Victor Brown

I can't let this opportunity pass without commenting how Canal Shores played a prominent part in my life as a youth.  Back in our high school days the course was simply called the Evanston Municipal Golf Course.  It was there that I got my first real job as a Starter during the summer.  I think I was paid $1.25/hr to work from 6 AM to 11:00 AM.  That pay didn't really matter.  What did matter was that after work, and on my days off, I could play all the golf I wanted for FREE.

Needless to say, on days when the Cubs weren't in town I was able to get in 36 holes in the afternoon.  When the Cubs were in town I took advantage of the free grandstand season passes provided by the Cubs to all city & suburban high school baseball team players.  It was a great day to worker as a Starter until 11 AM, go take the "L" train to Wrigley Field in time to watch BP & fielding practice, and watch a game.

Even though our free tickets were for unreserved grandstand seats, after the first half of the first inning the Andy Frain ushers would wave in unison for all us kids to swarm down out of the shadows into the sunlit box seats that were seldom occupied in the early '60's.

After the game it was a return ride on the "L" to Evanston (changing trains at Howard Street (all for 40 cents each way.  Once home it was grab a quick bite and then off to play in an American Legion baseball game myself.

Getting back to Canal Shores, I was pleased to learn the course was named for awhile "The Frank Govern Mrmorial Golf Course."  Frank was a Chicago Public School P.E. teacher.  After school he worked for the Evanston Recreation Dept. overseeing the Chandler Park gym and clubhouse.  Frank sold me my first set of golf clubs.  They were the ones he used to win the 1956 Illinois Amateur Championship.  They included #2 Brassie, and #3 Spoon real persimmon woods, 5 iron Mashie, 7 iron Mashie Niblick, and 9 iron Niblick clubs.

When things were slow at Chandler Park, Frank was the PGA Teaching Professional for the golf course that immediately adjoined Chandler Park.  It was there that I got my first golf lessons from Frank, hitting into a driving net.

Needless to say, I was thrilled when the city named the course after Frank, and greatly disappointed when that honor was taken away from him (both posthumously, I think).

So, there's more than anyone wants to know about the history of Canal Shores Golf Course, and what kept me busy during my high school summers.  P.S.  Loved having hot dogs at the Snack Shacks located at #7 & #14 holes just before you had to hit your drive across the canal to the green on the other side.

Susan Holsten (Blumer)

A sobering thought about this flash cube moment when Kennedy was shot in Dallas. I remember I was sitting in study hall (South). Someone came to the door and said President Kennedy has just been shot. Believe Romie Taylor was sitting in desk behind me. The room got eerily quiet and other students began to cry. TheTV in the room above the teacher's desk was turned on as we all sat there very stunned. In 2000 I had just moved to Houston and had a chance to visit Dallas and was driven down the street where all transpired. My memories immediately revisited the high school and those of us stunned by the news. I read many books over the years about theories of the whys for this tragedy. May we not experience another similar event like this ever. We need to exercise our right to vote these days. We can change by our voting power! This is the way I see it as an educator. 

Patrick Furlong

Here's the latest on Canal Shores Golf Course, from today's "Evanston Now" on-line newspaper:

Fred Brostoff

Responding to Vic Brown's message which included a reference to "Frank Govern"...Mr. Govern was my 5th grade teacher at Armstrong Elementary School at Estes & Bell (just west of Ridge Ave) in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago.  (My family moved to Evanston the next year.) 

Fred Brostoff

Your Arizona classmates (and a few from the east and west coasts) gathered at the home of Mark & Dale Goldman on Sunday, March 26th for our 2023 Dinner in the Desert.  Here are a few photos of the cast members.

Your classmates:

From left to right:  Phil Kaplan, Mark Goldman, Jay Siegall, Helene (Drew) Spero, Fred Brostoff, Arlene (Avery) Burke, Hank Gideon, Clifford Johnson.  Jay flew in from Naples, FL; and Clifford drove from Los Angeles, CA.

The full cast:

Sitting, left to right:  Dale Goldman, Jackie Gideon, Helene (Drew) Spero, Shelly Brostoff, Alyn Siegall, Arlene (Avery) Burke.

Standing, left to right:  Fred Brostoff, Phil Kaplan, Sterling Burke (Arlene's husband), Jay Siegall, Hank Gideon, Ron Burke (Arlene's brother-in-law), Larry Spero, Mark Goldman, Clifford Johnson.

...and, of course, the guest of honor:

HOPE YOU CAN JOIN US NEXT YEAR.

Carolyn Wyld (Saul)

I love seeing the photos of everyone from Arizona. Is it because the cake is being decorated in a galaxy far, far away that Willie looks a little scared to me?

Kathy Dalgety (Miehls)

Thanks, Fred.

Lincoln Krochmal

great photos of our classmates. Thanks for sharing.

Robert Lindner

I was listening to Gordon Lightfoot's song

And thinking about the Carefree Highway

Of our youth and how I must now travel

A different road into the years that are left.

Careful Highway

“Carefree highway
Let me slip away on you
Carefree highway
You've seen better days
The morning after blues
From my head down to my shoes
Carefree highway
Let me slip away, slip away on you”

Carefree Highway by Gordon Lightfoot

My highway’s not the way

That is free of the cares of every day,

That’ll come, as time goes past,

Through years that go too fast.

But who knows when the last

Day will come, the moment I’ll have to pay

The ferryman that waits

For all who’ve passed their expiration dates.

Or have been unlucky

On that highway that we

All must travel and be

Who we are and where we are, as the fates

Decide our fortunes. Though

We do have choices to make and can go

On carefree highway or

A careful one that’s more

Likely to be a bore

But will increase the chance we’ll live to show

Children and grandchildren

Who we are and where we’ve been in times when

The carefree highway was

Calling to us because

There’s no sanity clause

In our contract with nature. We’re here, then

We’re not. In better days

Or in worse days, on the carefree highways

Or the careful ones, I

Travel on, I shall try

To make the next day my

Next day. So I’ll travel the road that stays

Away from the dangers

Of disease and other problems strangers

May bring to our winding

Road, when we are being

Carefree on an aging

Road, evolutionary arrangers

Only had for the fittest

To survive. Choosing creatures with the best

Chances to make it. We,

In our humanity,

And sensibility

Have found ways to meet evolution’s test,

Which sometimes is to know

How to get beyond dangers that may go

Bump at night or someday,

On a carefree highway,

Where we may slip away,

But find bumps when the whirlwinds of fate blow.

So I think, I must stay

Off the carefree on the careful highway,

So that’s the way I’ll choose

And I’ll direct my shoes

Far away from the blues

And that way try to find that better day

That tomorrow may bring.

When I think about what the careful thing

Is, in the world I must

Live in, where I must trust

To luck sometimes. It’s just

What it is. Just another song to sing

On the highway of time,

Where the road may go just so far. So I’m

On the careful highway

Where I’ll be. Where I’ll stay.

Though I may slip away

Sometime, when I’m at the end of my rhyme.

Fred Brostoff

Actually, I was on Carefree Highway last week.  See lower left corner of image below...far northern Phoenix suburb, just above Scottsdale.  (Probably a different Carefree Highway.)

Lincoln Krochmal

Robert,

I think with this one, you have outdone yourself! Great work to weave your poem into Lightfoot's song. I thought you might brong in avoiding deadends, wrong off ramps and cul de sacs! Give a listen to Levon Helm(of The Band)'s song, When I Go Away. I want it played at my funeral which I hope is not until I have driven farther on the Carefree Highway. I bet you will be inspired to create a poem to go along with Levon's great song!

Keep up the good work and sharing your creatvity with us mortals!

Fred Brostoff

Remember back when we were kids (even before we were at ETHS) and we wanted to get together with some of our friends at the local playground?  We didn't use text messaging or twitter or facebook to communicate, because those things didn't exist.  Instead, we walked down the street and knocked on doors...and it worked.

Well, our classmate Phil Kaplan, found the following images that will take you back to a simpler (and fun) time in our lives.

Hope you enjoyed this nostalgia.

Susan Spiegel (Pastin)

I remember all those things Fred!

Lauren Dolinky (Moss)

And so do I! We did have fun and I think it was all pretty innocent. My grandchildren's lives are much more complicated but good in other ways. Keep sending memories Fred. What about your bike riding on Brummel street!!

Ruth Gross

It sure seems like it was a lot more fun than what I see my grandkids doing now. And certainly a lot more fun than thumbing phones.

Richard Winokur

Alison Hayford

I remember my grandfather thinking that his generation had more fun as children because there was no tv or radio then so they had to depend on their own imaginations. (I don't know if he was nostalgic for the 3 hour church services he had to sit through, quietly.)  When we were kids there was a moral panic about comic books--we'd all grow up brainless or worse from our exposure to such trash--and look at us now.  I imagine at some point in the far distant future, our aged grandchildren will look back with nostalgia on their own childhoods and feel like their own grandchildren are missing out on something important.  Having said all this, I  do think it was great to have a degree of independence at an early age, to be able to take off on our bikes, and to have to work out rules for various games on our own without parents or coaches doing it for us.  

Jack Hayes

Alison nailed it---"I  do think it was great to have a degree of independence at an early age, to be able to take off on our bikes, and to have to work out rules for various games on our own without parents or coaches doing it for us."

Lincoln Krochmal

every generation has their own memories. I recall what Phil posted and remember all we had were our bikes and going to the playground to hang out  and to the beach in the summertime. Great memories of a simpler time without distractions present today for our grandchildren. I like spending time with my one grandson even though sometimes I have to interrupt his Ipad time.

Best to all,

Lincoln

Vernon Neece (Neece)

Speaking of freedom & bicycles; a neighborhood buddy's parents divorced while we were in high school & his mom moved to a subdivision newar Milwaukee Av & Lake Strret.  I used to ride my siingle-speed bicycle out to his house.  It was quite a goodly distance..I lived near the Ridgeville Park district.  In the winter we had the ice skating pond on South Boulevard & in the summer we would meet friends at either South Boulevard Beach of Lee Street Beach.

Preston Cook

Last year I was interviewed by David Rubenstein for the forthcoming PBS series "Iconic America", as a collector of all things American Eagle.  "American Bald Eagle" will premiere Wednesday, July 19, 2023 at 10:00 p.m. ET.

See below for the full series.

NEW SERIES “ICONIC AMERICA: OUR SYMBOLS AND STORIES 

WITH DAVID RUBENSTEIN” PREMIERES WEDNESDAYS BEGINNING APRIL 26 AT 10 P.M. ET ON PBS

Eight-Episode Series Explores American History Through Iconic National Symbols Across the Country, Including Fenway Park, the Hollywood Sign, the Gadsden Flag, and the American Cowboy 

In ICONIC AMERICA, David M. Rubenstein – co-founder of The Carlyle Group, patriotic philanthropist, lifelong student of history, and the series’ host and executive producer – explores American history through a close examination of iconic national symbols: indelible artifacts, places, and archetypes. Rubenstein is on location and in conversation with historical thinkers, community members, and subject matter experts. Together, they dive deeply into each symbol’s history and how its meaning has changed over time, using these symbols as a gateway to understanding America’s past and present. Emmy-Award-winning production company Show of Force is also an executive producer. 

The subjects of the series’ eight episodes are Fenway Park, the Hollywood Sign, the Gadsden Flag, the American Cowboy, the Statue of Liberty, the American Bald Eagle, Stone Mountain, and the Golden Gate Bridge The series spotlights how these icons were created and how the perception of them formed and changed. These manifestations of our cultural history are sometimes highly contested as different groups invest them with distinct meanings. The symbols that endure speak to what a society values and how people see themselves ─ and they help us to contextualize a nation’s shared past in the present moment.  

“I’ve long been struck by the strength of American symbols while saddened by how little we know about them,” said Rubenstein. “Our goal with this series was to explore the history and meaning of these iconic symbols and to better understand the bigger issues and societal currents they reveal. I am grateful to WETA for its confidence in and support of this project and to Show of Force for helping to create a remarkable series.”  

“David brings his unique mix of wry humor, relentless curiosity, and deep engagement with history to this exploration of how we interpret our iconic American symbols throughout the country,” noted Rockefeller. “This series offers viewers a new perspective on how we tell  ─  and retell ─  our American story.”

Descriptions and premiere dates for each of the eight episodes are provided below:

“Fenway Park” 

Premieres Wednesday, April 26, 2023 at 10:00 p.m. ET / 9:00 CT on PBS 

Baseball is a favorite American pastime and obsession, and no ballpark is more iconic than Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox. This episode tells the story of a city’s loyalty to its team and love for its ballpark through thick and thin.    

“The Hollywood Sign” 

Premieres Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 10:00 p.m. ET / 9:00 CT on PBS 

The Hollywood Sign episode examines the history of the Los Angeles landmark, which was erected in 1923 originally as a real estate advertisement, and went on to become an international symbol of fame, fortune, and the American dream.

“Gadsden Flag” 

Premieres Wednesday, May 10, 2023 at 10:00 p.m. ET / 9:00 CT on PBS 

In this episode, viewers will discover how the “Don’t Tread on Me” flag, once a potent symbol of independence, has been co-opted by a variety of Americans over its long history. 

“The American Cowboy”

Premieres Wednesday, May 17, 2023 at 10:00 p.m. ET / 9:00 CT on PBS 

The cowboy is the quintessential American — fiercely independent, brave and laconic.  The episode examines the myths and realities of this archetype, which remains as powerful as ever in the 21^st century. 

  “Statue of Liberty”

Premieres Wednesday, July 12, 2023 at 10:00 p.m. ET / 9:00 CT on PBS  

This episode surveys the evolving meaning the Statue of Liberty has for a “nation of immigrants” and how it embodies our values and our conflicts, from abolition and women’s suffrage to the treatment of refugees. 

“American Bald Eagle”

Premieres Wednesday, July 19, 2023 at 10:00 p.m. ET / 9:00 CT on PBS 

In this episode, discover how the American Bald Eagle soared to its vaunted perch in American iconography, a symbol not only of patriotism but also of environmental activism and Native American traditions. 

“Stone Mountain” 

Premieres Wednesday, July 26, 2023 at 10:00 p.m. ET / 9:00 CT on PBS 

This episode considers the fate of the Monument at Stone Mountain in Georgia, revealing a nation wrestling with its past as Confederate statues are being removed across the country.   

“The Golden Gate Bridge" 

Premieres Wednesday, August 2, 2023 at 10:00 p.m. ET / 9:00 CT on PBS 

The Golden Gate Bridge is an engineering marvel that symbolizes America’s can-do spirit. This episode explores if America can continue to execute bold and ambitious infrastructure projects in the 21^st century.

About David M. Rubenstein

David M. Rubenstein is co-founder and co-chairman of The Carlyle Group, a global investment firm. Mr. Rubenstein is Chairman of the Boards of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Council on Foreign Relations, the National Gallery of Art, the Economic Club of Washington, and the University of Chicago. He is an original signer of The Giving Pledge and a recipient of the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy. Mr. Rubenstein is the host of The DAVID RUBENSTEIN SHOW: PEER-TO-PEER CONVERSATIONS on Bloomberg TV and PBS and BLOOMBERG WEALTH WITH DAVID RUBENSTEIN on Bloomberg TV, and is the New York Times best-selling author of THE AMERICAN STORY, HOW TO LEAD, THE AMERICAN EXPERIMENT, and HOW TO INVEST. A native of Baltimore, Mr. Rubenstein is a graduate of Duke University and the University of Chicago Law School.

For up-to-date information on this and other PBS programs, visit PBS PressRoom at pbs.org/pressroom.

William Wanlund

Congratulations, Preston -- it'll be a great contribution to an interesting series.

Lincoln Krochmal

Preston,

Congrsatulationds on this recognition of your amazing work on the Bald Eagle. I look forward to watching your episode in July. Hope all is well.

Jane Henry (Andersen)

Can't wait.  Be sure to post a reminder closer to the air date.

Pauline Noznick (Gerstein)

Congratulations. Preston!  If  only those Willard teachers could see you now.  You may the the most sucessful/well known person from our 6th grade class.