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Christmas 93Happy New Year, 1994. 1993 was a tough year, a year of both painful and joyous events and big changes. We've had several losses this year, but the biggest lost to Jim and to all of his family was the death of his father, Fernand "Squee" Andris on April 3. We hae all adjusted by now, and the pain of the loss has been mitigated by the love we all feel for one another. This year Jim has been living with a Keith Haring appointment book, which reminds us of the pain that AIDS continues to cause in our lives and in the lives of millinois of people world-wide. Keith was the famous pop artist who died on February 16, 1990, two days after our friend, Tom Manuel, had passed. Woody and Ron from Trinity are a blessing in our lives and living with AIDS. Trinity continues to be a center in our spiritual and social lives. The end of this year is the end of Jim's term as Vestry person and head usher at Trinity Episcopal. Stephen continues to sing in the choir. We received the blessing of our church in a Holy Union on May 15. There were 137 peop[le attending, including my brother and sister and their families, Drs. Dee and Kay McFarland from Columbia, SC, and Doug Kane and Kathy Vinehout of Springfield, IL. Rev. William Chapman celebrated the mass and Rev. Susan Nanny preached the sermon. Bill and Ellie Chapman retired this year, with a wonderful Evensong at Christ Church Cathedral and a bash at City Hall on Pentecost. Now Rev. Nanny is serving as Interim Rector while we search for a new rector. We even did a pantomime of "My Guy" from Sister Act with 11 other Trinitarians at homecoming. Also Stephen sang in the annual St. Cecilia's Festival which performed Arthur Sullivan's Te Deum and other Victorian music. At SIUE Jim had several challenges. They converted to ta semester system. He has managed to publish three papers this year. We traveled to conferences in San Diego, Chicago and Cincinnati. Old friend and colleague of Jim's David Hofmann, retired. Jim is still considered a campus leader in computer applications. this year Jim's dream of having Internet mail in all faculty offices came closer to realization. At home, we've enjoyed our new Mac IIvx with CD ROM and PowerBook 165c. We even have our own local area network here and can transfer files back and forth. We both need technology, since Stephen has kept quite busy with his dissertation editing business. Stephen also continues to garden. Stephanie was here for 10 weeks in the Spring to do an internship in St. Louis at the Privacy Rights Project. She went back to Bar Harbour, ME, to finish her undergraduate degree, and is with us for a while again on the way to law school. Friend Pat Artrip has had a struggle with her health this year, and we've all been praying for her. Although some friends have passed on to other life venues, we continue to be surrounded with loving friends. We also get out occasionally to the opera (Cinderella), the symphony (The Messiah), and the theater (My Fair Lady), of which St. Louis has an abundance. Local talent is also rewarding (Gateway Men's Chorus, The Marcus Theater). Leonard continues to be the "best of all cats" in our life and Ariel, our canary, amazes all who visit here with his extraordinarily beautiful singing. This was the flood year of the Century. The water was high for weeks and weeks, cresting between 49 and 50 feet here at St. Louis. Perhaps this may be hard to beileve, but if you got one of these letters, you're never very far from our thoughts. We hope to see or hear from you soon. Love, Jim and Stephen |