S U N D AY B R E A K FA S T
‘Sunday’ Best BY BILL MCLEAN ILLUSTRATIONS BY BARRY BLITT
We ate and talked. We laughed and listened and cried. And I — one grateful journalist — learned all about fascinating people with ties to the North Shore. Here are my favorite quotes that appeared on our “Sunday Breakfast” pages in 2018: “Before we got married [in 1990] I made Mark [Green] take a premarital swim test in my grandparents’ pool in Palm Beach. I made him swim all of the strokes of swimming [freestyle, backstroke, butterfly and breaststroke]. He passed.” — Swim instructor and Winnetkan Marcia Cleveland, who swam across the North Channel (21 miles, between Ireland and Scotland) in July.
be slightly changed by the experience.” — Musician Stephanie Rogers, founder of Story Jam. She hires well-known storytellers and writes songs for each story, and her 10-piece band performs the music at Story Jam shows. “My mom [Frankie Lowe] loves life, loves everything about it. If I ever reach the point of having 1/16th of the energy my mom has, I’d be thrilled.” — Gabrielle Cummings, president of NorthShore University HealthSystem’s Highland Park Hospital. “You should see what goes on in a room with an engaged youngster
resident who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease at the age of 43 in 2012.
players during the 2016-17 season for a five-part newspaper series.
“The mom acted out a scene at the center, with her daughter watching alongside others. I remember the daughter saying, ‘I was forced to come.’ But she also told me, ‘I’m glad I’m here. It gave me the opportunity to see another side of my mom.’ ” — The Art Center (TAC)-Highland Park Executive Director James Lynch, recalling a moment at TAC when it was known as the Suburban Fine Arts Center.
“I remember vividly taking a tour of my friend’s house [in La Grange Park] and being mesmerized with the design in each room and thinking, ‘Wow!’ I was just a child, maybe 8 years old. I also remember in high school, flipping through copies of Architectural Digest in our family room and devouring the pages. The magazine’s pictures and words enthralled me.” — Lee Thinnes, founder and owner of Lee’s Antiques in Winnetka.
“The second I heard that track in the car, maybe four notes in, bang … my big bang. I became enamored with that kind of music, instantly.” — Saxophonist and Bravo Wa u k e g a n music teacher Joey Rosin, on hearing ‘Giant Steps’ on the CD The Very Best of John Coltrane when he was a fourth-grader. “A guest told me recently, ‘As soon as I enter the Deer Path Inn, I feel warmth, and I feel like I’m receiving a hug.” — Deer Path Inn Innkeeper Matt Barba.
“My father [The Rev. George Back, former dean at St. Paul’s Cathedral in Oklahoma City] picked up the pieces, helped people heal [after the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City]. I watched him. I admired his work. He did a wonderful job, overseeing the restoration and enhancement of a beautiful cathedral, and he did it all through love. That was a pivotal time in my life, and it impacted me significantly, essentially leading me to a vocation I truly love.” — The Rev. Luke Back, rector at The Church of the Holy Spirit (Episcopal) in Lake Forest. “Writing comforted me at an early age. I wrote in notebooks in my youth, constantly wrote, filling the pages with my impressions of people and describing how I’d like to resolve a situation I was facing or at least handle it, deal with it. Writing was my companion. It still is.” — Rochelle Distelheim, a Highland Park resident since 1956 and author of the novel Sadie in Love. (2018, Aubade Publishing).
“I met a man who had exactly what I had [obses“A month before he died, Benny looked at me in his sive-compulsive disorder hospital room and said, ‘It’s with intrusive thoughts]. time for me to go home.’ He had made it, survived He knew … just knew. His it, and he was willing to Joey Rosin last day, after he had lost the talk about it with me. That ability to speak, you should was such a relief, hearing him. have seen the streams of It was a huge moment for me. It was a turning point. I cried. visitors that stopped by to see him in our living room. He gave me his card; we The last group left at around emailed each other. His wonLee Thinnes 10 p.m.” — Kings & Convicts reading to an “The vioderful message to me that day Brewing Co-founder and CEO attentive dog. Magic. Magic happens.” lence is pernicious down was, ‘You are not alone.’ ” — Lake Forest resident and florist Brendan Watters, on his son Benny, who died from — Carole Yuster, founder and executive director of K-9 there [Chicago’s West Side]. Gabrielle Cummings Katie Ford. Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG) at the age of Reading Buddies of the North Shore. Those kids, those athletes, live in a 5. The Benny’s World foundation is a founding member war zone. Daily. It’s deeply ironic and of the DIPG Collaborative. “I survived the Ironman [Triathlon]. I wanted tragic, not being able to play on playgrounds because “They walk in, notice the atmosphere, and it my children to think, ‘Hey, Daddy has this thing, they’re no longer safe. They should call them ‘gun- evokes memories, fond ones, from their childhood. “I see connections at shows; we’re all the same. I this disease, but he’s dealing with it, staying active, grounds.’ ” — Author and Chicago Sun-Times sports I’ve seen customers get wistful and teary-eyed.” — want people to feel inspired, energized, during our being proactive.’ ” — Pampered Chef Vice President columnist Rick Telander, on what he discovered while Liz Bearwald, co-owner (with husband Michael shows. I want them to feel something, to think, to of Product Development Bill Bucklew, a Wilmette chronicling the lives of Orr High School boys basketball Bearwald) of Bent Fork Bakery in Highwood.
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| SATURDAY JANUARY 5 | SUNDAY JANUARY 6 2019
THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND