Return to the Index for 1987

On this page I have put those pictures from this year that did not have to do with some event or trip, or where that event or trip only generated a picture or two and because of that didn't merit an album page devoted to it. The pictures on this page will be organized simply by date.

January 10: A Room With a View

Here is a picture I took of our upstairs guest room. Grant has put the finishing touches on the decorating for it, so we have moved my cannonball bed and dresser into it. The whole room is done in a nautical motif, with pictures of boats and nautical items from Grant's collection about. The life preserver comes from the boat that Grant's dad built in Chicago, and there are other ship's wheels from Grant's collection mounted on the walls. Over the dresser there are pictures of Chris Craft boats, and of the S-2.

Through the end of 1986, Grant worked for Anderson Associates in the World Trade Center. They sell contract (business) furniture, and Grant helped run the showroom. He liked working in the center, as there were lots of showrooms he could wander around in. As an employee, he was eligible for "courtesy" sales, in which a distributor will sell something at cost to someone who works at another showroom in the Center. One of the showrooms carried stuffed toys, and we saw two huge white bears that were just wonderful. We bought two of them for $10 each, and I had to go out to the distribution center in Arlington to pick them up. We had a lot of fun with them.

At the first of the year, Grant left Anderson Associates, and now works at Gabbert's, a very upscale furniture store near the Galleria. He is just getting started there, building up a clientele, but has already started doing what he did at Habersham Plantation- buying stuff from the store for himself. The lamp on the night stand, the rocker and the bed linens were all purchased there, as was the lamp on the table in the far corner. Grant doesn't seem to worry about saving money; he turns it pretty quickly into furniture or accessories, but I guess in inflationary times that isn't such a bad idea.

February 9: An Official Portrait

Each year, or whenever they feel like it, Gabbert's takes a picture of each salesperson and decorator and puts all of them on the wall of the front entry to the store, presumably so that customers can relate the face of their salesperson to his or her name.

Since Grant just started, Gabbert's took a picture of him the other day, and they gave Grant a copy of it. They could have done a better job to get rid of the reflection in his glasses, but all in all it is a great picture of a handsome guy.

March 1: Sailing- But Not with Christopher Cross

When Grant traded in the boat he brought down from Chicago, he got a newer one from S2 Yachts. He got it just down the street at the Inwood Sailing Center (NOTE: That business closed a few years later. With no body of water nearby, there wasn't a lot of foot traffic as people didn't think of Inwood and Lemmon as a place to buy a boat. There is now an Audi dealer on that corner.)

When he sold his boat, it was on Lake Lewisville; he had the newer one put into the water at Lake Ray Hubbard. On a subsequent album page, you'll learn a lot about where it is, but for now we have just a single picture that Grant took on one of our first Saturday outings on the lake.

This was a cool day for March, and probably not the best sailing weather, but both Grant and I felt that we needed to get out of the house. In January, Grant took a new job with Gabbert's and he is liking it more and more. He is on a combination of salary and commission, but you can't really earn a lot of money unless you sell a lot of furniture. Grant is slowly building some kind of repeat business, for without that you can't continuously sell a lot each month. It is slow going, but he likes it much better than Anderson. He has made some good friends there, such as Deborah Bigbee and Ron Oldham (to whom he sold his little boat from Chicago).

Anyway, this Saturday was cool but the wind wasn't too bad; still, it was a bit uncomfortable (for me to have to wear a shirt when I am sailing on the water is indicative of the temperature).

April 12: A Couple is United

I was honored by my good friend, Tony Hirsch, when he asked me to participate in his wedding ceremony in Boston this weekend. So I have flown there to be present at and participate in his marriage to Roberta.

While I did not know Roberta well, she and Tony had come through Dallas for a visit last year. I arrived in Boston on Friday night, and Tony let me stay at his condo in the Boston suburbs.

I worked with Tony for five years at Cullinane, and we were the best of friends. We worked at a number of clients together, and whenever we get together we have an incredible number of stories that we can swap. Probably the most memorable trip was the one we took cross country, a trip discussed on an earlier photo album page.

On Saturday, I went to a reception at Tony's parents' home, and then on Sunday we all went down to Providence to the wedding itself.

The honor that I mentioned above was that Tony asked me (in addition to his best friend Serge and two other of his close friends) to hold up one corner of the Chuppah or wedding canopy, symbolizing the new home being built by the couple when they become husband and wife.

As a participant in the wedding, I didn't have the opportunity to take many pictures, but I took one (and asked someone to use my camera to photograph the ceremony.

The young part of the wedding party. I don't remember who all the people are, except for Tony's best friend Serge and his wife Linda, who are just to Tony's right (at the left of the picture).

I asked someone to take a picture of the ceremony, but it didn't turn out when the flash wasn't set (and I couldn't interrupt to set it. But in post-production, I was able to lighten it enough so you could see me hard at work.

I have one more picture that will probably not mean anything to you unless you are Tony. Just as I took the picture, enough people turned around so I got hardly anyone full-face. But if you are Tony, you can see the picture by clicking here.

April 12: The Cape Dory Factory

At the behest of both Richard Lowe and Grant, I took a short trip to the factory that makes Cape Dory yachts (the kind Richard has) on my way from the wedding reception to Tony's apartment to collect my things and head on home to Dallas.

Cape Dory Yachts is a Massachusetts based builder of fiberglass sailboats, powerboats, and pleasure trawlers which began building boats here in 1963. It also produces a small number of commercial craft.

The company was founded in 1963 by Andrew Vavolotis in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. It began building a small fiberglass sailing dinghy, the Cape Dory 10. Later it moved to a facility in Taunton, Massachusetts, producing 50-60 boats a year. After the dingy it introduced the popular Typhoon series of small sailboats, then cruising yachts ranging from 22 to 45 feet.

Carl Alberg designs many of the company's models, favoring simple lines, narrow beams, and often utilizing a full keel for superior handling in heavier winds and seas. Together they give these boats the classic Cape Dory look.] Alberg utilizes the aforementioned full keel with attached rudder for a sleek and sturdy shape. More recently, the company added pleasure powerboats and trawlers and some commercial boats to it output.

The Cape Dory 25D has been single-handed across both the Atlantic (New York to Ireland) and Pacific (California to Australia) oceans and a solo circumnavigation was completed in a Cape Dory 28. Richard wanted some pictures inside, so I checked with the factory manager and he was fine with my wandering around for a few minutes. I have no idea exactly what I was looking at, but here are the pictures I took:

May 16: A Couple is United (2)

Having just participated in the wedding of my good friend, Tony, I was pleased to learn that one of my former close friends from Chicago, Dennis Haggard, had formalized a relationship of his own.

You've been introduced to my friend, Dennis Haggard, on an earlier album page. I met him years ago in Chicago; he lived in Springfield, Illinois, but worked for the Illinois State Government in Chicago, where he spent most of his time. A year or so before Grant and I left Chicago for Dallas, Dennis changed jobs and moved to Savannah, Georgia, with his friend David.

I'd been to Savannah once to visit the two of them, but haven't seen him in some time. I did learn that Dennis and David eventually split up, and I recall Dennis worrying that he wouldn't find anyone else to spend his life with, but he turned out to be wrong.

I began hearing a lot about his new friend Hal; Dennis had a lot to say about him in his letters, and from all accounts Hal was quite a good guy, and I was pleased they had found each other. Gay marriage isn't legal in Georgia (or most anyplace else, for that matter), so all Hal and David could do was to have their own committment ceremony at the local Metropolitan Community Church, which they did in mid-May.

Dennis called to tell me about the ceremony, and to tell me that he and Hal are very happy; I wished them the best. I was pleased that about a week later, I received the photograph at left in the mail. Dennis is on the left and Hal is on the right.

October 15: A Connecticut Yankee

This is a year for me to include a few pictures that I didn't take, but that someone sent to me, like the picture of Dennis and Hal above. Here is another.

Another Chicago friend that Grant and I had to leave behind when we moved to Dallas was my very good friend Guy. His work for the Catholic Church has him moving around quite a bit, and after a year in Chicago of seeing him frequently, his work changed and he moved far out into the suburbs. In one of those odd circumstances, he and Grant had also known each other, independent of knowing me. In fact, after Grant and I began spending time together, he (Grant) happened to begin describing me to his friend Guy, and it was Guy who realized that the person Grant was talking about was me.

Anyway, Guy and I (and Grant) have stayed in touch, and I was pleasantly surprised to get the picture at left inclosed in one of Guy's letters to us. It was taken at his family's home in Connecticut- we certainly don't have that kind of Fall color in Dallas!

November 7: Four Friends

For my final miscellaneous picture of the year, I have a photo that I took one Saturday evening when two of our best friends came over for dinner.

Grant and I met Lowery Evans about a year earlier on one of our evenings out. I actually met him at the pool table in one of our favorite bars; we played a few games and then I introduced him to Grant, and we had some long conversations that evening. We continued to see him, traveling a few times out to his house in Garland.

Lowery, seated, works at a trucking company here in Dallas in the business office; his Mom happens to work their too. He has been a frequent dinner and movie companion, along with one of his own friends that he introduced to us- Brad (kneeling). Brad lives relatively near us here in Dallas, and he has an excellent job as a flight crew member for American Airlines. The four of us have seen each other frequently, and this evening, when Grant and I are fixing dinner, was another of those get-togethers.

That's it for this year's miscellaneous pictures. I hope you've enjoyed looking at them.

You can use the link below to return to the index for 1987.

Return to the Index for 1987