#515 – Dick Bernard: "I Will Always Love You" Whitney Houston, and others

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A little medley for the day of the Grammy’s.
The news just in that Whitney Houston is dead at 48. She had a great talent and a tragic life. I picked a few personal favorites from different artists off of YouTube….
Whitney is at peace.
Any favorite songs you’d like to add to this list?
Whitney Houston Here
Celine Dion here
Susan Boyle and Elaine Page here
The Judds here
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and friends, here
Elvis Presley here
Yours?
UPDATE Feb. 12 p.m.
John B: My favorite WH song was The Greatest Love of All. It is the anthem of self -esteem. Sadly, I am not sure WH practiced it.

#510 – Dick Bernard: A Memory of a long-ago Ground Hog Day

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Today is a pea-soup fog day in my town, and the temperature is about 32 degrees, so any of the resident Woodbury groundhogs have no worries about sunburn, or freezing to death. They will not see their shadow, at least not from sunlight.
But the place for groundhogs today is Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Punxsutawney Phil has been on the job since 1887, telling us about the rest of winter. Here’s something about him, and what he predicted today….
There are, of course, other groundhogs, and twenty or so years ago my Dad, Henry Bernard, recalled a story of his Dad, circa 1912 at their home on Wakeman Avenue in Grafton, North Dakota.
“I must have been four or five [Dad was born Dec 22, 1907] when this incident occurred.
My father, Henry Bernard, was the chief engineer at the flour mill. During the summer the fellows caught a woodchuck (groundhog) and put him in a cage. He was named “Pete”. Pete gave a lot of amusement to visitors. His ability to peel and eat a banana was a source of awe to visitors. However, his ability to eat a soda cracker without losing any crumbs was remarkable.
Pete was kept in the cage until fall when he became very drowsy and slept almost all the time.
Dad decided that Pete was ready to hibernate and took him home and released him in the unfinished basement that we had. Pete got busy and dug a hole in the dirt wall., “stole” bananas, apples, carrots, etc., and took them inside the hole and sealed it from the inside.
Dad remembered the story about the groundhog and on February 2nd told mother to watch and if Pete came out to send the “boy” (that was me) over to the mill to tell him.
Sure enough Pete did come out, saw his shadow and went back into the hole for another six weeks. We must have had more winter.
Then he came out again but was sickly and died shortly after. The veterinarian said it was because he lacked certain things for his diet that he would have picked up if he has run wild. Dad had Pete mounted and kept him for many years. This story was often repeated and even I have repeated it many times since that time.”
Thanks Dad.

#506 – Dick Bernard: Another Circle, Broken, towards Reunion

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This morning, in Las Vegas NV, there will be a celebration of the life of my cousin Patricia (Pat), who passed away, cancer, on January 25 at age 61. Far too young, but this is how life goes…one of the two certainties we all share: we enter, we leave….
It was not my privilege to know Pat very well. Our shared family of origin is a large and far-flung bunch and we wander into each others lives on infrequent occasions. So, the last time I saw Pat, and then only casually, was when her mother, my Aunt Mary, was celebrated on the occasion of her death in May, 2003.
Pat was part of a farm family in northeastern North Dakota, not far from Langdon – Dresden and Wales are the local names I remember. They lived not far from Canada. They went to country school, all of them, and I believe their mother was the school marm all their years in elementary school. Thence the seven siblings, all cousins of mine, went off, as most all of us do, to make their ways in the world, here and there.
Every family, every person, brings with them certain abilities and disabilities.
In Pat’s family, there was a love of music.
So, when we had our big family reunion in July, 1993, brother Carl played Grandpa Busch’s fiddle, and marvelously so.
And when they bade farewell to their Mom at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Fargo in May, 2003, the siblings were the choir, and a marvelous one.
In 2008 this family with country roots decided to put together a CD entitled “The Brehmer Family Sings Christmas Memories”, including 17 Christmas songs. Along with the CD came a small book in which each of the seven shared some Christmas memory of their own.
Here is Pat’s page: (click to enlarge).

From the booklet, "The Brehmer Family Sings Christmas Memories" 2008


I doubt that the CD is available any more, but I’d hope that someone will post one or two of the cuts on YouTube in memory of Pat. It is a marvelous testimony to a family, together.
I can’t help but humming the 1934 classic A. P. Carter/Carter family “Can the Circle be Unbroken” as I think of the Brehmer family as it bids farewell to Patricia today.
Peace, good memories and have a good day.
(Here’s a wonderful rendition of Circle, found on YouTube.)
UPDATE: from my sister and Pat’s cousin, Florence: In 2005 their first CD “The Brehmer Family Sing Their Favorite Hymns” came out. It was inspired by singing at Aunt Mary’s funeral. The siblings shared their musical memories.
Pat’s reads:
“I’ve always loved being able to hear harmony. I remember singing in the car to and from town because the car didn’t have a radio. I also hear Dad singing, “I went to see my Darling’ at our first house.
“My daughter, Kim, loved listening to Granpa sing ‘Bill Grogan’s Goat’ about eating shirts off the line. Grandpa had all these little holes in the front of his shirt from cigarette ashes and she wanted to hear the song over and over again.
“Singing Christmas Carols in the car on the way to church on Christmas Eve has always stuck with me.
“I sing Alto in the choir at church and have always found a choir to sing in where we have lived. I find it relaxes me.”

#496 – War Horse…Imagine Peace

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We went to an outstanding movie at the local theater yesterday: Steven Spielberg’s War Horse. My spouse asked me more than once, “are you all right?” It is one of those films that elicits strong emotional response. I would guess I wasn’t alone among the surprisingly large crowd in the dark, quiet theater.
War Horse opened Christmas Day and is set in WWI England and France. There are a great plenty of reviews. Take your pick.
My personal reviewer – the friend who urged us to see the movie – was my friend, 90 year old Lynn Elling, born shortly after WWI and a veteran of the Pacific war in WWII, an officer on an LST in both WWII and Korea, who saw in person the carnage at places like Tarawa (WWII ship biography for LST 172 at end of this post).
Lynn saw War Horse opening day. The Elling’s Christmas letter, received pre-release, urged receivers to see the film.
Lynn’s visit to Hiroshima in 1954 cemented his lifelong dedication to seeking enduring peace in our world; he is tireless in his quest.

Lynn Elling aboard LST 172, 1944


(click on photos to enlarge them)
Lynn’s story can be found here.
Sure, War Horse is simply a story, as are most movies we attend. But it elevates the better side of humanity.
I would suspect its timed release on Christmas Day in some way was meant to mirror the oft-told story of the Christmas Day Truce on the WWI battle lines. There are endless renditions of this true story. Here’s the portal to them – take your pick.
There is truly an opportunity for peace on earth, and it is the people like ourselves who will make it happen.
See War Horse for yourself. I don’t believe the two hours and twenty minutes will disappoint.

Lynn and Donna Elling Sep 22, 2011


The account of service of LST 172 in WWII, below (click to enlarge) and in pdf form here: Lynn Elling LST 172001
Biography of LST 172

#493 – Dick Bernard: A compliment for the Post Office as the year ends.

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This afternoon I stopped at the Woodbury Post Office to mail several packets of material.
I’m a familiar face there, and I mentioned to the clerk that I was going to do a blog post about the post office this evening.
“Oh oh”, she said, expecting the worst. This time of year people in the delivery business don’t expect kudos. “Bad” sells better than “good” on the media and the internet….
She had no reason to worry.
I want relate a story about the cousin of the little guy pictured below (click to enlarge):

Gingerbread Man


I purchased some Gingerbread men at the November 27 Minnesota Orchestra performance of Hansel and Gretel. The program, of Engelbert Humperdincks classic, was superb. (Check YouTube for many samples of Hansel and Gretel.)
The evening was in celebration of the Centennial of the Orchestra’s Young People’s Concerts, as explained in the evenings program: MN Orchestra YPSCA001. The Gingerbread men (persons?) – the dessert for the evening – were a fund raiser of/for the Young People’s Symphony Concert Association (YPSCA).
Of course we sampled the men, but there were some left over. For sure, one was saved for our friend, Annelee, who grew up in Germany. We’d see her at Christmas time and hand deliver hers.
Another I decided to send to a friend in a distant state who I knew had, years ago, been a docent for the Orchestra.
The question was, how to get the little man to a home perhaps a thousand miles away….
I decided to try the U.S. mail.
My packaging was de minimis.
I had some empty photograph boxes from the local Proex, and put Gingerbread Man in one of them, and ‘cushioned’ it with similar boxes top and bottom. I wrapped the resulting ‘box’ with plain brown paper, addressed it, and took it to the local post office. Christmas mailing season was upon us, and I stood in line. When it was my turn, I gave the clerk the box, paid the postage and left. I simply sent it ‘priority mail’. No insurance, no special handling.
I was so sure it wouldn’t arrive ‘safely’ that I took the above photo and sent it to my friend, just in case it arrived in pieces. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
A couple of days ago came a note from far away: “The cookie was whole – no cracks or crumbles.”
Success. Thanks to the people of the United States Post Office.
Sure, in an enterprise as immense and as complicated as the Postal Service, or any other delivery service for that matter, there are occasional problems.
But as it has been for its entire history, our Post Office is one of the very best services we can hope to have.
Happy New Year! And thanks to all of you who serve the rest of us, when sometimes we aren’t at our best.
Related post, here.
UPDATE December 31, 2011: In the post office line about 12:30. There was quite a lot of business at the time (it ebbs and flows, not always predictably). One worker was on duty, two stations open, they were probably at lunch. A guy went up to the counter, saying he’d been in line “an hour”. I decided to check traffic flow, which seemed normal. At the time, I was 12th in line. A second worker appeared. Perhaps twice as many in line would fill the post office – the longest lines I normally see. It took 20 minutes for me to get to the counter for service – that was less than two minutes per customer ahead of me. Of course it seemed like longer, if that was one’s mindset. Most of the problems ahead of me were we customers, ill-prepared or whatever. I don’t see how the post office could make any modifications that would eliminate complaints, fair or otherwise. People do need to have lunch. Cutbacks are taking place, and more to come (someone behind me said “it’s going to get worse”). Interesting how our little ‘society’ in the line sees the postal world; and what we can learn about ourselves. I wonder how the postal workers see us….
UPDATE January 1, 2012: From Joyce, Dec. 31: The USPS has come in for a lot of criticism this year from the right wing – too many on the right are looking to privatize this vital national service. Considering the volume of mail the USPS has to process every day, the postal workers do a wonderful job!
Also from Joyce, Jan. 1: Your addendum reminds me of how subjective the passage of time can be, depending on the circumstances and one’s mood. Specifically, I had a new family practice resident at a delivery [of a baby] with me, and I had to resuscitate the baby with a bag and mask. Afterward, the resident and I debriefed together because he was obviously shaken; he marveled that I had been “bagging” the baby for at least 20 minutes, and I had to tell him that I was timing it, and the whole episode lasted no more than 20 seconds. He found that really hard to believe, but I had to point out that the second apgar score, which is done at 5 minutes, was 9 out of 10.

#492 – Dick Bernard: Christmas all year long….

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I was at 7:30 a.m. Mass Christmas Day at Basilica of St. Mary, Minneapolis. Usually, I’m found at 9:30 a.m. They had a need for a few ushers, the time was open, so I volunteered.
Celebrant this day was Father Tim Backous. He is a regular visitor from St. John’s University in Collegeville MN, and always has a cogent and powerful message. Today was no different.
He opened his homily with reference to one of those inspirational “forwards” that tend to appear at this season of the year.
This one, as I recall it, was about a Colorado physician, enroute home for Christmas, who encountered car problems and limped into a service station for help. Inside the station was a woman, crying. The woman said she was enroute to California with her three kids to start a new life. The kids were in the car. She said she had run out of money. The physician, a woman, filled her gas tank, bought food such as it was available at the station, and gave her whatever extra money she had. And the woman was on her way.
The service people checked the physicians car to find out what was wrong, and they could find nothing amiss. She went on her way, and never again had any problems with the car.
A Christmas miracle.
Fr. Tim noted that this and similar stories are common this time of year, and indeed they are all wonderful.
“But at the risk of being labeled a Grinch”, I recall him saying, there is a larger message.
He continued, Christmas is only one day of the year, and it is useful to keep that in mind every day of every year.
It is one of those uncomfortable messages we need to hear.
Every day should be Christmas day…if not in scale, but Christmas spread out in bits and pieces through the entire year.
Merry Christmas, and 365 compassionate days in the coming year.

Manger Scene, Basilica of St. Mary, Minneapolis December 25, 2011


Basilica of St. Mary, Minneapolis MN, December 25, 2011

#491 – Dick Bernard: Heritage. An Old House on the Winter Solstice

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UPDATE: December 21, 2012: December 9 it was snowing on Heritage House, and it appeared unofficial winter had arrived. I include a photo December 9, and another taken today at noon at Heritage House as well. They are near the end of this post. The album which follows includes 48 photos. Click on any photo to enlarge it.
UPDATE: November 7, 2012: This date I went over to Heritage House to do my November photos. As the below shows, I’ve been doing these photos each month for over a year. Today was a fall day at Heritage House, overcast, cool but not cold. A feeling of coming winter, but only subtle hints of things to come. Todays trip I noticed some new information pieces about the history of the site and some explanation of its features. These are posted at the end of this page.
Here’s the original post from Dec. 22, 2011
click on all photos to enlarge them

Dec 21, 2011, 4:30 p.m.


Last August I looked for an outdoor place to do some reading.
There were a number of options in my town. Ultimately, Marsh Creek Park at the corner of Lake Avenue and Radio Drive in Woodbury spoke most convincingly. I drove near it most every day, and the little pioneer house that was its centerpiece always beckoned, but I had never actually been in there.
So, in mid-August I drove in the parking area, got out my folding chair, found a spot and started to read a book, an hour or so at a time.
Several books and two months later I packed up for the winter. But I’ll be back.
The first day I was there, I took several photos, one of which follows (click to enlarge):

1870 house at Marsh Creek Park, Woodubry MN August, 2011


The site is maintained by the Woodbury Heritage Society* and during my times there I watched people from the Society doing this and that, as well as touring (such as one can ‘tour’) the one room house (there is an upstairs, but that is closed to visitors).
The succinct history of the home, provided by the Heritage Society says that it “was built about 1870 as an attachment to the log cabin home of original property owner Frederick Raths. Raths emigrated from Germany in 1853 and purchased the Woodbury property in 1866. This addition was used by the Raths family as a kitchen and living quarters. Over the years, it has also been used as living quarters for farm hands, and as a washing room and utility room.” An earlier log structure had been attached to the house, but many years ago was removed.
As settlers to this area go, Raths was among the earlier arrivals. Minnesota became a state in 1858; the railroad didn’t even reach St. Paul until about 1867. In 1870, St. Paul’s populations was about 20,000, about a third of Woodbury’s current population. St. Paul was Minnesota’s largest city: Minneapolis/St. Anthony together did not equal the population of St. Paul in 1870.
Tours of the house are given in the summer months, but the Raths and other had to live in the dwellings of the time year round. I keep that in mind as I pass near the pioneer house every day. We romanticize what had to have been an extraordinarily difficult existence for those who came before.
Have a wonderful Christmas.
* – Woodbury (MN) Heritage Society, 8301 Valley Creek Rd, Woodbury MN 55125, 651-714-3564

The garden in the yard of the house Sep. 22, 2011.


December 21, 2011, 4:30 p.m.


NOTE: Earlier this fall I did a multi-part post on the general topic of ‘heritage’. It begins on October 5, here.
My two messages for Christmas 2011, here.
UPDATE January 7, 2012

above and below: Sunrise at Heritage House 7:50 a.m. January 7, 2012



UPDATE March 23, 2012: a single snowy day in February, and the day after “Spring has sprung”

Feb. 29, 2012: the only day with snow in February in Woodbury MN


Spring begins to spring at Heritage House,Woodbury MN, March 23, 2012


At the front entrance to the house, in memory of the pioneers.


Heritage House March 23, 2012


Spring Flower seen at Heritage House front yard March 24, 2012


April 2, 2012


Past and Present April 2, 2012


A tree at Heritage House April 10, 2012, “compares notes” with a tree in Albuquerque NM April 10, 2011: here.

Dick Bernard April 10, 2012


6:25 a.m. April 17, 2012


May 1, 2012: Robins and Dandelions, Spring in Minnesota


May 1, 2012 at Heritage House


May 1, 2012 at Heritage House


May 1, 2012


Time to replace 1870s siding...May 22, 2012


Father's Day June 17, 2012


The re-siding project continues, July 6, 2012


July 6, 2012


July 6, 2012, 95 degrees


A sunny July 6, and the sundial was absolutely precise!


From the tree in the yard of Heritage House August 4, 2012


At Heritage House August 4, 2012


Renovation on the House continues August 8, 2012


Look closely for the tiny flowers resting in the tree August 8, 2012


September 17, 2012, nearing Fall.


An old pump. September 17, 2012


Settling in for the coming first snowfall. October 10, 2012


October 10, 2012. Look carefully at the shovel, and the whimsy of some artistic type!


A year in photos at Heritage House completed. Sunrise, 7:07 a.m. on October 12, 2012, at the corner of Lake and Radio in Woodbury MN. Heritage House would be just to the right of the photo, just out of sight to the southeast. You can see the picket fence.


Letter to Editor of Woodbury Bulletin October 31, 2012: here

Nov. 7, 2012 - remnants of the summer garden


Nov. 12, 2012. A morning dusting of snow (which quite rapidly disappeared as the morning progressed.)


Dec. 3, 2012, damp and 55 degrees (average for Dec. 3 31 degrees; record temp 63)


Dec. 3, 2012


Fall falls as the first serious winter show arrives, December 9, 2012


Noon, December 21, 2012


POSTNOTE: Sometime between October 10 and November 7, 2012, the below signs were added at Heritage House, to give a visitor a better understanding of what he/she was seeing. Nice touch.

November 7, 2012


Nov. 7, 2012


Nov. 7, 2012


Nov. 7, 2012 (see next photo)


The Grove, Nov. 7, 2012


Nov. 7, 2012


Nov. 7, 2012

#489 – Dick Bernard: A memory from a Christmas Past….

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A few days ago our towns police blotter reported that someone went into a back yard and cut down and stole a developing “Christmas tree”. It was a ‘bah humbug’ moment. How this will make for a Merry Christmas for the thief is beyond me, but, whatever….
It reminded me of my all-time favorite Christmas tree story, undated but circa 1940s, related by Bigfork MN high school teacher June Johnson in December, 1985. Here is her story, as it was originally printed in Top of the Range, the newsletter for public school teachers on Minnesota’s Mesabi and Vermillion Iron Range.
“From somewhere in the deep recesses of my mind, I have plucked a Christmas memory which will be forever important to me.
Christmas on the North Dakota prairie was a time of anticipation and joy, a welcome respite from the hard times and unrelenting toil of everyday existence. Families were extremely impoverished and no “store-bought” gifts were imminent for most of the children who attended Souris #1. Excitement filled the air as mothers baked once-a-year “goodies” and sewed and baked and built gifts to be opened on Christmas morning.
The Christmas program at school was a yearly social event for the entire community. No special lights or decorations were needed to enhance the appreciation of this day. The kids had planned, practiced and revised every noon hour for a month and were ready. A tree fashioned from prairie junipers decorated with strings of popcorn and thorn apples, and various homemade decorations was in place and a few small packages were already under it.
All year I had tried to get Frederic, a reticent second grader, to talk to me. An unusually polite youngster, he always had his work done but spoke to no one if it could be avoided. After the program was over, gifts were distributed and I was singularly impressed with the ingenuity displayed in the homemade gifts which were given to me. Coffee, hot cocoa and cookies were now being enjoyed by all. At this point, I felt a tug at my sleeve and found Frederic looking up at me. As I knelt down, he quickly placed a package in my hand. While he looked on, I opened it and found a sling shot and a bag of smooth stones. As I held out my arms, he hesitated only a moment before coming to me. Then he said, “I made it for you because I love you.”
In my cedar chest (which holds all my “treasures”), I have a box which holds a sling shot, a bag of stones, and the memory of a very special little boy.”
I have never been able to type this piece without tears.
Back then, I asked June if she knew what happened to Frederic. My memory is that he became a career public official in North Dakota state government.
Best wishes for a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year.
RELATED: My 2011 Christmas message, a reflection on “neighbor”, is here.

#485 – Dick Bernard: Christmas 2011 "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" Matthew 22:39; "And who is my neighbor?" Luke 10:29

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UPDATE Related December 2011 posts can be seen here, here and here.
(click on photos to enlarge)

Back yard at home in Woodbury MN December 4, 2011


The first Christmas letter for 2011 arrived shortly after November 1 from Fargo ND. I don’t keep track of such things, but this one had to be the earliest I’ve ever received.
The correspondents were long, long-time Christmas card regulars. They were both college classmates. (Today is 50 years since the last lecture of my final college class at Valley City (ND) State Teacher’s College. It was a Monday, and I wrote it down on a slip of paper I kept for years. Out of the chains of classes and tests!!!) Oh, what I didn’t know, then….
Fifty years, of course, have brought ruts in the road of life; wrong turns, good and not-so-good luck, and lots of “good neighbors” (most not of the ‘next door’ variety, or even individuals) to ease the bumps in the road.
We aren’t individuals on our own islands. Nor are we autonomous towns, states, even nations. We’re stuck together on this sphere called earth.
It soon became obvious why Bob and Deanne’s Christmas letter came early: “This early report from Fargo is to alert all that we moved from Minot [ND] in mid-August after being driven from our home of 27 years by the raging Mouse [“Souris” in the original French] River.” There followed “good news, bad news”: they had been planning to move to Fargo anyway, and their house had been under construction since March; they had many family and friends to assist during the disaster and with the move. “We enjoyed a wonderful year until the end of May when we evacuated the first time. The dikes were raised and held, so we were allowed back by mid-June, only to be forced out later that month… [O]ur house suffered five feet of water on the main floor. We hired a firm to gut and sanitize (de-mold) the house which now is for sale as a “fixer-upper”. We hope to get at least 25 per cent of the pre-flood value.”
But, “[m]any of the 12,000 who evacuated from over 4,000 Minot homes still do not know where they will live this winter or if they will rebuild in the Souris [Mouse] River Valley. Officials may require about 1,000 homes be torn down…[under other circumstances] we now would be living in a FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency] trailer while re-building our home…We take less for granted than before the flood.”
The Christmas letter brought startling news, to say the least. It was easy to decide that this would be this years card (my 35th annual), with a “who is my neighbor?” theme. Personally, I was aware of the Minot flood, but that was all. For me, for most, being a ‘neighbor’ to Minot meant FEMA (Government) assistance paid through our taxes. This was a catastrophe much, much bigger than the neighborhood of Minot, or other smaller communities in the Souris River Valley, could handle by themselves.
The government (and its taxes) we’re being taught to despise is our base, our national infrastructure. We rely on good local, state, national government a great deal.

There are endless examples in all of our lives.
November 21 came a Thanksgiving card from Erlys, in a ND Nursing Home. She has been bed-ridden in a nursing home all the years I’ve known her. Only very rarely have I actually stopped in to visit – she was a nursing home friend of my deceased brother-in-law. Hers was just a brief note “neighbor to neighbor”. Am I her neighbor? Sure. Society is her “neighbor”. “Have a good holiday…and please return [the stamp] to me” (she apparently keeps them for some reason).

The “neighbor” text?*
For anyone Christian, this is the parable of the Good Samaritan – an outcast – who attended to a wounded and robbed traveler, while two righteous religious men passed him by along the dangerous Jericho road.
I’ve been on that actual road.
As in this example the Christian scriptures don’t give one slack when it comes to treatment of one’s “neighbors”, who are every one of us…. And the boundaries don’t stop at just “Christian”. (At the link, scroll down to Section II).
*
This message would have begun to end here, had it not been for another piece of totally unexpected news received Friday in the form of an e-mail from Fran Travisano of Glen Ridge NJ. Fran was instructor at a Retreat I attended in October, 2002, and she and her colleagues did an outstanding job. It was the only time she and I ever met in person, but we didn’t completely disappear from each others lives. We rarely kept in touch so this e-mail was a surprise.
Here is the e-mail:
“[I] am writing this to you on [Fran’s] email under heartbreaking circumstances…
“My precious, Fran (Francesca) suffered a massive stroke Tuesday night and quickly fell into a coma. Her body was not able to repair the damage and she went home to be with the Lord Thursday night with her family by her side.
I’ve sent this email to everyone in her address book.
As you can imagine, our family is devastated by this unexpected loss. Moment after moment, we are reminded of exactly how many lives she touched with her deep love for everyone. Her charity work and involvement in so many organizations is testament to the incredible spirit within her.
I’d like people to remember her as “Francesca (Bongiovanni) Travisano” as she loved the identity her childhood name gave her.
There will be a wake this Saturday and Sunday with a funeral on Monday [in Kearny NJ].
In lieu of flowers, you can send a donation to one of her charities, “Good Grief.””
I passed the word along to a few I know who knew Fran, and even out here in the Midwest the affirmations came in.
“And who is my neighbor?”
Was Fran a “neighbor” of mine; and now, her family? Absolutely.
Everybody. Everywhere. All the time. We’re all neighbors, often invisible to the other; sometimes to be depended on; other times to depend on others.
Have a wonderful Holiday and Christmas

October 23, 2002, Fran Travisano is in 2nd row 4th from right.


SUGGESTED VIEWING: Now available on-demand, I Am, the Documentary. We saw it last spring. It is very positive, thought provoking, and related to this topic.

All best wishes this holiday season


* – Personal Opinion and Context for the “neighbors” text: At the time of Jesus, it is likely that entire area had a population of less than 100,000, perhaps half of that in Jerusalem; a population much smaller than today’s Fargo-Moorhead. The social safety net was people like the Samaritan. In our day, indeed for my entire life, the social safety net in our very complex and dispersed society has been “government”. We take the good of government for granted. Today “government” (excepting ‘war’ and ‘defense’) is being relegated to a status no better than the Samaritan. Watch the debates and read the news: “government” is now to be derided and ridiculed. Those looking forward to the continued strangulation and demonization of government best be careful lest they get what they wish for.
UPDATE Dec. 5 p.m.:
From a great friend in London who’s a lifelong Christian of Middle Eastern ancestry:
Loved it, & I have to admit I am envious of the view: trees in snow.
You are right the world is a very different place: 100,000 lived in that area then. 30,000,000 million live in the Tokyo area now & yet it is the safest metropolis where citizens are polite & helpful partly because of “do
unto others …”.
You are also absolutely right everyone is our neighbour. As a Protestant theologian friend in the (eternally!?) troubled Middle East wrote recently: “Christianity is not a political party that ultimately seeks its own
interests and considers survival to be the highest virtue. There is something very un-Christian, inhuman, and immoral about closing our ears and eyes to the brutal killing of even our enemies simply because they might do us harm in the future.”
Both of you are quite demanding. It’s really Christ who is that demanding & that’s what makes His message so compelling, for imagine what the world would be like! Could be like!?
From Flo in Park Rapids MN:
Yes, “Christ”mas. The focus seems to have eroded completely to the likes of Black Friday and everything that drives us toward consumerism and away from being good neighbors, first and foremost.
The very best of the holiday season to you and yours – throughout the new year! May neighbors far and near know peace with justice because of you!

#484 -Dick Bernard: A Nostalgia Trip: "Reunioning" with Apollo 11 and the Muppets in Woodbury

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There was a bit of synchronicity at work for me a few days ago.
It began with conversation with Brett, one of the staff at City Centre Caribou Coffee in Woodbury. Apollo 11 had come up as a trivia question, and I noted my memories of that astonishing July 20 in 1969: of stopping along U.S. #2 west of Bagley MN, glued to the car radio, during the time when Apollo 11 touched down on the moon; and many hours later, back in suburban Minneapolis, watching the astronauts on the moons surface on television.
Brett, it turned out, was 8 years old and growing up in Bemidji that day in 1969. I knew I had some really rough photos I had taken of Apollo on the moon that night. They wouldn’t rate star quality – snapshot camera, slow film and low light weren’t a good combination – but I said I’d see if I could find them and make a copy for him.
It took a bit of looking, but I found the slides. Here’s one of them (click on it to enlarge). As I say, the quality is very poor. There are more photos at the end of this post, and of course a selection of much better photography easily accessible on-line at YouTube and other places.

Apollo 11 July 20, 1969


It happened, almost the same day Brett and I had our conversation, that daughter Heather made a request to see the new movie, the Muppets. Frankly, I hadn’t heard of the movie, but I said “sure”, so last Wednesday, I picked her up at Proact in Eagan, and went to the Muppet movie at the Woodbury 10. Just enter zip code to find theaters and show times in your area.
Of course, I remembered the Muppets from parenting days. Coincidentally, they first appeared on Sesame Street in 1969, the same year as the moon landing, and were Sesame Street staples until 1976, when they spun off as a separate Muppet show.
We went to the Muppet movie and it was great fun. The receptionist at Proact said the movie was corny, and for sure it was, but if you want to refresh from the tasks of last minute Christmas shopping, and get back in the Christmas spirit give yourself a gift and drop in on the Muppets movie. You’ll leave feeling good.
It is delightful.
Here are some other Apollo 11 era snapshots I found (click to enlarge).

Viewing the return capsule and a full-size replica of the LEM at Manned Space Craft Center Houston TX Nov. 1969


In line to see Apollo 11 reentry vehicle at Minnesota State Capitol June 1970


Apollo 11 reentry capsule on display at Minnesota State Capitol June, 1970