Mary Claire's Pearls of Wisdom

More Pearls of Wisdom from Mary Claire

2013-07-27T13:44:00.003-07:00

See also, "More Pearls of Wisdom from Mary Claire." -- Mary Claire Kendall

"Reagan Big, Hearts Small"

2013-06-29T14:46:00.003-07:00

The final word, for now, on efforts to save Reagan Chicago Home... for more, see http://friendsofpresidentreaganschicagohome.blogspot.com/

Originally published in The Weekly Standard http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/reagan-big-hearts-small_720609.html

Reagan Big, Hearts Small

Mary Claire Kendall

May 3, 2013 3:05 PM

As The Weekly Standard noted, "The Gipper went for growth."

Just as the wrecking ball was poised to swing at President Reagan’s home on Chicago’s South Side, where he lived when he was 3-4 and survived near-fatal pneumonia, President Barack Obama put brain research in the national spotlight.

At that moment, the networks all broke in for Obama’s announcement that he was directing $100 million of the 2014 budget to the government’s BRAIN initiative (Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies).

Under Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s leadership, Chicago refused to landmark Reagan’s home, thus making way for a state of the art Alzheimer’s research center (a companion to the nearby Center for Care and Discovery)—a decision the wrecking ball that day was carrying out. This, in spite of the fact that Chicago’s Landmarks Commission considered the home landmarkable during Reagan’s presidency.

Valerie Jarrett and Michelle Obama played huge roles at the University of Chicago Medical Center. Their former colleague, Susan Sher, the first lady’s chief of staff and a major player in the passage of Obamacare, now serves both as senior adviser to University of Chicago president Robert J. Zimmer and executive vice president for corporate strategy and public affairs at the medical center. Funding for the research centers has seriously lagged, falling tens of millions of dollars short of its goal, according to Crain’s.

By week’s end, I felt like I had been bulldozed. It had been a rigorous climb, aided by key allies on our board and beyond, many who were Reagan intimates. Not only did we have the city and university as obstacles but many of our natural allies, unlike Reagan, had adopted an attitude, “It Can’t Be Done.”

In the end, it wasn’t meant to be. A larger lesson was intended.

Recently, a huge surprise was waiting outside my door. A friend had “bribed (Chicago style)” a key person for “a keepsake commemorating ‘our President's childhood home.’” After waiting quite some time, this key person, he said, returned with a brick from Reagan’s home, reporting, it “would not be allowed again.”

He wanted me to have “something solid upon which to build a future,” inscribing it, “R. Reagan Home, 4.4.2013, Chicago” and said I probably have the only brick from the home. (Albeit those who knew that one of America’s greatest presidents had once lived there were able to retrieve some bricks as keepsakes in that small window before they were swooped away from the sidewalk.)

“While it is true that Heneghan Wrecking (‘We Make Space’),” he wrote, “used the open street to position their heavy equipment, they contained all the demolition and debris behind a locked-fence area. That made it impossible for the ‘public’ to pick up any mementos.”

Each day they carted off all the debris “whether wood, metal, or masonry”—which is highly irregular, he said. “Typically such piles accumulate on-site until the walls are down, basement filled, and ground leveled. Consequently, I don’t think many souvenirs for future generation to cherish will ever turn up.”

He was “pleased to note” that “the brick was 100% solid. Brickyards were turning out lighter units with core holes (typically 3 large holes, sometimes 8-12 small ones) by 1915-1920 in order to decrease kiln time and speed up production. We can be sure, therefore, that this brick was part of the original building and not some later alteration.”

The callousness of the city of Chicago and the university, not only in forbidding mementos but, more importantly, in razing Reagan’s home, is at variance with Ronald Reagan, Mr. Sunshine and Optimism himself. Should we therefore be surprised that Chicago was recently ranked the fourth most miserable city to live in by Forbes?

They needed the envisioned Ronald Reagan Museum and Center. Blending the old and the new, as First Lady Jackie Kennedy did with Lafayette Square, was entirely possible. But, for her vision and determination, Lafayette Square would be covered with one monstrosity of a building today.

Now, perhaps with a government assist, courtesy Obama, the site where little “Dutch” Reagan lived and dreamed of becoming a firefighter will, in time, be covered with just such a monstrosity. That it will house those who hope to find a cure for Alzheimer’s underscores how important and appropriate it was to save the home. But, it was not to be. The larger lesson, in the end, had nothing to do with our brains, but with our hearts and how small they had grown.

Mary Claire Kendall is a writer in Washington and president of Friends of President Reagan’s Chicago Home.

Ronald Reagan’s Heart: Two Emotional, Historical Landmarks

2013-01-19T17:34:00.001-08:00

By Mary Claire Kendall

When former President Ronald Reagan visited his birthplace in Tampico, Ilinois on May 10, 1992, this tender-hearted, consummate gentleman, fast-fading with enveloping Alzheimers, wept as he laid eyes on the bed, where his mother Nelle had labored for many difficult hours, said curator Joan Johnson, finally giving birth to him on February 6, 1911.

His father Jack, Reagan later recounted, quipped right after his birth, “For such a little bit of a fat Dutchman, he makes a lot of noise doesn’t he?” But, his mother, though weak, glowed, “I think he’s perfectly wonderful.” Both the name and the opinion stuck.

All of us who came to understand how “perfectly wonderful” Ronald Wilson “Dutch” Reagan was, have hearts overflowing with gratitude for this giant of American history.

Two months ago, I had the privilege of learning more about Ronald Reagan when I visited his birthplace.

I had planned to travel to Chicago for a Hemingway-focused trip, but after a key Hemingway mentor, Redd Griffin, died unexpectedly days before, my weekend suddenly became Reagan-focused, too. You see, the day after his death, his friend, Chicago lawyer Wayne Whalen, who owns the Ronald Reagan Birthplace, offered to host me for a Christmas tour and luncheon in Tampico. He suggested I read Reagan’s Roots by Peter Hannaford and Dutch by Edmund Morris, the former which I dutifully, and thankfully, bought, the latter which I owned, having met Morris and his beautiful wife Sylvia at the NSO Symphony Ball in December 1999 after which he signed a copy of his book.

Once we arrived at the museum in Tampico, I was like a kid in a candy shop. Not only did I serve in the Reagan Administration but I love American history, particularly the featured era. The memorabilia of Reagan and his roots was captivating, to say nothing of how the birthplace home was restored to its original 1911 splendor, as the accompanying photos reveal.

Then, too, my connection to Reagan comes via my work in Hollywood and the former president’s best friend A.C. Lyles, whom I’ve been fortunate to call a friend since 2007. A.C. and “Ronnie,” whom Wayne reminded me was once Hollywood’s highest paid star, were like brothers when they were two young stars at Paramount Pictures—A.C. behind the camera as head of publicity, Ronnie in front. So, it was with great interest, that I visited his good friend’s birthplace.

But, there was another reason I was so interested. You see, Redd Griffin was the main champion of saving Reagan’s Chicago home where the family moved to when they left Tampico.

In Tampico, where the population was less than 1000, the Reagans lived in a spacious six-room rented second-floor apartment above a bakery from September 1906 to May 1911 while Jack worked across the street at Pitney General Store. Shortly after Dutch’s birth, his father was promoted from merchandiser to manager at the store and the family moved around the corner to a large house, also rented, where they lived until December 15, 1914.

When Mr. Pitney sold his store, Jack scrambled for employment and soon landed a job at Marshall Field’s Mayfair Annex near the University of Chicago. Right after the first of the year the family moved to Chicago, population 2.2 million, where Jack and Nelle chose another flat with six rooms—an architectural feature unique to Illinois, and particularly Chicago, that gives an apartment the feel of a house.

As with Tampico’s “Main Street Historic District,” in 1982, the South Side neighborhood in which 832 E. 57^th Street resided was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, in 1986. As Jack Spicer, Chair of the Hyde Park Historical Society’s Historic Preservation Committee, said, paraphrasing, “It is the finest remaining example of what was once a solid and working and middle-class black neighborhood.”(Chicago Sun-Times, February 6, 2011)

Also, like the birthplace, the Hyde Park home was the scene of memories that tapped a deep well of emotion for President Reagan, evidenced by his reaction upon Mayor Jane Byrne presenting a photo of the home to him in September 1981, six months after the assassination attempt. His eyes became misty, showing a hint of tears, as he absorbed all the memories of his time living there—like when four-year-old Dutch and his brother Neil, nicknamed “Moon,” age six, would go to White City, an amusement park a mile from their home, where they would sell freshly made popcorn they were laden down with, to help supplement the family income, increasingly diminished because of their father Jack’s growing drinking habit in the big city, where he felt lost among a sea of merchandisers.

All this notwithstanding, this historical, emotional landmark now hangs in the balance as the City of Chicago decides whether or not to grant it landmark status and save it from being demolished.

But, if Friends of President Reagan’s Chicago Home, Inc., founded in December, has anything to say about it, the Reagan home will not only be saved but will be transformed into a museum that elegantly showcases President Reagan’s historic presidency while beautifully complementing the university’s Center for Care and Discovery across the street, including state-of-the-art Alzheimers research. And, this Chicago home, where, unbeknownst to all little Dutch was being prepared for greatness, will be added to “The Reagan Trail” of homes where the only president born and bred in Illinois grew up.

900 words

1/26/13

**********

For those who would like to support the Ronald Reagan Birthplace financially please visit www.reaganstatue.org. For more information, contact Joan Johnson, Curator/Mgr, Birthplace of President Ronald Reagan at 815-622-8705 or via e-mail: reaganbirthplace@thewisp.net or garyjoan@thewisp.net . They are currently raising the last $30,000 to pay for the statue to be placed in Reagan Park (formerly Railroad Park), showing three-year old “Dutch” Reagan playing on a Civil War cannon.

For those who would like to learn more about the Friends of President Reagan’s Chicago Home, visit www.friendsofpresidentreaganschicagohome.blogspot.com .

"It Can Be Done"

2013-01-19T06:12:00.002-08:00

Dear Friends of President Reagan’s Chicago Home:

We did it! We incorporated in the State of Illinois on Wednesday, January 16, 2013. Here’s our corporate purpose statement:

Friends of President Reagan’s Chicago Home (the Corporation) is organized and operated exclusively for charitable purposes in accordance with section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (or a corresponding provision of any future United States Internal Revenue law). More specifically, the Corporation is organized to develop and operate a museum and center located at 832 E. 57th Street, in partnership with home’s current owner, reflecting the historical relevance of Reagan’s life growing up there and elsewhere in Illinois. The museum and center will also celebrate President Reagan’s historic accomplishments, highlight his suffering with Alzheimer’s, complementing mission of nearby Center for Care and Discovery, and provide educational and community-enriching opportunities. Friends also intends to make a contribution each year to the other Reagan homes in Illinois underscoring that “The Ronald Reagan Trail” is one, with Chicago home enhancing the whole.

With your support, we’re on our way to winning one more for the Gipper!**

As Ronald Reagan always said, “It can be done.”

The quest to save and transform President Reagan’s Chicago Home has, of course, just begun.

For inspiration, I offer Ronald Reagan being sworn in as President of the United States on January 20, 1981, followed by his Inaugural Address.

Who, among us, old enough to remember, can forget that momentous, magnificent day that advanced American freedom and opportunity in such a palpable way?

It won’t be the last! And, this largely symbolic victory of saving Reagan’s home, which is within our reach, will help lay the groundwork for another such goosebump-inducing day, leaving a lump in your throat like that of the Gipper as he told the story of Martin Treptow on D-Day. As newly inaugurated President Reagan said, like Treptow, “With God’s help we can and will resolve the problems which now confront us. And, after all, why shouldn't be believe that? We are Americans.”

Thank you.

Sincerely yours,

Mary Claire Kendall

Acting President/CEO

Friends of President Reagan’s Chicago Home
http://friendsofpresidentreaganschicagohome.blogspot.com/ (site of future updates)

** On Friday, January 18, we raised our first seed money today to cover initial costs of incorporation and other incidentals, but have several hundred dollars more to go. If you wish to help the cause, you may send your tax-deductible contributions made payable to “Friends of Pres. Reagan’s Chicago Home” to P.O. Box 3772, Washington, DC 20027-3772. Or for those who wish to make a contribution that will arrive more speedily, you may use PayPal. Our email for this purpose is mary.claire@att.net.

Interim Victory for Friends of President Reagan's Chicago Home

2013-01-13T07:03:00.001-08:00

By Mary Claire Kendall

Today, being the 6th anniversary of the official opening of the home in Barbados where George Washington lived for two months when he was 19, seems a particularly fitting time to announce that on Friday, January 11, the Friends of President Reagan’s Chicago Home, had a MAJOR interim victory.

As Acting President/CEO of the Friends, I spoke with Eleanor Gorski, Assistant Commissioner for Historic Preservation at the Department of Housing and Economic Development in Chicago, who approves demolition permits. I had called the department on Thursday and was told by staff person that there had been “a lot of back and forth” vis-à-vis the home at “higher levels” and someone would be contacting me.

Ms. Gorski affirmed that she fully expects the review process will take the full 90 days and that granting the Reagan home landmark status, after all, is one of the possibilities they are considering. The home was, of course, denied landmark status in late 2012 about which I wrote in the Washington Examiner.

Only two days before the department spokesperson, Pete Strazzobosco, was downplaying the worth of the Reagan home. As he told the Hyde Park Herald, “It’s a pretty modest apartment building for its style and age. It doesn’t have very much style, at least not enough for the Landmarks Commission to consider a possible landmark for it.” (January 9 issue) But, the next day at 8 p.m., the University of Chicago’s student newspaper, The Chicago Maroon, reported, that, according to Strazzobosco, “the City of Chicago’s Historic Preservation Division will use this time to ‘reach out to the property owner and discuss alternatives to demolition.’”

Friends were working in a major way behind the scenes in last week, given what appeared to be the imminent demolition of the home, according to intelligence we had and, indeed, according to everything we had heard since mid-October when the University of Chicago had a public meeting to announce the home would be demolished. That night the plan for just a plaque to honor President Reagan’s memory was hatched, a deal my friend the late Redd Griffin brokered as a fallback position. He felt that might be all he could get since all the forces were so heavily weighted against saving the home.

Photo of site from January 8, 2012, 4:30 p.m. (CT)

We will be formally incorporating this week...

Here is draft of Mission Statement:

The goal of Friends of President Reagan’s Chicago Home is to work with the University of Chicago to develop a plan to transform President Reagan’s Chicago home at 832 E. 57th Street into a museum and center... The museum would be an exact replica of the “six-flat” home as it looked in 1915 when the Reagans lived there, providing information on the historical context and Reagan’s experience there, where in 1915, Chicago had a population of over 2.2 million, whereas Tampico, where Reagan was born and lived until he was three, had a population of less than 1000. The center would be a celebration President Reagan’s historic presidency and would build bridges to the immediate community... as well as to the larger national and international community. A side benefit is the travel and tourism dollars the museum and center would attract, given the deep and broad reservoir of affection for President Reagan nationally and internationally, which would create jobs. “Friends” also intends to make a contribution each year to the other Reagan homes in Illinois to underscore the fact that “The Ronald Reagan Trail” is a team and far from being a zero sum game, the Reagan Chicago Museum and Center will synergistically enhance the whole.

More information to follow...

And, again, those interested in supporting this cause may send contributions to:

Friends of President Reagan's Chicago Home
P.O. Box 3772
Washington, DC 20027-3772

The initial contribution to help cover the incorporation can be structured as a non-profit donation.

To Raze or Not to Raze Reagan Home: 90 Day Review

2013-01-03T06:39:00.000-08:00

By Mary Claire Kendall

A stay of execution has been issued on Reagan Chicago home for 90 days maximum, as Lee Bey reports on WBEZ. Without the efforts of Friends of President Reagan's Chicago Home, this would not even be news and the likelihood that home might ultimately be saved virtually non-existent.

As my source in Hyde Park wrote me late last night:

Lee Bey, an ardent preservationist, has a very popular architectural blog and radio program on WBEZ, the local public educational station.

He is a former licensed architect (SOM) who knows his way around Chicago having been both a former newspaper reporter (Sun-Times) and Deputy Mayor to Richard M. Daley (2002).

Here in Chicago, the authority of his "endorsement" will be exceedingly helpful...

Thanks to you, things are looking up.

File/WhiteHouse.gov

Here’s my comment on Lee Bey’s article:

Thank you, Lee, for bringing attention to President Ronald Reagan’s Hyde Park home as a young boy. This home, about which he wrote and spoke, had great emotional resonance for our 40th president. It’s an important historic landmark not only for Chicago but for the nation. As I wrote in my Washington Examiner piece last month, “When President Reagan was four, he loved looking out the window of his home on 832 East 57th Street in Hyde Park, not far from the University of Chicago, watching the horse-drawn fire engines storm down the street. He later wrote in a 1988 letter, that watching the firemen ‘come down the street at full gallop ... made me decide I wanted to be a fireman.’ So he did—only the fires he put out were of a larger, geopolitical nature, such as winning the Cold War without firing a shot.” http://washingtonexaminer.com/hyde-park-showdown-over-reagans-childhood-home/article/2515272#.UOZfoKllTQM Goodness gracious, if Barbados can preserve a home whereGeorge Washington lived for only two months, Chicago can find it in its heart and soul to save the only Chicago home of the only president born and bred in Illinois, where his first memory was, about which he also spoke very poignantly, which I will be sharing in another op-ed shortly.

And, this is what I wrote in response to a reader who asserted: 1) President Reagan’s 1988 recollection must have conflated his experience with his Dixon years, because, this reader falsely said, he had Alzheimer’s in 1988; and 2) President Reagan did not “win the Cold War without firing a shot,” which is commonly the way Reagan’s legacy is summed up:

Thanks for your comment. Actually, he shared his recollections in 1981 at the White House with a prominent figure... contrary to what some believe, based on a lack of knowledge, the home on the south side of Chicago, where he lived with his parents and older brother, at age 4, had great emotional resonance for young Dutch Reagan... stay tuned for more details... as for Reagan’s key role in winning the Cold War, it is well-documented in “Reagan’s Secret War,” which I reviewed in this piece.

And, this is what I wrote in response to reader who claimed building will look bad all by itself and made an insulting comment about President Reagan:

Au contraire, it’s a beautiful building and will look great by itself once some architectural brilliance is applied. Artfully blending the old with the new is something the Kennedy Administration pioneered. Jackie Kennedy was the driving force in preserving Lafayette Square and the 18th century buildings along Jackson Place bordering the square. It was a totally uphill battle for her but she had a vision and stuck with – and won. It’s the same vision for saving the Reagan home, which of course is also an uphill battle - a beautiful structure with historic value. The tan brick it’s constructed with is indicative of a turn-of-the-century middle class residence that was considered a cut above. In 1986, it was written up by the Chicago Landmark Commission as having landmark potential. The city’s 1985 inventory of all buildings listed it in the top 2% of historic buildings in Chicago. And, of course, Ronald Reagan was an historic president, with a refreshing aura who brought an era of record prosperity including growth of real GDP of almost 36% and nearly 20 million jobs created. By the way, saving the Reagan home will also create jobs.

And, this is my response to a very intemperate reader, whose comments I cannot even post, they were so inappropriate.

Regarding your suggestion that those who favor saving the Reagan home are out of the mainstream, in fact, in 1986, the Reagan home was written up by the Chicago Landmarks Commission as “noteworthy due to historical associations,” which gave it “landmark potential.” The city’s 1985 inventory of all buildings listed it in the top 2% of historic buildings in Chicago. As for the book I cited, that is just one example of many that report on President Reagan’s central role in ending the Cold War, one of his many historic achievements that make him a truly great president, according to those with the credibility to make those judgments. As for your other most unfortunate and intemperate comments, I will “consider the source,” as my great grandmother always wisely counseled.

Saving President Reagan's Chicago Home

2013-01-01T08:03:00.002-08:00

By Mary Claire Kendall

Happy New Year! Albeit, it’s not entirely happy. You see, Obamites are getting ready to demolish the home in Chicago where President Ronald Reagan lived at age 4 and had his first memories, about which he spoke and wrote poignantly, bringing him to the brink of tears at one point. We’re working intensively behind the scenes: VERY SYMBOLIC if they destroy home; VERY SYMBOLIC if we save it. We will know if our efforts to save home are succeeding in next few days.

President Reagan’s Chicago home was written up as having “Landmark Potential” during Reagan’s presidency, i.e., May 1986, and two months later was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Then, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his Landmarks Commission (including new political appointees inexperienced in preservation) denied it landmark status—now that President Barack Obama is in office and his presidential library will in all likelihood be located not far from Reagan’s Chicago home.

For more information, see:

http://washingtonexaminer.com/hyde-park-showdown-over-reagans-childhood-home/article/2515272

http://spectator.org/archives/2012/12/11/historic-home-or-grassy-strip http://arcchicago.blogspot.com/2012/12/say-goodbye-to-ronald-reagans-apartment.html
http://maryclairecinema.blogspot.com/2012/12/inspired-by-jackie-kennedy.html
http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/theskyline/2011/07/emanuel-appoints-six-to-landmarks-commission-where-are-the-architects.html
http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20121026/hyde-park/former-ronald-reagan-home-become-parking-garage
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/3637552-418/reagan-university-president-park-building.html (February 2011, before Reagan birthday centennial.)
And, here's TV report (and, article version) that aired from December 27, day after the demolition and wrecking equipment showed up, that doesn’t tell the full story:

http://www.voanews.com/content/ronald-reagan-home-chicago/1573501.html
http://www.hawaiireporter.com/university-plans-to-demolish-ronald-reagans-chicago-apartment/123

Author in front of Reagan Chicago Home, November 30, 2012.
Credit: Matthew A. Rarey.

Demolition equipment that showed up behind the Reagan home
the day after Christmas; one of three back hauls, usually equipped
with a shovel, which they retrofit with jaws to pick up debris after boom
destroys building, placing it in piles for carting away.

Wrecking crane that showed up behind the Reagan home
the day after Christmas

Reagan home is being readied for demolition, shown here with
metal fencing and green cloth, to catch dust produced during
the demolition, temporary construction erected mid-December

Inspired by Jackie Kennedy...

2012-12-14T16:54:00.001-08:00

By Mary Claire Kendall

From the start of working to save Ronald Reagan's childhood home in Chicago*, two weeks ago today, i.e., Friday, November 30, I've drawn inspiration from Jackie Kennedy, who saved Lafayette Square and Jackson Place, going up against the most powerful of all interests, and catalyzing the artful blending of the old and the new. A whole new way of looking at development.

Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy

ED CLARK/LIFE.COM

Gary Walker, owner of Salon ILO in Georgetown, reminded me today that Jackie also saved Grand Central Station and that it was her salvation. In 1975 when it was threatened with being demolished, she was suffering from severe depression and it cured her because it gave her a cause.

In front of the building at 832 E. 57th Street, in the Hyde Park area of Chicago,
where Ronald Reagan lived with his family when he was four, from which he dated
his first memories. President Obama's home is a few blocks away.

She is truly an inspiration for me, because saving Reagan's childhood in Chicago won't be easy, but we'll prevail, I feel confident. I have an amazing team backing me up, including Peter Hannaford, who knew Ronald Reagan as well as anyone, having worked for him both when he was Governor of California and President of the United States. Peter wrote a great piece in The American Spectator earlier this week on this effort, titled "Historic Home or Grassy Strip?" And, many others are helping, including the team at Shirley Banister... each playing a critical role... providing information, intervention, outreach... and great heart for a man and leader who reminded Americans of our heritage of freedom and opportunity and forged paths for its renewal...

His own path began in Illinois, and Chicago during a formative year that made all the difference in his life... and ours...

Those interested in supporting this cause may send contributions to:

Friends of President Reagan's Chicago Home*
P.O. Box 3772
Washington, DC 20027-3772

Please note, if we do not succeed in our quest, unless otherwise specified by donor, first net $32,000 will go toward the statue of "Dutch" Reagan as a child playing on a Civil War cannon in Tampico's town park, to be displayed in the same park in Tampico, where he was born, after which contributions will be divided equally among President Reagan's other Illinois residences.

If we do succeed, I will still encourage the board to make a donation to the Tampico Birthplace to help pay for the sculpture and, each year thereafter, to make a donation divided equally among all the Reagan Illinois homes.

__________
* My op-ed, "Hyde Park Showdown over Reagan's childhood home," published in Washington Examiner on December 9, was called "an eloquent requiem" by prominent Chicago preservationist Lynn Becker, who shares my sentiments.

*When writing check, it's easier if you abbreviate to: Friends of Pres. Reagan's Chicago Home.

Remembering A Good Friend

2012-04-29T13:26:00.001-07:00

Remarks by

Mary Claire Kendall

at Karen Roberts' Funeral

Christ Church Georgetown

Tuesday, October 21, 2003

Karen Roberts c. 1995 at her lovely
c. 1840 Georgetown home

I first visited Karen at her home on Monday, April 16^th2001. It was Easter Monday, late in the afternoon. She was sitting up in bed, with that distinctive, graceful bearing, combined with that down-to-earth, insatiable appetite for all that life offered—that spirit, ready to jump on a plane and go to exotic world destinations, that characterized her to the end.

Exactly a year later we spoke about the spiritual journey she was on. She relayed to me that someone had actually suggested that her suffering was a punishment. Well, I quickly disabused her of that possibility!

She came to understand that God loved her and was entrusting her with the agony of her gradual, total incapacitation for a higher spiritual reason ... so that, just as she excelled in all her worldly endeavors, when it came time to surrender her soul she would zoom straight to heaven ...

My last visit with Karen came exactly two and a half years after that first Easter Monday visit. It was Monday, October 13^th. We were celebrating her mother Maxine’s 93rd birthday… Karen hadn’t come downstairs since Sunday, which was very unusual and a sign of her worsening condition. So we celebrated in her bedroom, hovering around her as she sat up in bed, suffering through the ever more horrific trials of just trying to breath. Yet, all the while she related with each of us as she always did. At 11 o’clock, when I was getting ready to leave after an evening downstairs reminiscing, Karen asked me to come up…

To my surprise, she was all tucked in bed with her headgear on, and literally looked like she was ready for “lift off”—so cute ... And, she wanted to make sure I was coming this weekend. So we set Sunday, and she clenched her hand, as best she could, and pursed her lips, mouthing “good.” But this time her look was so different ... it was a serious look, one of quiet and intense determination, as if she knew she was preparing for a far different visit ... the visit of a lifetime.

I had tried to impress upon her how wonderful heaven would be. One night this summer when I was describing its magnificence, in keeping with what St. Paul reported, she quizzed me, “You think so?” and I said emphatically “I know so!”

The last time we talked about heaven was on September 21^st after an Emmys party at her home. There had just been a tribute to all the stars who had died ... it was very moving ... Johnny Cash, whom she knew, was among those remembered ... now, she had a newly-minted friend in heaven, ready to usher her in ... no doubt, to the accompaniment of his country music...

And, now, all of us have our own friend in heaven—someone to turn to when life here below becomes, at times, well, less than heavenly. And, my plea to Karen will be to help me handle the tough times with at least half the equanimity, elegance and quiet strength with which she faced the paralyzing, mystery disease known as Lou Gehrig’s. And, to enjoy the good times with the same great zest for life, which she had to the end.

Journey to Liberty and Broadway

2011-08-27T13:21:00.000-07:00

By Mary Claire Kendall

A makeshift memorial at the corner of Liberty & Broadway, November 9, 2001.
Credit: Mary Claire Kendall

ach year, as the anniversary of 9/11 nears, I reflect on how I happened to travel to New York City the afternoon of Monday, September 10, 2001.

I rarely traveled to Manhattan. Every other time I did manage a trip, it seemed some calamity would befall the town. For instance, on a visit in August 1999, the subway system flooded, after an unexpected deluge of rain courtesy Hurricane Dennis—the Menace. But, serendipitously, a meeting with a top city official I had told a client I could set up sometime in the fall was suddenly of great interest; and when I called to set it up, we picked September 10th.

A week after Labor Day, I boarded an Amtrak train bound for New York just before noon to arrive in time for my 5 p.m. appointment. The meeting would take place just a few blocks from the still-standing Twin Towers. Afterwards, I was going to have dinner with my friend John, and fully intended to return to Washington on 9/11.

But, after my 3 p.m. arrival in Penn Station, nothing went as planned. I couldn’t seem to catch a break.

Exiting the train station, I decided to walk from 34th Street to my hotel in Midtown. I love New York and its jam-packed sidewalks teaming with pedestrians—and just relished the opportunity to soak in the city color. As a struggling writer, I relished saving money, too—in this case the cab fare.

As I walked, rain-threatening clouds soon gathered, quickly turning ominously darker, sending me scurrying to reach my hotel before the skies burst. But, a torrential downpour soon forced me to run for cover inside a restaurant.

About ten to four, I finally reached my destination. (I was staying at the Chemists’ Club on 45th Street through my membership at Washington’s historic City Tavern Club, frequented by founding fathers George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams.) But,no sooner did I begin settling into my room, than I discovered, to my dismay, that the air conditioning was broken—necessitating a call to maintenance. They came right away; so, of course, I couldn't get ready for my appointment.

Clearly, on-time arrival for my 5 p.m. wasn’t going to happen.

So I called the official—an old friend— impressively ensconced in his penthouse suite in the shadow of the Twin Towers, hoping to reschedule for early the next morning. He told me to come when I could—he was working late and was flexible.

Shortly after 5 p.m., finally on my way, I hustled down 45th Street to Grand Central Station, and braved more driving rains—this time aided by a helpful New Yorker. Then, I endured the passengers-packed-in-like-sardines-in-a-can subway experience.

But, it was all worth it: Exiting the Wall Street station, I saw—with my naked eye, for the first time in my life—that heroic statue of George Washington heralding the New York Stock Exchange. How impressive! The whole scene captured my imagination for a brief transfixing moment—before more rain and my impending appointment yanked me back to reality. A reality that put me on track to arrive an hour late—at 6 p.m.!

It was a lovely appointment in which we reminisced about the good old days: we had met at the Reagan-Bush Midterm Reunion in 1982! And, he was very helpful as to the business purpose of my visit—authorizing a $2500 seed grant by the time the appointment wrapped at 6:30 p.m.

After saying goodbye, I was, of course, blissfully unaware as I exited the building, how blessed I was that, in spite of all the obstacles, we had not rescheduled for the morning of 9/11. Such a plan would likely have put me either on the subway, approaching Wall Street, as the terrorists slammed 747s into the North Tower, or outside looking up in horror at the towering inferno—this time running for cover not from rain, but falling debris.

But, all these “what ifs” were now non-existent. I had had my appointment. Now, it was onto the business of soaking in more awe-inspiring sights, if not more rain—on my own. You see, John, the one I was due to have dinner with, was taking his good old time returning from his country estate on Lake George—so depressed was he over his mounting stock market losses.

Walking along Lower Manhattan, I soon stumbled onto a now-shuttered restaurant at the top of 14 Wall Street, J.P. Morgan’s old apartment, and followed the labyrinthine passages to the top. Entering the restaurant, the view of the beautiful Statue of Liberty standing majestically out in the harbor, was overwhelming. Little wonder J.P. Morgan chose this space as his living quarters!

As I gazed upon this powerful symbol and essence of American Democracy from that lofty perch, September 10th, I was sure, was an evening I would never forget.

Statue of Liberty, October 6, 2008.
It was closed for three years after 9/11,
and was not completely open until 2009.

But, it couldn’t last for long—especially since I was by myself. So, stepping off cloud 9, I departed, heading back down the labyrinthine passageways.

Once outside, I made my way back to the Wall Street subway—amidst, you guessed it, the rain.

Arriving at Grand Central Station, the continuing driving rains made it impossible for me to walk the few blocks along 45th Street back to the Chemists’ Club. But, as I had experienced earlier, my walk back to the Club was again eased by the hospitality of a wonderful New Yorker—this time an investment banker from Switzerland named Pierre, who had worked in the city for 15 years.

As he dropped me off at the Club, I expressed heartfelt appreciation and, smiling warmly, he exhorted to me, “Now say nice things about New Yorkers.” Pierre’s statement—prescient, even omniscient—echoed in my mind after the September 11th attacks, after which, all anyone had to say about New Yorkers in the immediate aftermath was of the most positive, affirmative nature.

he morning of September 11th, the bright sun warmly bathed the city and clear blue sky cheered the heart. I woke up about 8:30 a.m., having stayed up late the night before meticulously planning the next day’s complicated and busy itinerary.

When I groggily arrived in the Chemist Club lounge around 9 a.m. for a much-needed cup of coffee, local news was covering a story—a seeming replay, I thought, of my August 1999 visit, highlighting yet another emergency caused by the city’s aging infrastructure.

But, a coffee sip later, I awoke to the tragic reality unfolding before my eyes and that of the gathering crowd in that little lounge. A plane had crashed into one of the Twin Towers—the North Tower—shortly before 9 a.m.

Within minutes, a second plane crashed into the South Tower.

Everyone watched the unfolding drama, witnessing—along with the rest of the world—those two iconic skyscrapers transformed into towering infernos.

As the minutes ticked away, the tension rose concerning the fate of these world famous buildings and, more importantly, everyone inside of them. Then, at 9:59 a.m., our worst fears were realized as the South Tower collapsed—less than an hour after being hit.

Stunned silence gave way to more tension and more apprehension, as we waited and watched—the seemingly inevitable coming at 10:28 a.m., when the North Tower collapsed. It had burned for 102 minutes.

Both towers had collapsed like sandcastles on the beach children petulantly destroy. Only now, the attackers were no innocents but rather twisted terrorists intent on destroying the symbols of American wealth at the heart of our financial empire.

hat afternoon, I joined my friend John atop his building at 57th and Park as we sat somberly watching in the distance smoke billow up from Lower Manhattan. It was surreal. New York City was soon reduced to a near ghost town.

Later than evening at Elaine’s, John and I witnessed another incredible scene at this “bastion of artists and liberal Upper East Side aristocracy,” as he described it, frequented by the likes of Woody Allen, George Plimpton, Michael Cain, and others. Conservative Republicans generally and President George W. Bush, in particular, were a breed apart—as incompatible as Texas oil to their creative water at Elaine’s, recently shuttered, in the wake of the owner, Elaine Kaufman’s death.

Yet, as President addressed the nation, and the world, on television twelve hours after the terrorist attacks, customers in Elaine’s immediately began hushing everyone to “Be quiet, be quiet!,” so anxious were they to listen, intent on hearing his every word. You could literally hear a pin drop—unheard of for liberal Elaine’s.

If there was anyplace in America that could demonstrate right and left were now determined to fight and destroy this terrorist menace—together—it was Elaine’s!

In spite of the huge attack earlier in the day—some 3,000 souls lost, impacting their families and surviving rescue workers—John recently noted how “life went on for almost everyone else.”

It was true—at least for the moment. There we were at Elaine’s enjoying a delicious steak dinner at the Woody Allen table, as Elaine, her usual gracious self, was playing her nightly role: den mother, leading lady of society, and, most importantly, guardian the Upper East Side Café Society.

But, make no mistake, our life had changed. The Army was about to “stand up” the Joint Personnel Effects Depot to deal with the casualties of this first attack in what, would soon be christened The Global War on Terror; and young, or not so young, were enlisting, or re-enlisting, in the military services to join the effort.

Smaller, tangible reminders of the attack were, of course, everywhere. The next day I will never forget when the wind shifted and the Midtown Manhattan condo where I was staying, owned by John’s merchant banking firm, was suddenly enveloped with putrid air billowing up from Ground Zero—a grisly combination of toxic waste and burning human remains.

Then there was the reality that no restaurants were open in the immediate aftermath—except the wonderful Jewish Delis. There, I shared stories with stranded visitors like myself, including a grounded airline pilot from Australia, as well as shell-shocked New Yorkers like Al Sarnoff, the nephew of David Sarnoff, founder of NBC, who, coincidentally, knew a friend of mine, TV programming legend Mike Dann.

Sarnoff, expressing what everyone was feeling, suggested I contact the big wigs I knew in Washington to tell the President to get up here and fast. Of course, plans were already being laid and the day I left, Friday, September 14, Bush visited Ground Zero, and famously stood on that pile of rubble and addressed the firefighters, and the world.

When he started speaking, the firefighters said they couldn’t hear him, and he said, “I can’t talk any louder” and, using the bullhorn, began communicating as best he could, telling them, “I want you all to know that America today is on bended knee in prayer for the people who lost their lives here...” As he continued, the firefighters again said they couldn’t hear him, at which point, in a moment historians say, Bush became president, he blared into that bullhorn, “I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you and the people who knocked all of these buildings down will hear all of us soon.”

It had been a week of Big Apple Big Chill moments with friends and strangers alike—extending over several days, because I was leery of returning to Washington via train. But, I finally traveled back to Washington by car with a friend on Friday, after she finished a weeklong seminar at IBM’s White Plains Headquarters. Once home, I exhaled. My little apartment never looked so good!

***

Finishing the Journey...

wo months later, the figurative and literal dust having settled, I felt magnetically drawn to the city again and, on November 8th, traded in my September 11th Amtrak ticket for a visit I prayed would turn out much differently.

The only hotel available through my City Tavern Club membership this time was in Lower Manhattan, near Ground Zero, which was very fortuitous. While, officially, I had come to New York to screen a friend’s film in the Miramax building on Greenwich Street, and try to advance my screenwriting projects; my real purpose was to come to terms with the enormous catastrophe of two months earlier.

So, after settling into my room, I soon ventured out and discovered that the closest city officials would allow visitors to the World Trade Center pit was the intersection of Liberty & Broadway—near the very tip of Manhattan Island. The symbolism was riveting.

Corner of Liberty & Broadway, November 9, 2001.
Credit: Mary Claire Kendall

The next day, starting at Liberty & Broadway, I did a few “man on the street” interviews and soon rediscovered the truth that America’s wealth lies in her people.

Two telephone technicians, Thomas and Joe, were working diligently to extend communications cut off by the attack. They talked with me, my tape-recorder rolling, in front of Old St. Paul’s Church steps from Ground Zero. (Miraculously, St. Paul’s had sustained no damage whatsoever.)

“Everyone,” said Thomas “is still in shock.” He reported that his close friend, an FDNY firefighter in Ladder 10 a few blocks away, had died—his body just recovered the previous week. “There wasn’t much left of him,” he said—DNA providing essential proof of his identity. Asked if it helped knowing their friends died “in the line of duty,” they both chimed in, it was “small consolation.” But, in fact, their heroism was great consolation. As Joe said, “The firefighters (like cops)—they run in, they don’t care, they take their job with real heart…You got to have a big heart to be a firefighter—no matter where you are.”

Ground Zero, corner of Liberty & Broadway, November 9, 2001.
Credit: Mary Claire Kendall

In a nearby coffee shop, workers for Blackman Moring Steamatic (BMS) Catastrophe Restoration shared their perspective. BMS’s catastrophe division had opened in 1981 to help restore large commercial loss and was now the premier contractor for large loss insurers. But, in all those years, they had never seen anything like the 9/11 World Trade Center disaster: “Property loss is one thing.” But, the loss of so many lives—“incomprehensible!”

Nancy Leo, BMS Vice President and Regional Director, told me she had worked for the New York Port Authority for 10 years and that the clean-up after the February 1993 World Trade Center terrorist bombing required “running 3000 people” a day. The morning of September 11thshe was scheduled to meet with Larry Silverstein’s operations people to secure his new investment. The meeting, she said, was providentially pushed back to later that morning.

With weary sadness in her eyes, she told me, nineteen of her friends and associates, plus 700 other Port Authority employees, were not so lucky.

Author at Ground Zero, corner of Liberty & Broadway,
while conducting "man on the street" interviews, November 9, 2001.

Next on my spontaneous itinerary was a visit to Our Lady of Victory Church, where I spoke with Fr. Peter Gnanashekar.

The morning of September 11th at 8:47 a.m., he said, “time seemed to stand still.”

While assisting at mass he said he heard a “big sound” after which a man, covered in debris, rushed in to report the attack followed by someone reporting a man, covered in blood, had dragged himself to the Church, seeking the Last Rites. Fr. Peter’s colleague, Father Andrew Cieszkowksi, immediately administered the sacrament to this man, who had been struck by flying debris. He was, said Fr. Peter, Ground Zero’s first visible victim.

Others, going out to see the scene with their own eyes, came back in utter disbelief.

Spurred on by the mayhem, Fr. Peter said everyone began to pray fervently “in the front of the tabernacle and Blessed Mother’s statue,” and then, “spontaneously to pray aloud.”

As the dust came pouring in, people started taking altar cloths to cover themselves, holding tight through the final 10:30 a.m. tower collapse.

Then, as the debris in the Church cleared, everyone—in a state of shock—began going to confession, asking for a quick absolution, believing their demise was imminent.

Various angles of Our Lady of Victory Church, November 9, 2001.
Credit: Mary Claire Kendall

Every Wednesday after September 11th, he told me, Our Lady of Victory held an hour of prayer to help people cope with grief and to provide mental and spiritual solace. The purpose, he said, was “to share, to heal, (and) to grow as we try to face this one with faith.”

On my way back to Penn Station for the return trip to Washington, I spoke with a man on the subway. Like all the others, he expressed a profound sense of loss and emotional shellshock. Every time, he said, he got off the subway near Ground Zero to walk to his home or place of work, the foul odor emanating from the burning pit “always makes me feel immediately depressed.”

But he found one silver lining. In spite of widespread communications and social disruptions—phones and buildings rendered totally unusable—human innovation and ingenuity, he said with a smile, helped their community to adapt. Young children would run around the neighborhood taping notices to all the front doors to announce scheduled meetings taking place in the park or significant news.

Then, his thoughts and spirit slumped back as he lamented, “If only human emotion could adapt as quickly.”

Note: My interview with Fr. Peter Gnanashekar at Our Lady of Victory was also included in my companion piece for National Catholic Register, titled “Journey to Liberty and Forgiveness.” See http://american-politics-and-policy.blogspot.com/2011/09/journey-to-liberty-and-forgiveness.html .

Mary Claire Kendall: Give thanks to our veterans | Washington Examiner

2010-12-21T11:09:00.000-08:00

My latest commentary, a holiday reflection, “Give thanks to our veterans,” published in Washington Examiner on December 20, 2010. Also published in the San Francisco Examiner on December 22, under the title, “Give thanks to the men, women who make our freedom possible.” Neither is available online as of 2016; below is the pre-publication text.

Navy SEAL (Sea, Air, Land) Lt. Michael P. Murphy

This holiday season, consider the gift of freedom our veterans and today’s servicemen and women have given our nation – communities, families and each one of us, individually.

It’s a reality veterans’ service organizations work tirelessly to honor throughout the year.

For instance, every November, American Veterans Centers brings heroes of wars past and present together for a weekend of remembrance, reliving epic battles that recall freedom’s price.

This year’s conference, sponsored by Washington Examiner, featured legends from Doolittle Raiders; Band of Brothers; Tuskegee Airmen; and Major League Baseball players who fought in WWII, including recently deceased Hall of Famer Bob Feller and many decorated veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan and their families.

Their stories were profound.

Ed “Babe” Heffron recalled Operation Market Garden – when, at the height of World War II, he and his team parachuted into Holland to liberate the Dutch people from Hitler’s brutal totalitarian grip. His was the famous “Band of Brothers” – E (Easy) Company, 2^nd Battalion, 506^th parachute infantry, assigned to the U.S. Army’s 101^st Airborne Division – immortalized in the HBO series, based on Stephen Ambrose’s book, Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest.

Dutch resistance members with troops of the US 101^st Airborne in front of Eindhoven cathedral during Operation Market Garden in September 1944

He’ll never forget that Dutchman, who compared losing his freedom to the day his mother “got pushed off a bike,” their only means of transportation. “When you hear the word freedom,” this deeply grateful Dutch citizen told Heffron, “think about losing it. It’s when you lose it that it means everything.”

Freedom? All Heffron and his buddies could think about in the plane over was: “What the hell am I doing up here? I could be back home having a soda or standing on the corner with the guys…”

Soda was no equal. “When you saw the faces of those Dutch people and the children,” Heffron intoned, “you knew (raising voice) why you were there, you knew why you did what you had to do. I’m telling you, if you ever get in that predicament, you’ll know why you’re there. Just the look on their faces was everything.”

Medal of Honor recipient Marine Colonel Harvey C. “Barney” Barnum, honored for his valor in Vietnam at the awards banquet, emphasized, “we’re still at war,” and offered “a prayer for those soldiers, seamen, airmen and marines who are on point tonight.”

He’s right. We should pray for those who are still fighting, and have fought, in Iraq and Afghanistan, who now suffer from the wounds of war. And, for those who have paid the ultimate price – heroes like Navy SEAL Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy, who died in Afghanistan on June 28, 2005, while trying to save his team on a mission deep in the Hindu Kush Mountains to find a key Taliban leader. After letting goat herders go, they soon found themselves outnumbered by Taliban forces, attacking from a superior tactical position. Lt. Murphy, in a final bid to save his men, entered the fighting space to call rescue forces with a clear signal – saying "Thank you," before hanging up, immediately suffering the fatal blow.

Lt. Murphy’s father Daniel recounted the heartwarming visit – a private Oval Office meeting – he and his wife Maureen had with President George W. Bush on October 22, 2007, the day he awarded their firstborn the Medal of Honor – the first of the present wars to be so honored.

“No matter how the press plays this,” the President told them, “you should know that the loss and the death of each and every one of my men effects me deeply.” Then, humorously, he proceeded to undress and put their gift – Michael’s dog tags – around his neck, then got dressed again, exclaiming, “OK, now we’re ready to go.” After the ceremony, breaking protocol, he “grabs us on the red carpet... squeezes us and says ‘Murphs you did good, but I… thought I did even better because I had Michael right next to my heart.’”

This holiday season, let’s return the gift of freedom Michael and his fellow troops, including those of wars past, have won for us – by praying for them and offering tangible assistance, as resources allow, to veterans service organizations such as American Veterans Center, USO, VFW, American Legion, Military Order ofthe Purple Heart, Iraq andAfghanistan Veterans of America,Wounded WarriorProject – among many others working to say “thank you.”