A Carver in the crowd

This is a picture of Mary Beth's birthday party when she was turning about four. Mary is the one holding the doll. She looks particularly like her older brother, Jimmy, in this picture. Ellen Carver, Jake's aunt, on the far back right in the white dress. In front of Ellen is Michael Tschudy, son of my Dad's co-pilot, Bill and his wife, Janie. Gary Armstrong , Mary's first boyfriend, is right behind her. Loved seeing him and his family at Mom's memorial service. The Armstrongs lived across the street from us in King's Grant. Their dad reminded me of Dick Van Dyke and, coincidentally, they shared the same first name. He used to sing "Paddlin' Madeline Home" to me and, boy, I loved the attention! The day my dad and Bill Tschudy were shot down, I went over to the Armstrong's house. I imagine Mary, Michael and I were all sent over there to remove us from the scene at our house. We went to a bike store and, en route, the news of the first local pilots to be shot down came on the car radio. Mr. Armstrong quickly turned it off. Even an eight-year-old could recognize his kind motive and I was touched.