My old friend Chris Klint died a few months ago and I just found out. Kris and his brother Rolphe were my friends when my parents lived in Shanks Village in Blauvelt. Shanks was an army debarkation point during World War II and after the war the shacks were converted to low cost housing. My Mom and Dad were dirt poor in the early 1950s and lived there until 1956. The made friends with the Klints and many others. The friends that they made at Shanks they kept their entire lives.

In the picture below is Rolphe, who is my age and turns up every 15 or 20 years. He is on the left. Chris is in the middle and I am on the right. I remember the cowboy hat. My Aunt Connie gave it to me on my fourth birthday. I lost it on the Tarrytown ferry when it blew into the river. I was a little over 4 in the picture. I don’t know why Rolphe looks so upset.