June 8, 1916, is my father’s birthday.

I found this picture from the day that he came back to the county board room to vote for Ann Hughes for county board chairman.

The doctor did not understand that legislative organization meetings do not wait for lung cancer treatments to be completed.

I wheeled him into the room.

His vote was the deciding vote.

And he was elected vice chairman.

In order to get there, he had to check himself out of Georgetown University Hospital against doctor’s orders.

We drove from Washington, only getting lost once in the Gary area after taking the wrong off-ramp.

Without Dad’s presence, McHenry’s former Mayor Don Doherty would have won the county board chairmanship.

Dad thought Doherty would not be independent enough.

Of McHenry County Republican Party Chairman and County Auditor Al Jourdan, I presume.

= = = = =

And I picked up another tidbit this week. Apparently my father was referred to as “Phoenix” sometimes. I was told that when letters to the Crystal Lake (Northwest) Herald said that “Phoenix had said” or words to that effect, they were referring to Dad.

The only Phoenix of which I’m aware is former Lake Killarny (Cary) resident Jim McDonald, who wrote a Royko-like column for Richardson Publications in the early 1970’s. He worked for the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad and used to be a reporter.