March/April 2015 60 PLUS In Omaha

Brothers & Sisters Omaha North

March/April

•

2015

High Principal Gene Haynes

A Joyful Noise

Sacred Heart’s Freedom Choir

Ann Hoff & the Knit Peeps

You Know You’ve Lived in Omaha a Long Time If…

november/december • 2014

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Celebrating The Silent Generation

O

NE OF THE ADVERTISEMENTS in this issue

uses a term that reminds me of just one of the many ways we select stories for 60PLUS. “The Silent Generation” is the label given to folks born from the early 1920s through the mid-1940s. This group was relatively smallish in numbers because the birthrate slowed during the tough times of The Great Depression. The earliestborn of this generation were the men who fought World War II while their Rosie the Riveter wives went to work in factories, held scrap metal drives, and planted victory gardens in support of the war effort.

Because America’s priorities at the time were on big, weighty issues of rebuilding an economy in the throes of yet another war, it is no surprise that conformity with social norms was encouraged. The flip side was that “The Silents” were ambitious. They strived to achieve. They prized hard work, and they did it employing a no-nonsense, get-it-done ethic.

I am proud to be a member of The Silent Generation, and we’re equally proud to bring you some of their stories on the pages that follow.

Contents

volume 3 • issue 1 Feature A Joyful Noise Sacred Heart’s Freedom Choir___ S5 Hobbies Ann Hoff The Knit Peeps_____________ S7 History Krug Park_________________ S9 Cover Feature

Until next issue!

Gwen Gwen Lemke Contributing Editor, 60PLUS In Omaha

Omaha North High Principal Gene Haynes________S11 Health Organ Donation _____________S16 Humor You Know You’ve Lived in Omaha a Long Time If…___________ S18 Faces Woodworker Joe Privitera______ S20 The Grandpa Chronicles Canine Calamity___________ S22 march/april • 2015

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photography by bill sitzmann

A Joyful Noise Sacred Heart’s Freedom Choir

E

LECTRIC. ECLECTIC. INSPIRED. ALL of those descriptors apply to

Sacred Heart Catholic Church’s Freedom Choir. Home for this contemporary gospel choir is a Late Gothic Revival-style house of worship at 22nd and Binney streets in a poor, largely African-American, northeast Omaha neighborhood.

But the choir, like the congregation, is mostly white, the members driving in from outside the community. >

Freedom Choir director Jim Boggess march/april • 2015

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60PLUS feature < The popular 10:30 a.m. Sunday Mass features the high-energy choir’s joyful noise.

The group also performs at the parish festival, community concerts, weddings, and funerals.

In 1997 the choir traveled to the Vatican to perform at St. Peter’s Basilica.

Its up-tempo, full-throated, Baptist-style flavor, complete with swaying singers and musicians, makes for vibrant praise and worship rooted in radical hospitality and standup-and-raise-your-arms spirituality. Far from your mother’s staid Catholic service, this is Vatican II reform given full license to bust out in song, embrace, even dance.

Though seemingly freeform, it’s the careful design of former pastor Jim Scholz, who sought to shake up an aging membership.

Drawing from urban, gospel music-rich liturgies, and with a nod to the Blues Brothers, Scholz hired Mary Kay Mueller to birth the choir in all its from-the-gut expressiveness.

That’s when the 10:30 Mass took on a lively, high-pitched fervor. As word spread, people packed the pews. They’re still flocking there decades later.

Father Tom Fangman and Jim Boggess replaced Scholz and Mueller, respectively, to carry on this big, brassy, yet solemn celebration.

“When people first come it’s to hear the choir,” Fangman says. “Then when they come they experience it’s not just the choir, it’s the whole community. We really are big on making people feel a part of it and welcome.”

“There’s a sense of inclusion in our particular faith community that keeps me coming back,” adds Boggess, whose regular gig is as the Omaha Community Playhouse music director. He knows top-flight talent and has plenty of it in the choir. Percussionist Michael Fitzsimmons is a Nebraska Arts Council touring artist. Soloist Natalie Thomas is lead vocalist with the cover band Envy. Fellow soloist Moira Mangiameli is a veteran theater actress-director. Both Mangiameli and Boggess have written hymns for the choir.

Many members have been doing this for years, which make for tight harmonies and tighter personal bonds.

“Over the years, those people have gotten to be some of my best friends,” Boggess says.

“They’ve been there for me in good times and in horrible times. I think whatever almighty spirit there be led me here for a reason, and the reason was I needed to have those people in my life. I’m so much richer spiritually S6 60PLUS

march/april • 2015

and as a person and as a musician for having known them.”

“It’s a family,” says choir president Sarah Ruma, who goes back 30 years with the group. “We have our regular family and then we have our church family, and that’s basically what Sacred Heart and our choir is. Some of us have kind of grown up together. We started in our late 20s and early 30s. Now we’re into our 50s and 60s.

“Unfortunately, we’ve buried choir members. That’s been hard.

We sing together, we smile and laugh together, and we cry together.”

Mangiameli adds that she recruited her sister, Eileen, to the choir. Like other devotees there, Mangiameli was a disaffected churchgoer who got swept up in the spirit. “People get up and they clap and they rock out. It happens every Sunday. People are really happy to be here. There’s an incredibly positive and heartfelt vibe that happens every Sunday, and it extends to the choir, too.”

“I have been moved ever since my first Sunday here 16 years ago,” Fangman says. “I am moved every single week. I can’t wait for the 10:30 Mass.”

“If you can carry a tune, that’s fine,” says Boggess, “but you don’t have to have a great voice. I’ve got some people with magnificent voices, but passion counts more than anything else. It’s supposed to be a gospel choir and that implies a certain freedom. That’s what I give them.”

“What really sets us apart is the musicians that play with us,” Mangiameli says. “They are just some of the best musicians anywhere around and they really inspire us as singers.”

Fitzsimmons says it’s the whole package.

“The directors, choir, and instrumentalists continually amaze and inspire me by their high quality presentation and soulful musicianship.” He says the experience of the Mass is very much interactive with the music.

“The very best thing that happens is when you feel the energy coming from the congregation,” Mangiameli says. “When we’re in the middle of singing something and then all of a sudden they’re on their feet, you know you touched them and made a difference.”

Sometimes, when the congregation’s really feeling it, Boggess has the choir stop and listen to the collective voices.

“You get goose bumps,” Mangiameli says.

“There’s nothing like it. “It’s the best part of my week.”

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60PLUS hobbies by jennifer litton

•

photography by bill sitzmann

Girl Time With the “The Knit Peeps” Anne Hoff’s passion for yarn mixes with a gift for gab

W

HILE THEY MAY SE E

it as just a hobby, a group of local women knitters are busy creating the heirlooms of tomorrow.

“The Knit Peeps” as they refer to themselves, is a group that meets weekly on Monday mornings at the Wooly Mammoth Yarn Shop. Ann Hoff, a founding member of the group, says “We’ve been together a long time. And we add more people all of the time.

Sometimes people drop out for various reasons and we just keep inviting more people.”

Before they settled in their current > march/april • 2015

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60PLUS hobbies < cocoon-like environment nestled in among all of the colorful yarn at the Wooly Mammoth, the group was a bit of a roving bunch. Sometimes they would meet over latte’s at Scooters or knit after lunch at Le Quartier. But now, the group benefits from the helpful staff on-hand, and it doesn’t hurt to have every knitting tool imaginable available at just an arm’s length away..y.

“It’s a wonderful group,” says Jeanne Noyes, co-owner of the Wooly Mammoth.

“It’s a community. It brings a really diverse group of people together whose paths might not have crossed had they not had that common interest. It’s very female-centric.

The conversations examine the broad aspect of female concerns and issues from sisterhood to motherhood. It’s also about family and nurturing creativity.”

The women strengthen connections to loved ones in their life through the medium of yarn, all while making memories along the way.

Hoff’s five-year-old grandson visited the group a few times when school was out. He picked up a new hobby while there—the new fad of easy-as-pie “arm knitting” where your arms are the needles. (Seriously, the coolest thing. YouTube it.) He made two scarves, which he gifted to family members.

Another member, Nancy Knight, is making a soft-pink-hued lap blanket for her mother who lives in a nursing home. “It’s my connection with my mother, says Knight. “She feels it. It’s very hands-on. It’s soft and it’s bumpy.

For older people, touch is so important. Each time I visit her, I show her the progress. We are making our blanket together. It’s kind of a ministry.”

Barbara Anderson is another member who is focusing on healing through her projects.

She is knitting a prayer shawl to give as a gift to someone who is under the weather.

“A prayer shawl is a shawl that you can put around you. Supposedly you have your prayers on them and so you’re covering the person with your thoughts and love,” Anderson says.

Even if the ladies are never knitting for themselves, they do get something out of their meetings—that common bond that comes with simply being part of a group.

“It’s been fabulous to be able to meet new people,” Knight adds. “I think as you get older and sometimes you’ve been working all of your life, it’s hard to get back into the community and get connected. I needed some girl time.”

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60PLUS history by judy horan

Krug Park Gallagher Park in Benson was once an amazing amusement park.

K

RUG PARK WAS THE place

to be in early 20th century Omaha. The always-hopping amusement park lasted through a World War, the Great Depression, and Prohibition. There was nothing like it.

The park had a modest start in 1895 when German immigrant George Tietz bought land near what is now 52nd and Maple streets to create Tietz Park. He installed a beer garden and dance hall before later adding a bowling alley.

When Tietz died in 1903, the land went to brewery owner Frederick Krug of the Frederick Krug Brewing Co., who held the mortgage. Like Tietz, he was a German immigrant. Krug added rides, a tunnel of love, and ice cream parlor to the beer garden.

He advertised the newly named Krug Park as “Omaha’s Polite Resort.” > march/april • 2015

60PLUS S9

60PLUS history < Over the years, a 72-horse merry-goround, a penny arcade, picnic grounds, swimming pool, wave machine, and dance pavilion were added. A human cannonball, aerialists and horses diving into tanks also drew Omaha citizens, as did Sunday night balloon ascensions.

In 1908, a Methodist minister called “the fighting parson” led the Anti-Saloon League to challenge Krug Park’s beer permit and won.

The park and its beer garden were closed until reopening in 1913.

Prohibition began in 1920. The beer garden closed, but the amusement park kept on swinging. Couples paid five cents a dance at the dance pavilion.

On May 12, 1922, an ad for Krug Park’s dance pavilion in the weekly newspaper The Mediator promised “no jazz music,” but instead “Just the best music of the better kind.” Ten West India monkeys arrived to live in the park’s monkey house.

Ads promoted performances by the popular Union Pacific Band. Krug Park was “the home of picnics,” bragged another ad.

Sweltering citizens gathered at the shady park and splashed in the large swimming pool to escape the heat.

But the crowds dwindled after July 24, 1930, when four riders on the “Big Dipper” roller coaster were killed and 17 injured as the ride plunged 35 feet to the ground. At the time, it was called the worst roller coaster accident in the nation.

During the Depression, couples entered marathon dances at Krug Park hoping to win prizes. A 4,000-seat arena added in 1932 hosted wrestling and boxing matches.

The park closed in 1940. Neighbors concerned about the site near downtown Benson later petitioned the city to make it a public park.

A fund drive led by the Omaha WorldHerald in 1945 raised $30,000 to purchase the land and turn it into Gallagher Park, named after Mrs. Paul Gallagher, who fought to retain the land as a park. The city park opened in 1955. A swimming pool and ball fields were added.

Krug Avenue in South Omaha was named for the original park’s namesake, Frederick Krug. Founded in 1859, his brewery sat in South Omaha at 29th and Vinton Streets.

Fittingly for a brewer who owned a beer garden, the word “krug” in German translates to ‘stein’ in English.

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60PLUS cover feature by david williams • photography by bill sitzmann

Brother & Sisters Omaha North High Principal Gene Haynes

M

EETING GENE HAYNES IN a crowded breakfast place

turned out to be a bit of a mistake. After all, the gregarious North High School principal had to begin his morning by making the rounds, chatting it up with table after table of familiar faces. > continued on page S14

Principal Gene Haynes march/april • 2015

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continued from page S11 < The onset of the interview was further delayed when, during the usual introductory niceties, the 47-year veteran of the Omaha Public Schools system queried, “Brother Williams, we already know each other… but from where?” The writer’s daughter, you see, had gone to North for her senior year.

That was a distant 15 years ago. Out of the many thousands of students and parents that Haynes had encountered over that span of time, he could still instantly make out the face of a parent who a decade-and-a-half ago had been a North High Viking for one brief term, the equivalent of a cup of coffee.

“It brightens my day whenever I can reconnect with a parent of a former student and athlete [the writer’s daughter was a swimmer],” the former athletic director says. “These kinds of connections are what make being an educator in Omaha Public Schools such a great reward. And they’re also the kind of connections that make Omaha such a great city.”

Haynes, who began his career at the long-defunct Tech High School in 1967, was enshrined in the Omaha Public Schools Hall of Fame in September. Adding to his recent honors, the stretch of 36th Street abutting North High has been renamed Gene R. Haynes Street.

He was raised in the Mississippi of the Deep South at the advent of the Civil Rights Movement. “I vividly remember Emmett Till’s body being found in the Tallahatchie River,” Haynes says of the 14-year-old African-American teen who was brutally tortured and murdered by whites in 1955 after reportedly flirting with a young white woman. “Later, when an attempt was made to integrate the University of Mississippi, I remember seeing federal marshals on every corner as our school bus passed by. Those were troubled times, but—and this may seem strange—it made me a better person. I was blessed to have had great teachers, the kind that were called ‘Negro’ at the time. They saw and understood the world around us.

They taught that you had to do more with less. They taught that you had to persevere.

They stressed that the only way up was through education.”

He and his wife, Annie, a retired OPS teacher, became college sweethearts when

they met at Rust College, a historically black institution in Holly Springs, Miss.

Mirroring his parent’s pattern, son Jerel, now 38 and working as a producer in Los Angeles, courted the Hayne’s future daughterin-law, Erin, now herself an educator, when the pair attended North when Haynes was vice-principal. He and Annie have two young grandchildren, Kaleb (6) and Jacob (almost 3). The couple recently celebrated their 46th wedding anniversary.

Haynes has been at North since 1987, but his reach also extends broadly across the community through his work with the Urban League of Nebraska, the NAACP, the ButlerGast YMCA, and numerous other organizations. He and Annie worship at Salem Baptist Church.

“This has been my life,” Haynes says of his service to students, parents, faith, and the community. “Being an educator, by definition, means that you must also be involved in the community. You can’t see what’s going on inside a school if you don’t what’s happening outside of it. Educators who can’t do that, who can’t see a community’s dynamics at a high level, are the ones who struggle—the ones destined to be short-termers.”

And what is this most youthful-looking of 70-year-old’s timeline for retirement?

“I figure I still have at least of couple good years left in me,” Haynes says with his everpresent smile. “My philosophy at school, in the community, in sports, anything in life, has always been to give 110 percent. I’ll know it’ll be time to go when I can only give, say, 109 percent.”

The interview had continued in fits and starts as Haynes occasionally paused to greet or bid adieu to others in the coffee shop, addressing one and all as “Sister” or “Brother” so-and-so. It’s the same style he uses with students in the halls of North High School, where the use of the “Brother” or “Sister” appellation preceding a last name suggests a union of the familiar and the formal.

“It recognizes their identity,” Haynes says.

“It recognizes that they matter, that they are a person who deserves and is worthy of your respect. Besides, last names are a whole lot easier to remember after almost a half century in education.”

march/april • 2015

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60PLUS health

by Susan Meyers

The Ultimate Gift You are Never Too Old for Organ Donation

W

HEN KAREN AND ALLEN Harn checked

the box on their driver’s license to become organ donors many years ago, it was more of an abstract idea, one they never dreamed would actually come to fruition.

It was less than a year ago that Karen found herself sitting in an intensive care unit beside her husband’s bed. The day before, 71-yearold Allen had become ill and vomited. Some of the vomit aspirated into his lungs. Unable to breathe, Allen passed out. Karen called 911, but by the time help arrived and he was resuscitated, it was too late. Doctors later determined that Allen was brain-dead.

Karen later decided to follow through with Allen’s wishes to donate his organs. “Allen was such a giver,” she says. “I knew this is what he would want.”

Allen’s liver was donated to a 40-year-old nurse, saving her life. “It was the perfect match,” says Karen. “One giving person to another giving person. I still get very emotional when I think of Allen. But knowing that he helped someone else is such a positive way to remember him.”

Currently, there are approximately 124,000 people on the waiting list for an organ and about 21 people will die each day waiting S16 60PLUS

march/april • 2015

for an organ. “There is a very real need for people to register to become organ donors,” says Tom Neal, public relations coordinator for Nebraska Organ Recovery System. “One organ donor has the potential to save eight lives and a tissue donor can improve as many as 60 lives and enhance the eyesight of two.”

In Nebraska alone, there are approximately 500 people waiting for an organ to become available. But only about 53 percent of the eligible population of Nebraska has registered to become a donor.

“Sadly, one of the myths about organ donation is that people think they are too old to donate but that simply is not the case,” says Neal. “There is no age limit. If a person is otherwise healthy, many of their organs could still be viable for an organ donation.

A couple of years ago, a 92-year-old man in Texas saved the lives of two people by donating his organs.”

The need for organ donors has been rising significantly over the years. The reason? The number of people who are eligible for organ transplantation has been steadily rising due to advances in organ transplantation.

Organ donors from ethnic minorities are in even greater need. Minorities including African-Americans, Asians and Pacific Islanders, Native Americans, and Hispanics are more likely than whites to have certain chronic conditions that affect the kidney, heart, lung, pancreas, and liver. Although organs are not matched according to race/ ethnicity, and people of different races frequently match one another, ethnic minority populations tend to have certain blood types which must be matched for transplantation.

Therefore, the potential for minority donors to help many people is even higher.

Becoming a donor is fairly easy. When you register to renew your driver’s license,

simply check the box that asks if you’d like to be a donor. You can also log onto www.nedonation.org to register.

One of the biggest obstacles to organ donation is a lack of understanding of what it means to donate an organ. Neal uncovers some of those myths.

Myth: If I register to become an organ donor, my doctors won’t work as hard to save my life.

Truth: Patients are being cared for by nontransplant medical professionals. In addition, there are very strict criteria that must be followed before a person can be declared dead.

Myth: An open-casket funeral isn’t an option for people who have donated.

Truth: What is done when someone donates their organs is no different than what is done when performing an autopsy.

Once they are clothed, you cannot tell the difference.

Myth: I’m too young to make that decision.

Truth: Your parents can authorize this decision. Families should consider having discussions about organ donation during school age.

Myth: I’m not in good enough health to donate my organs.

Truth: Very few medical conditions disqualify you from donating your organs. It may be determined that certain organs are not suitable for transplantation, but other tissues and organs may be fine.

Myth: Organ donation is against my religious beliefs.

Truth: Most religions support organ donation, including Catholics, Protestants, Islam, and most branches of Judaism. If you are unsure, the federal website, OrganDonor.gov provides religious views on organ donation and transplantation by denomination.

Myth: My family will be charged additional costs if I donate my organs.

Truth: The organ donor and family are never charged for donating organs. Those costs are passed on to the transplant recipient.

“Talk to your family and friends so that they know what your final wishes are and make a logical decision today so that your loved ones don’t have to make an emotional decision at the worst possible time,” says Neal.

“Leave a legacy and live on through your donation.”

march/april • 2015

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60PLUS humor by judy horan

Nostalgia: Ain’t What it Used to Be You Know You’ve Lived In Omaha a Long Time If You Remember When…

march/april • 2015

60PLUS S18

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Peony Park was where you danced indoors in the Royal Terrace Ballroom and under the stars in the Royal Grove.

Remember meeting the amusement park’s mascot, Peony the Skunk?

(Some people called her “Stinky.”) Or playing Dodgem? Or KOIL Radio’s dance party in the Royal Grove?

Or splashing in the Peony Park swimming pool?

You have been around at least 50 years if you remember never seeing women on the Omaha City Council.

Betty Abbott blazed the way in 1965.

Of course, Omaha finally has its first woman mayor. And it only took 160 years after the city’s founding.

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Your first escalator ride was at the downtown Brandeis store on what was the city’s first escalator.

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Come to think of it, you remember when there was an actual Brandeis store, a place where shopping became a social event.

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Younkers’ stores were called Kilpatrick’s.

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Your “health club” was a YWCA or YMCA.

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And the YWCA was actually called the YWCA, not the Women’s Center for Advancement.

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Best Da’s octors® BIG GIV E Omah a’s 2013

Horses, not college students, were housed in the Ak-Sar-Ben area. The college students are only slightly less messy than the horses were.

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Ak-Sar-Ben horse racing was a live video game you played before there were video games.

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Warren Buffett was yet to make his first billion. Remember when you could afford to buy a share of Berkshire Hathaway?

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Leading hert a Man’s in World Jim Flow Weath ers ers

The idea of “Omaha” extended only about as far as 90th Street. Today, that’s more like midtown.

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The Henry Doorly Zoo was called Riverview Park. There was a lone, forlorn bear and two moose.

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The sprawling University of Nebraska-Omaha was then the smaller University of Omaha, called disparagingly by some “West Dodge High.”

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Remember when Elkhorn was a city? Oh, wait…that wasn’t so very long ago!

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60PLUS faces by jason kuiper •

photography by bill sitzmann

Old-School Craftsmanship Italian woodworker Joe Privitera is a master of a dying art

T

HESE ARE THINGS THAT happen in

Scan the page with the LayAR app to view a video of Joe Privitera.

the working life of 78-year-old woodcraftsman Joe Privitera: Someone is missing chairs that match their 17th Century table, can Joe make new chairs? Done. There is this beautiful dining room table in Chicago but the darned thing is too big for this Omaha family’s dining room. Can Joe make a smaller, replica table? Well, just to be sure, the family sent Joe to Chicago for a look. Then he made a dead ringer of a knock-off.

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march/april • 2015

Joe Privitera

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Joe Privitera is old-school—oh heck, he’s old world—a master craftsman who began learning how to make wood bend, shape, and shine inside his father’s Sicily workshop starting when he was 13. He learned the craft under his father’s watch and later worked in Geneva, Switzerland, before coming to Omaha four decades ago.

Privitera’s shop, Italian Craftsman, at 4510 Leavenworth, hides in a nondescript building.

The interior is just what you’d expect—the rich smell of wood and sawdust, all types and shapes of wood scattered asunder. Pinned to the walls are photos of friends and grandchildren alongside sketches of tables or chairs that Privitera has created. Of course there are some machines, but not that many; just a few of the necessities.

“I need very little of the machines,” he says while pulling one of many pencils from his apron with a thick hand—white and dusty from the morning’s work. “My father, he was top of the line, he had tools and machines too, but not too many.”

The apple didn’t fall far. Privitera’s skills are renowned. His clients include some of Omaha’s most prominent families. And his services aren’t cheap. The table he was sent to Chicago to replicate cost $18,000.

“I’ve seen furniture he’s made that would blow your mind,” says Dr. Mike O’Neil, an orthopedic surgeon and friend. “He is a dear guy and a real craftsman, this is a lost art.”

O’Neil sought out Privitera about 20 years ago after the doctor started making furniture as a hobby. O’Neil says he made three nestle tables out of cherry wood and needed

help finishing them. He’s been a fixture at Privitera’s shop ever since. The two meet every Tuesday at neighboring La Casa (who’s owners are Privtera’s cousins) to share a pizza.

O’Neil says Privitera, who talks with a thick Italian accent and often sings opera while he works, is also extremely generous with his knowledge. “He has taught me everything I know, he’s been my mentor,” O’Neil says.

Privitera says people aren’t as particular about their furniture any more. It makes him sad there isn’t as much pride in passing down beautiful pieces through the generations. But he’ll still fix and build those pieces that are a little more special.

“Sometimes they have to just trust me, I’m the first one that has to be happy with the job. If I’m unhappy, you, the customer, will be unhappy,” he says. And later, when talking about wood’s fickleness: “Wood is not like metal, wood talks back,” he says.

He has no plans on slowing down. He has too many customers who need his expertise, like the friend who complained that his table kept tipping over on him because he put both elbows on the table’s edge when digging into his meal. “You know, us men, we really get in there,” he says.

So he helped his friend by redoing the base and making it much heavier. Problem solved. These are the things that come up in Joe Privitera’s working day.

To view a video of Joe Privitera, scan page S20 with the LayAR app. Instructions on downloading the free app are to the right. march/april • 2015

60PLUS S21

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2 Look for this icon You’ll see the ‘ar’ icon on pages with expanded content.

3 Scan the page Load the LayAR app on your digital device. Hold your phone/table over the entire page to load content.

60PLUS the grandpa chronicles by david williams

Canine Calamity A Plan to Fake it Until I Make It

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march/april • 2015

I

NEVER HAD A PET as a child.

Okay, so I did at the age of 9 or so have an ill-fated and short-lived guardianship of a turtle whose name I’ve long forgotten, but I’ve never been a pet person.

My mother abhorred the idea of anything furry dwelling in her home, and I was pretty much fine with that. The feeling carried over into adulthood, and my three now-grown children probably felt super-lucky just to have had the brief company of a single pet, a (clean and non-slobbering) feline named Scribbles.

Viral videos portraying cats and dogs doing whatever it is that cats and dogs do have never appeared on any of my playlists. And to be frank, people who describe their little quadruped cuties as their “children”…well, kinda creep me out. I have no innate aversion to cats, even though I take them to be whiskered sociopaths of evil intent, but I have never been at all comfortable around dogs of any make or model.

Before the hate mail begins, please allow me at least a shot at redemption.

My grandsons Barrett and Easton are growing up in a home where the company of canines is prized. Their col lie, Summer, recently

ascended to that great dog pound in the sky and, after an appropriate period of mourning, has been replaced by a border collie pup carrying an equally seasonal name of Winter.

It’s an understatement to say that I never hit it off with Summer. Perhaps it didn’t help that she stained our Oriental rug as a pup not 10 seconds into her very first visit to our home. My son, Eric, entered with Summer while explaining that all would be well in that the creature was doing a smash-up job when it came to taking care of business, but it was too late. The little thing bounded (Is that what dogs do? They “bound?”) directly to the rug, lifted one leg, and…you know the rest.

I have promised to be different with Winter.

My kids already know that I am neurotic, but I don’t want Easton and Barrett to grow up thinking that their granddad is some kind of loathsome monster. I am going to do my best to get to know Winter and not be such a basket case.

Not surprisingly, my first encounter with Winter was, shall we say, trying. “He’s just young and excitable,” I was told as the dog tried to climb up my leg. Yeah, tell that to my now urine-stained shoes (suede, no less) and newish sweater scarred by Winter’s talons or toes or paws or whatever it is they’re called.

But it is with a certain sense of self-satisfaction that I can report that I kept my cool. Now, the notion of “cool” is subjective. My immediate, knee-jerk reaction was, admittedly, to jerk my knee in revulsion, but I collected myself as quickly as possible and tried my best to not make an international incident of the affair.

I really need to up my game in being the grandpa that I hope to be, but boy, do I have my work cut out for me.

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