We had our 50th year reunion from Roland Park Country School in Baltimore a few weeks ago. Saturday night I was regaling Rebecca Koch with a story about an amazing breakfast that I had at the Sylvia Beach Hotel at Newport Beach, OR. It is a beautiful old hotel set on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, and is owned and operated by the amazing Goody Cable, who I became friends with immediately.
The dining tables each hold 8 people to inspire conversation, and we were joined that morning by Goody, and 4 sisters who travel there from various parts of the country every year. I immediately recognized the one sister, who I had seen running the Portland Marathon the previous day! The 2nd sister asked Goody if she had told her triplets about their great grandfather. Of course, I was immediately wondering who that might be! When I could no longer contain my curiosity, I asked who the great grandfather was. F. Scott Fitzgerald! I then asked the sister if she knew anyone with the last name of Lanahan. She looked shocked and said, “That is my last name!” I had known that Fitzgerald’s daughter Scottie had married a Lanahan in Baltimore. This Lanahan lives in Portland, OR.
The next sister said that she lives in Easthampton, LI, and works as a librarian there. I asked her if she knew any Conklins. Why yes! There were many Conklins in that area. It turned out that she knew of my father, who had contacted the library several times looking for information on the Conklins.
After I had told Rebecca this story, I noticed that Kate, who was sitting next to me on the couch, started making woo-woo noises and began calling me the Roland Park Medium. Thus I am honoring her by naming this blog just that. In the photo above sit Kate and me on a canoe trip for Camp Atahi ca 1967. I believe that we were on a beach on Lake Umbagog in Maine.
Roland Park Medium 