Where it began…
Purging Katrina, 20 Years Later
It’s been TWENTY…YEARS…Another lifetime ago. And yet – sometimes – it feels like it was just yesterday… For those who were here – the people who were living, working, raising children here – we still refer to life in New Orleans with a very definitive line of separation: Before Katrina and After Katrina. Those words…
September 23, 1974
I haven’t posted anything in almost a year. Last thing I wrote on here was for the 40th anniversary last November 2023 of my father’s death. I’ve been struggling mentally, emotionally, and spiritually for most of 2024. And it only seems to be getting worse. I have snippets of “happiness” but for the most part,…
The Final Chapter
Monday, November 28, 1983: The day of my father’s funeral… I remember being at the funeral home and us sitting in the front row by my father’s casket. I believe the funeral mass was set for 10am at our parish church, St. Stephen of Hungary. That morning’s viewing was typically set for just the immediate…
Chapter Seven: November 26th & 27th
Saturday and Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend 1983 – my father’s wake was held at Charles Peter Nagel Funeral Home on East 87th Street in Manhattan… This funeral home had served our family and friends for generations. Unfortunately, I can remember many, many beloved family members who had been laid out at this location, and my…
Chapter Six: November 25th
A Tale of Two Sons and Their Fathers… Monday, November 25, 1963: President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery, after a nationally-televised funeral procession, modeled after the funeral of Abraham Lincoln, which Jackie orchestrated. The stoic First Lady wore another pillbox hat, with a veil over her face, in conjunction…
Chapter Five: November 24th
Sunday, November 24, 1963: At 11:21am CST, as live television cameras covered Lee Harvey Oswald being moved through the basement of Dallas Police Headquarters, after he had been charged with the assassination of President Kennedy, Oswald was shot by Dallas nightclub operator Jack Ruby. Like Kennedy, Oswald was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where he…
Chapter Four: November 23rd
Saturday, November 23, 1963: The 35th President of the United States of America, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, was dead. On this Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend, his body lies in repose in the East Room of the White House. The day before, Dallas police had searched a building known as the Texas School Book Depository because witnesses…
Chapter Three: November 22nd
Tuesday, November 22, 1983: My father went to work again all day. He must have felt better after his remedy and sleep the night before. Honestly, I cannot remember a single day growing up as a kid when my father missed work. Whether he just wasn’t feeling up to par, or if he had a…
Chapter Two: November 21st
77 years ago – Thursday, November 21, 1946: An almost 14-year-old girl from a tiny village in Eastern Hungary arrived on a huge ship into the harbor of New York City. She was to be reunited with the mother she hadn’t seen since she was 3 years old and would meet her little brother and…
Chapter One: November 20, 1983
I still had my daddy… My father was going to be in my life for only four more days, yet I had no idea. November 20th forty years ago was a Sunday. Although I typically have a pretty good memory with some things, my almost 91-year-old mother could still tell you exactly what happened on…
Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.
Follow My Blog
Get new content delivered directly to your inbox.
Oddly Enough 