January 2022

When we were first approached by music director Chuck Chauvin of Little Flower Catholic Church, the conversation was long and rewarding. I immediately felt we were kindred spirits, so close were our thoughts and goals for the organ project. These boiled down to a new organ that would best address the musical needs of the parish, using what pipes were appropriate from the existing organ, and moving the organ pipe location into the room as much as possible.

As one travels the John F. Kennedy Expressway on the north side of downtown Chicago, one can count the towers of five impressive church edifices that comprise the principal history of Chicago’s Polish Catholics. The heart of Chicago’s “Polonia,” the neighborhoods nearby, has been home to a large number of immigrants who came to the United States from Poland or are of Polish descent. In 1950, Chicago had the largest Polish population outside the city of Warsaw. Today, Polish is the third most frequently heard language in this city, behind English and Spanish.

Spice is the variety of life.

Wendy and I love to cook. We send recipes from newspapers back and forth and thumb through cookbooks planning what the next fun will be. We have picked up the vernacular of Asian, Middle Eastern, and Caribbean dishes. We grill and smoke meat and vegetables outside at our place in Maine (running a smoker in a New York City apartment is frowned upon), and we even have a lamb-sized charcoal rotisserie that has produced several memorable holiday events.

Rudolf Jan “Rudy” Zuiderveld

Rudolf Jan “Rudy” Zuiderveld, 75, of Jacksonville, Illinois, died October 29, 2021, in Jacksonville. He was born November 26, 1945, in Groningen, the Netherlands. He married Sharon DeWind on August 10, 1968, at Bethany Christian Reformed Church, Bellflower, California.

Franco Committee of the GCNA