Dear Stuart,
Happy 60th! You’re older than me again and this year I’m glad.
Boy, are you (we?) running up the mileage! Where HAVE all the years gone?
At 10 we’d swing on the vine behind Rowland. With lives ahead of us our only concerns were whether Jerry Wolf would steal the ball or Johnny Palladino would push us off the diamond.
Then I traipsed through high school, you sped through puberty, and it was off to college. Thanks for proudly sabotaging my ‘67 cameo appearance at Michigan State. 8-track tapes of the guys back home cemented my decision to transfer, (especially the audio bearing YOUR voice singing “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.”) Remember how you introduced yourself when, with Bob, you ventured to East Lansing?
“Well HELLO!!!!” you exclaimed to anyone who would listen, “I grew up near Shaker Heights, Ohio!”
So by 20 we were together again at OSU. Same friendship—different playground. Remember when Wieder thought he saw buffalo on I-71? He announced it one Sunday One night at Drackett. How obnoxious were you?
“No, Alan, buffalo are INSTINCT.”
“It’s extinct, asshole!”
“No, it’s INSTINCT. You didn’t see buffalo because they’re INSTINCT.”
Who was nicer than Wido, but you had to push his buttons! Moreover, that same winter quarter you proclaimed that that, hey, if your friend Alan was called “A,” clearly your friend Bruce should be dubbed “B.” Did you know… it’s still my favorite moniker?
Those were The Glory Days: you had Marilyn and Hagerty Hall; I had contact lenses, a brand new Mustang, and ultimately The Jersey Girl. Together we sold magazines and found avenues to keep the stream of kinship alive.
Where have all the flowers gone?
“The Wild Child.” Dark Shadows. Cape May for you; Fort Polk for me.
Joseph Mellon & Miller. Brian Drive. Campbell’s Soup. The Lodge? At times our paths were no more than parallel, but even so we always found a way to intersect. Always. How many times on how many mornings in how many neighborhoods have I honked at you jogging?
French lessons anyone? Dis huit! Dis neuf!
So happy 60th, S. William Fenton. Thanks for holding my hand when others wouldn’t and for loving me when others couldn’t. We’ve had the friendship of a lifetime and you’ve been a lifeline.
We are so different… physically, politically, financially…..but it matters not.
Have a wonderful day and remember: Snyder and I love you. (Not that there’s anything wrong with it).
Bruce
Happy Birhtday again Stuart. B puts it into words better than any of ever could. B and Alan are the last. I say lets get together again at the end of this year to re-celebrate the great year of 1949. Bob S. put it together!
Lucky you, Dad. Friendship like this is once in a lifetime…if you’re lucky.
Thanks, B.
It’s been a great ride so far. Stacy is right…friendship’s like these happen once in a lifetime. But, as I’ve told Bob, lightning struck multiple times for the boys of Rowland. South Euclid must have been Neverland…we just didn’t realize it at the time.
I love you B. Paul Bogart
Which one of you guys has my DVD of “The Notebook”?
Aunt Helen, I wish that I could remember for you.
I miss aunt helen.