‘Miscellany’ Archives
Carl Peterson Passed Jan. 6, 1912 – Oct. 9, 2014
By Patrick Cabello Hansel He who passed the span From horses to spaceships, From telegrams to Twitter, From sitting around the radio On cold nights, listening To “Hit Parade” and “Sky King” To the first black and white TV, Then color, then laptops, Now watches you can surf from, From the “ja” of Swedish To the “yes” of English To the “si” of Spanish All still spoken in his town, His community, his Phillips. His hands, trained to mold Metal to magnificent shapes, To caress his wife, to Build his workshop, (more…)
Remembering Dad
By Janet Gillespie Editor”'s note: The Alley posed a couple dozen questions (omitted to save space) to Carl”'s daughter Janet. Her personal anecdotal and illustrative answers have been arranged into this narrative by Sue Hunter Weir. We invite readers to enjoy this insight of Carl and Helen and to also use it as an example of writing about the loved ones in your families. My dad was a second-generation American because his dad”'s dad was born in Donovan, Illinois to Swedish immigrant parents. My dad”'s mom was born in Sweden. She came to America just to visit and met my Grandpa at the Swedish Mission Tabernacle in Chicago (my grandpa was working as a motorman on the streetcars in Chicago at the time). Grandma was planning to return to Sweden and her sister was coming to visit. My Grandpa gave her an engagement ring before she returned to Sweden to tell her family she was going back to marry him. Her sister never came to America. My grandpa had heard about [...]
