Interesting Picture

Belle Of Louisville, 1976

Interesting story behind this photo!

I posted it is part of the tbt (Turn Back Thursday, or Throw Back Thursday, whatever it is, on Facebook.)

First, my connection to Louisville, and Kentucky.

We used to stay at a friend's cottage in Rough River Lake, Kentucky. This friend was a Catholic priest, a chaplain in the Civil Air Patrol, and an all around nice guy. They had the house on the lake so that the priests could get away from the city for a few days here and there, but we were allowed to come down and basically take up residence for the summer. Fr Jim was amazing, he put up with this family coming down from Chicago every year!

On the last day of school, we would be so excited. Sometimes we would even start down that very day! We usually came back just in time to get fitted for uniforms and start the next school year.

My dad, of course, only had so much time off, so he would go back and forth a few times, working at home and then trading days to have more time at the cabin.

It was idyllic, to say the least. Not a care in the world, we would run around barefoot, the street the cabin was on was a dirt road, we were tanned from our scalps to our toes.

It was 100 steps from the cabin to the lake, and our mom would just let us swim on our own.... we were 3,4,5 years old. Of course, she did not know how to swim, and still does not! (I find this out at FORTY!!)

Well, we used to stay with "Uncle Jim" (Father? We have a dad! Ok, Uncle it is!) when we came down on trips; we would stay for a few days in Louisville, sleeping in rooms in the rectory in the Cathedral of the Assumption, and then we would make the drive to the lake.

You have to realize, the lake was pretty isolated, and as we found out on vacation a few years ago, it still is! You have to drive at LEAST 30 miles to come upon any store of any reasonable size. Everything has to be driven in. I loved it. Far from everything. Middle of nowhere.

So they finally paved the road, etc... etc...

But about that picture.

Fr Jim was my inspiration for flying. He used to come up to Chicago via Kankakee, and my mom would drive down and we'd meet him down there. I got to fly up to Midway with him. I feel in love with flying. That was all it took!!

So Fr Jim was a chaplain in the CAP. He was flying some friends somewhere, and had engine problems, and put the plane down in a field, but could not stop before going into the trees. He died either on impact or in the hospital later.

Another priest, Fr Wagner, (Fr Speedboat... also, the priest whose library held 'Jonathon Livingston Seagull', which cemented my love of flying) developed the film that was found in Fr Jim's camera after he died.

The last pictures on his camera were of us kids hanging out in Louisville, and that picture of me, on The Belle Of Louisville, on the Ohio River. If I remember right, we went out and ate some hush puppies after we went on the trip.

Amazing how something can reach through time and touch you all over again.