A Legend
I miss my father every day. He was my first phone call each morning and we spoke a couple times throughout the day. Now that he has passed, I wish he would visit me in my dreams, but he has not. As I navigate my career, my family, and important decisions, I often find myself wanting to call him and ask his opinion. He was my moral compass. He was my cheerleader. He was my mentor. He was my friend.
Carl C. Seemann was born in 1932 on the South Side of Chicago to a larger-than-life Scottish mother and quiet Midwestern father. They had three very rambunctious boys. They moved to Lake Zurich, Illinois when he was young. My grandfather built the house and 10 years later they got indoor plumbing. He walked to a one-room schoolhouse and worked as a caddy for pocket money. I am not quite sure how much schooling he ever finished but he sure was street smart. When he met my mother, Patricia Jane, a Jewish schoolteacher from the North Shore, he vowed to make something of himself. During my childhood he sold suits, opened up dry cleaning stores, head shops, fruit stands, traded commodities, and had a stall at the South Water Produce Market where he went to work at midnight and fought endlessly with the Teamsters. He took spontaneous trips to Vegas, volunteered for the rescue squad driving an ambulance, and floated in our pool in which he had painted “Only in America” on the bottom of it.
He had a mischievous twinkle in his eye, seven pierced ears, drove only Corvettes, and lived to entertain his kids. He never knew a stranger, never locked a door, used only cash, smoked Lucky Strikes and was certifiable F.U.N. Our house at 173 Lakeside Place was the house where all the kids hung out. He would hold court, giving advice and listening to all teens that came to visit. Sometimes, it seemed there were hundreds. He did not have a lot of friends but those he had he loved fiercely and without prejudice.
He did not want a funeral. He wanted his ashes put in three Segafreddo coffee cans and he told us to scatter them where we knew he would want them. We’ve scheduled our first ash sprinkling trip to Aruba. This is where he took us every winter vacation to the same hotel…the same rooms. We went to the same beach each year and that is where we will scatter his remains to the sea. I miss you Dilly but thank you each day that you were my dad! Wishing a Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there!
Baby Boomers We May Be in Luck
After two decades of research, a new drug for Alzheimer’s was introduced: “The drug, aducanumab (Aduhelm), is a monoclonal antibody that reduces the buildup of amyloid plaques in the brain. These plaques, as well as tangles known as tau and other changes in the brain, are what lead to memory loss and eventually the inability to perform simple tasks like dressing oneself.” It has not come without controversy but my fingers and toes are crossed. To read more about it click here.
