By the time you receive this I will be in Truckee, California, enjoying being with my children and grand-children for Christmas. Years ago, when John was living in San Francisco, he and his friends rented a house there each winter so they could ski at Squaw Valley. Eventually he and one of his friends decided to build one themselves, fronting on Donner Lake. It has turned out to be an ideal year-around vacation home. Our family has been the beneficiaries of many happy vacations there, summers as well as at Christmas.
Christmas letters are formulaic, either chronological or family tree hierarchical. I will begin with the latter. Being the family patriarch, I will briefly pass judgment on my own 2022. I continue to be blessed by good health, although my ambition and vigor are diminishing regularly. I am fortunate to have Beth and Mike close enough to provide support whenever I need it.
I still enjoy taking advantage of the woods in the park across the street from my house. The way the environment changes with the seasons is a perfect natural science laboratory, as well as being a reminder of the promise of rebirth each Spring. This year our annual Solstice tradition was practiced at the ski house when grand-daughter Claire lit the Solstice candle and reminded the Sun that it is time for it to reverse its path and provide us with longer days again.
Fortunately, diminished physical activity provides even more time for me to read. I belong to two book clubs, but still have time for significant supplemental reading. This year I greatly enjoyed “Great Books” workshops (Moby Dick and Nostromo) at the local library, moderated by lecturer Abby Mendelson. I enjoy bi-monthly brunches with my aging high school friends, punctuated by lunches with several nonagenarian buddies. Involvement with the Bridgeville Area Historical Society, mentoring Pitt Senior Design Project teams, season tickets with the Pittsburgh Symphony, and pen-and-ink sketching also serve to provide red-letter days each week.
I have been a sports fan since I was a small child, still enjoy following Penn State, Pitt, the Penguins, and the Steelers. Somehow, disappointments aren’t as serious as they used to be – probably because I have experienced so many of them. I am concerned about the long-term trends in college sports resulting from the transfer portal, NIL, and super-conference realignment. Beth thinks the big schools will mimic the music conservatory model and end up with sports academies with no pretensions about academics.
I had a wonderful week at Chautauqua this summer, courtesy of Beth, Mike, and Rachael. Beth and Mike taught courses there; we hope to repeat that experience next summer. Beth is now serving as Department Chair for the East Asian Languages and Literatures at Pitt. Mike is enjoying the opportunity to spend more time flying and giving flying lessons now that he is retired.
The past year was a major transition one for Rachael, graduating from Quaker Valley High School in the Spring and matriculating at Bryn Mawr this Fall. Seeing her perform as Co-concertmaster of the Pittsburgh Symphony Youth Orchestra at Heinz Hall was a real highlight – if only her grandmother had been here to experience it! She is majoring in Political Science and French at Bryn Mawr, while still finding time to perform with the Haverford/Bryn Mawr Orchestra.
After two years of Covid quarantine, John and his family have spent the year travelling, visiting Beigene facilities in China, Europe, and in this country. I had a lovely visit with them in California in July. It was a treat to see how Lai An has matured; she is now nine years old and a great source of pride for her parents. John’s company has continued to grow and prosper. They now have over nine thousand employees world-wide and are introducing new cancer-fighting drugs into markets with great frequency. Their motto is “Cancer has no borders; neither do we.”
Sara was here for several visits, one of them with Ian. He is comfortably half-way through his junior year at the University of Colorado, completely immersed in theater arts. He spent last summer as an intern at the University’s Shakespeare Festival. When I visited them in Fort Collins, we drove down to take in a fine production of “Two Gentlemen of Verona”. Nora is a Senior at Rocky Mountain High School, President of her class. She is looking forward to college next Fall, probably in the Pacific Northwest. Claire is comfortably settled in as a Freshman at Rocky, enjoying participating in an impressive choral program.
Sara’s job managing the USGS Molecular Ecology Laboratory continues to be fascinating. Currently she is involved with an important program focused on managing the 12,000 bison on federal land, developing a strategy to ensure the genetic health of the remaining wild herd. We all join Jim in mourning his father Dick, who passed away last summer. He was a fine human being and the proud patriarch of the McCance family.
I am also blessed that my brother Joe and his wife Pauline have managed to navigate their way through another year successfully, as has their wonderful family. Their grand-children are older than mine; three of them have graduated from college already. A high point this year was hearing Joe give an update on his “Almost Forgotten” project to a large crowd at Bethany Church.
Despite the fact that things seem fine in our small family circle, the outside world is certainly a concern. Whether it be war in Ukraine, political extremism in our country, out-of-control population growth, or climate change, there is no shortage of crises. I suppose this will always be the case. Enough hand-wringing – let’s emulate Johnny Mercer and “Accentuate the Positive”. Let’s tune out all the cacophony and revert back to the original Christmas story as we first heard it as children, with its eternal challenge of hope – “Peace on Earth, Good Will Among Men.”