Because you are reading this, we can only assume that you like reading Christmas letters. I like them, but they seem to be frowned upon in some quarters, so we figured if you took the time to type in the URL, you too enjoy these missives.
We visited the Lubin clan in the Oakland area last holiday season, flying out on Christmas Day and arriving in time for a festive holiday dinner hosted by Jonathan’s nephew James and wife Dorothy. Staying with Beth and Jim (Jonathan’s niece and husband), we visited some museums, restaurants, and had a delightful time with family, including Jonathan’s brother Mike and wife Mary.
Most of my remembrances this year are filtered through the death of my father on January 20 of age-related kidney failure. He was 93. Cindy called me that Monday to tell me he was going into hospice care; it took two days for me to drive down to Blacksburg VA arriving Wednesday afternoon to relieve Cindy from sleeping beside Dad’s bed as she had the nights before. He died Friday morning with me at his side (Mom was nearby). Although the memorial would happen in June, there was an in-gathering of family at Mom and Dad’s apartment with Howie and Linda driving(!) from San Diego and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren staying for a few days. In April, we flew to Blacksburg VA again to visit Mom on the occasion her and Dad’s wedding anniversary (it would’ve been their 67th).
As mentioned previously, Dad’s memorial service was in June, the day before Father’s Day. Jonathan hand-crafted a mahogany box, with a birch cross pieced in the lid to hold Dad’s ashes, which had been delivered in a cardboard mailer. We tucked three mementoes of his life into the box: a Virginia Tech patch, a piece of fossilized coral from Donaldson Creek in Cadiz KY, and a sand dollar from the sand bars in Pine Point ME. The graveside service was lay-led by two close family friends, Jim Riddle (left in image below) and Wave Evans (one of my two “other-brothers”, right), with folks from both the King and Thomas families and friends in attendance.
A week after the memorial, we left early on Friday for the drive down to Cadiz KY for the annual Thomas family reunion, arriving in ample time for the Saturday evening cook-out. I ran into confirmation of a piece of wisdom offered to me by my minister, that grief would likely be visiting over the next year as I experienced the “first (fill in the blank) without Dad”. This was the first reunion without Dad (or Mom).
We took two weeks in July for our annual visit to Pine Point, driving two days each way. (I love my EZ-Pass!) Once there, our time was spent in the usual festivities of beach and sandbar walking, tide supervision, and eating. Cindy and Mike were already there, and we were joined, schedules permitting, by our daughters Madison, Harris, and Devlin, and their mothers M’lyn and Diane, and Diane’s sister-in-law Brenda. Nancy Rose and Ellen Perkins also drove up from Rhode Island to spend a few days with us. Shortly after arrival, we hopped on the train to Boston for an overnight excursion to celebrate the 80th birthday of Robert Kent, a long-standing friend of Jonathan’s. One day we drove down to Boston to visit Jonathan’s thesis advisor and wife, John and Carol Tate. On another, we drove up to Brunswick to see Betsy Grobe, Jonathan’s colleague from his Bowdoin days, and her son Fritz, who was in town and his presence added to the pleasantries. We also were able to drop by Ray Giroux and Dave Petrie’s in Portland to catch up on their doings.
The August Party returned to typical attendance with about 95 folks visiting during the four hours of festivities. Planning for the event went well – Jonathan did not have to run out for extra champagne (as has happened for a couple of past August Parties).
Cousins Trudy and Vanessa and families organized an eclipse-watching reunion for the 2017 All-American Eclipse at Bethel Church outside Cadiz KY. It was like a mini-Thomas reunion with cousins Reva and Vicki flying in from California, cousin Ann and family driving up from Tennessee, the daughters (Madison and Harris) and their moms drove down from Rhode Island (dropping Devlin off in Bloomington IN to start her freshman year at Indiana University), Robert driving in from Missouri, and we drove down from Saint Paul.
At the end of September, I was in Blacksburg to visit Mom and take in the VT-Clemson football game (VT lost 31-17). While I was at the game, Mom fell and broke her left hip. I didn’t notice all the emails/texts to me until the middle of the 2nd quarter – none of the phone calls came through. So, taking leave of “other-brother” Ed Evans and his wife Jane, I scooted out of the stadium to the emergency room at the hospital where “other-brother” Wave Evans was sitting with Mom. Mom got a partial hip replacement (the ball, but not the socket) the next day, less than 24-hours after she fell. Cindy arrived shortly after the operation (she and Mike were on their way home from Pine Point), and “other-sister” Mary Evans Arnold spent time with us.
The next month, I attended a workshop in DC and took the opportunity to swing down to Blacksburg to visit Mom who was now in rehab, and another Virginia Tech football game (VT beat UNC with great enthusiasm 59-7) the weekend before the workshop. I even got to stay for the whole game, although I was checking my phone regularly… Driving back to the DC area, I stayed with Cindy and Mike in Arlington VA, and took the Metro to Bethesda MD for the workshop. We had a fabulous meal at the Salt Line in DC across from the Nationals’ ball park – I think the “fabulous-ness” had everything to do with the company I had for dinner.
At the end of October, Jonathan took a few days off to visit his old friend Káča in Canada. They met in 1949, so it’s a friendship of almost seventy years’ standing. Jonathan reports that it was wall-to-wall laughter, and sends along a picture from 1972, when Káča visited him in Providence, as well as one from this visit.
A couple of days before we flew to Blacksburg VA for Thanksgiving week, Mom was released from rehab (YAY!), and returned to her apartment. It was so nice to see her home. After six weeks pent up in the rehab wing of the nursing home, we took her out to dinner almost every night – except when we ordered out for pizza so I could catch a VT basketball game. I got to see a third VT football game (VT beat Pitt with a heart-stopping goal-line stand with seconds left on the clock 20-14). Jonathan stayed with Mom for both games while they listened in on the radio. We went to the Summit Restaurant in Christiansburg again for Thanksgiving dinner (right image) with Cindy and Mike who drove down that morning.
We plan on returning to the Bay area to visit the Lubin clan, again departing on Christmas morning, hoping to be in time for Christmas dinner.
There was no big vacation this year due to Dad’s death and some now-passed concerns about Mom’s health. The next vacation is in the initial stages of planning – Tasmania – aiming at a November timeframe.
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In less chronological topics, I continue to sing in the church choir (tenor) and take voice lessons from choir director Thaxter Cunio in his role as faculty at the MacPhail Music Center in Minneapolis. Choir and voice are usually the highlight of my week. In other church related activities, I’m currently the president of the church Board of Directors. After this year, I’ll serve one more year on the Board as past-president, then I’m free.
I’m still the Sr. Director of Quality (and the acting CMC Director) at Biothera Pharmaceuticals. Biothera is in phase 2 clinical trials with our immunotherapy agent, Imprime PGG. We have a several collaborations, including one with Merck and a recent one with Genentech. Retirement is still on the horizon, and a rolling four-year timeframe is still the current “working” assumption. Although if things go well with the clinical trials and company financing, it could come sooner.
Jonathan continues to serve on the Endowment Committee at church and participates in one of the “sharing circles” that are part of White Bear UU Church’s small group ministry program. He also has been tutoring at Central High School, and is now working with two classes. His main wood working project this year was the box for Dad’s ashes, although Mom asked him to make a couple of smaller versions as gifts for Wave Evans and Jim Riddle. Those boxes he made from cherry, but repeated the birch cross motif in the lids. Since completing the boxes, he has been doing some photography this autumn.
The cats are in good shape at the moment, although Merry has a tentative diagnosis of lymphoma. He currently gets a dose of tuna-flavored(!) prednisone once a day – he seems to have no problem slurping it up mixed in his wet food. Other than a bit of weight loss, he is his usual self. The vet hasn’t told me exactly what to expect yet with Merry as the diagnosis is still tentative. Pippin and Tillie are in good health.
The garden experiment continued this year, adding a couple of artichoke plants. Artichokes (the part you eat) is the flower bud of the plant – I decided that I’d like to see what the flower actually looks like [photo], so I let them flower rather than harvest them to cook. Continuing for 2018: tomatoes, Swiss chard, onions, carrots, pole beans, and more artichokes (I’ll harvest them this time). Jonathan’s Jerusalem artichokes – no relation to the other artichokes – flopped over the bed with the carrots and onions, shading them and somewhat stunting their yield. The free-range strawberries produced enough for us to enjoy them for a couple of breakfasts.
As mentioned previously, Dad’s memorial service was in June, the day before Father’s Day. Jonathan hand-crafted a mahogany box, with a birch cross pieced in the lid to hold Dad’s ashes, which had been delivered in a cardboard mailer. We tucked three mementoes of his life into the box: a Virginia Tech patch, a piece of fossilized coral from Donaldson Creek in Cadiz KY, and a sand dollar from the sand bars in Pine Point ME. The graveside service was lay-led by two close family friends, Jim Riddle (left in image below) and Wave Evans (one of my two “other-brothers”, right), with folks from both the King and Thomas families and friends in attendance.
A couple of days before we flew to Blacksburg VA for Thanksgiving week, Mom was released from rehab (YAY!), and returned to her apartment. It was so nice to see her home. After six weeks pent up in the rehab wing of the nursing home, we took her out to dinner almost every night – except when we ordered out for pizza so I could catch a VT basketball game. I got to see a third VT football game (VT beat Pitt with a heart-stopping goal-line stand with seconds left on the clock 20-14). Jonathan stayed with Mom for both games while they listened in on the radio. We went to the Summit Restaurant in Christiansburg again for Thanksgiving dinner (right image) with Cindy and Mike who drove down that morning.
The garden experiment continued this year, adding a couple of artichoke plants. Artichokes (the part you eat) is the flower bud of the plant – I decided that I’d like to see what the flower actually looks like [photo], so I let them flower rather than harvest them to cook. Continuing for 2018: tomatoes, Swiss chard, onions, carrots, pole beans, and more artichokes (I’ll harvest them this time). Jonathan’s Jerusalem artichokes – no relation to the other artichokes – flopped over the bed with the carrots and onions, shading them and somewhat stunting their yield. The free-range strawberries produced enough for us to enjoy them for a couple of breakfasts.