We were talking at breakfast, recently, about people we admired and the names came up: Charlie and Jen Stack. They lived at 826 Kenilworth, a childless couple in a block of 100+ kids. Their house backed up to where Van Buren dead-ended in the alley serving Kenilworth and Carpenter. Still that way, I’d guess.
Anyway, their house was an easy through-way. Every day as we all came home from Ascension School, Jen would leave a large plate of cookies on the back porch, and everyone was welcome to grab one (or two). Their yard was open to all for whatever games outside we could come up with. How lucky were we?
We concluded “Be like Jen and Charlie” is a good guide for our lives. We can positively impact people near us in the direct face of the madness surrounding us; every little positive thing helps. We weren’t planning on spending the next 20 years fighting these battles, but my father probably didn’t plan to go to Germany and get shot, either.
Thinking about them in this perilous time and how good they were for the neighborhood. And all of us.
Lou Frillman
Former Oak Parker