is not the same park Mom frequented.

Grading

River Forest, Illinois, November 1975. A teacher at my high school uses the time between classes to review a few papers.

A University Street

Erlangen, Germany, about 1946 or 1947. This postcard features a scene from the medical-school campus.

"Bonjour!"

River Forest, Illinois, November 1975. Here's another snapshot from my stint as a high-school yearbook photographer. The woman on the right is the Dominican sister who taught French. I enrolled in French-language classes after I completed my two years of Latin study. She was an amazing teacher: she never allowed us to speak English in her classroom. I felt nearly fluent in French after I completed the coursework.

This teacher's training was so good that when I enrolled in college, I tested out of the foreign-language requirement and earned the equivalent of four years' credit in French. I was so excited when I learned the news that I called her from my dorm room telephone to thank her.

(Does anyone still install terrazzo floors [distinguishable from "terrazzo tiles"]? The Venetian apartment in which I lived had them, too. I just love them.)

"A Lady Physician of Medicine"

Brooklyn, New York, 1952. I described earlier—here and here—how some doubted Mom's medical training. Mom hired a lawyer to expedite receipt of her medical-school paperwork. Here's the transcript the university supplied when Mom applied for an Illinois license.

Recently Found

Kaunas, Lithuania, October 31, 1941.  I was digging through Dad's memento box, and I found this image attached to his agricultural-college identification booklet. Dad earned his highest grade at the school in a course called "Political Economics."

Campus Memento

Erlangen, Germany, about 1946 or 1947. This postcard features an image of the building in which Mom attended anatomy class.

Translations

This is the Lithuanian-German dictionary my Dad used when he was a Displaced Person in Schweinfurt.

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It's in rough shape.

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Dad lived in the American-occupied zone of postwar Germany, and the U.S. Army authorized publication of this dictionary.

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The dictionary is pretty basic.

A Poor Listener

Suburban Chicago, February 1964. I'm not paying attention to the poetry recitation; I'm watching Dad.

Related by Marriage: The Summer Class

Marine Biological Laboratories, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, Summer 1981. Mr. Irene, students, and faculty gather for the physiology class picture. Mr. Irene, wearing the shades, sits fifth from right in the front row. You might recognize the instructor sitting next to Mr. Irene, on his right.

Related by Marriage: Explorer

Los Angeles, California, about 1962. Mr. Irene's Los Angeles Cousin contemplates the future.

Thanks to Los Angeles Cousin for making this photo available to us.

Graduation Stage

Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, June 1980. Who was the speaker at your graduation? The speaker at our graduation was Abner Mikva.

Check that diploma.

Chicago, Illinois, August 1958. The woman behind my Dad appears to inspect the details.