Update from Grand Rapids

This past April has seen a number of major events in our lives and in the lives of loved ones near and far, events that range from the very good to terrible. Here we go:

As of March 31 I finished his tenure at Johnson & Wales University (that was a good thing, by the way).

On April 13 our beloved Aunt Marian Ten Have died; on April 21 was the visitation and the following day the funeral service in Grand Rapids.

On April 14 I published my guide book to the sculptures of Père-Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.

By April 15 our kitchen remodeling project was at long last complete.

On April 21 Susan served her first afternoon tea, having created and implemented the menu.

On April 25 I celebrated my 68th birthday, which Susie and I spent in Chicago at the Art Institute where we met up with my younger brother Greg and his wife Joyce.

The following day my older brother Don died in Fresno, California.

On April 29 I gave my very first presentation on the sculpture in Pére-Lachaise Cemetery to an audience made up of members of the local chapter of the L’Alliance Française.

On May 2 I flew to Fresno for the funeral of my brother, which was held the following day at Sacred Heart Church in Fresno. A former captain in the Marine Corps, he was buried with military honors in St. Peter’s Cemetery.

On May 4 I returned home and learned that I’d been asked to give another presentation, this time on Paris Cemeteries this autumn at Aquinas College’s lifelong learning center.

All our love to the Sopers in California and Illinois, to the Galloways and Ten Have-Chapmans in Michigan and the Loaney’s in Missouri.

Life is short. Go to Paris.