The Marunde family sent wishes to all their friends in Forest Park for a belated Happy New Year. Daughter Kristin had just returned from a holiday visit with her parents in Bonita Springs, Fla., where many of them participated in the Pancreatic Walk for HOPE in Naples, Fla. Shown in the photo are Ceela, Fred and Roberta Marunde, Roberta’s niece Heather and Roberta’s sister Nadine. A sorry note to all this: Roberta, who was famous for her positive attitude, strength and grace, recently lost her battle with stage 4 pancreatic cancer (see Obituaries, page 8). You may remember that she was responsible for many of the beautiful changes at Altenheim, where she worked for many years. Forest Park sends its love and condolences to the Marunde family.

For a good time, call 771-7243. That’s the phone number of Centuries & Sleuths and when they have an author’s signing, it’s always a good time. Last week’s event was no exception. Julie Hyzy, author of the White House chef mystery stories, charmed the standing-room crowd last Saturday with tales of her adventures. Fortunately for Julie, she fell and sprained her ankle the day she and her family were scheduled to go on a regular White House tour.

Yes, fortunately. Because of her injury, she was detoured to an elevator which took her close to and allowed her to peek into the White House kitchen. By the way, it was a small kitchen. Some of Julie’s other famous mysteries about the White House are Hail to the Chef and State of the Onion. She is shown signing copies of her latest, Affairs of Steak.

A postscript to the reference to “Uncle” John Trage of a few weeks ago. Did you know that “Uncle” John is responsible for Centuries & Sleuths relocating to Forest Park? He and Art Jones were behind our town joining the Main Street organization, which upgraded and improved Madison Street considerably.

Several days ago, a sensational event occurred at the corner of Madison and Desplaines, as you read elsewhere in this paper. The unfortunate young lady who was involved in this mishap was devastated, sobbing and inconsolable after it happened. She is only 16, a student at Proviso West and was driving with her permit with her father at her side. Like any one of us might have done, she probably panicked as she attempted a left turn at that busy corner, at night, with lights blazing everywhere. No one was injured. A brick fence and some wrought-iron fencing were sent flying. Other than that, no harm was done.

Celebrating birthdays this week are Caroline Rose Glinke, Joan Steinbach, Janet Fabiani, Margaret Flanagan, Daniel Mondragon, Marge Zwadlo, Judy Daniels, Dan Olson, Katie Oliver, Kaitlyn Trage, Christopher Madden, Sharon Tierney, Julie Kaiser, Dale Heath, Cassidy Brown, Audree Catalano, Olivia Schauer, Eric Conner, Cathy Woods, Kathy Doss, and (former) Mayor Richard M. Daley. Happy anniversary to Connie and Matt Brown and Shirley and Jack Christell.