It's rewarding to volunteer for people you know...

Upon my return to the U.S., I was finally able to access my Outlook email account. I found several messages from my pal Ann Hellman. My old friend and mentor from my Random House days, Alice Kesterson had been battling colon cancer since early spring and Ann was keeping several of us up to date on the her progress. This was rather a shock since Alice has always been one of the healthiest people I ever knew. She and her husband Randy are vegetarians and very health conscious. They run a lovely Bed and Breakfast in Snow Hill, Maryland. It’s a historic old home called Chanceford Hall. Randy is an architect and since leaving Random House, Alice has opened a charming and eclectic bookstore on the main drag called simply “Alice”. Needless to say, they are pretty busy people. Ann let me know that since Alice had started chemo and radiation, many of the local townsfolk had pitched in to help keep the store up and running in her absence. Random House chums like Jane O’Boyle and Ann had already spent weeks at time in Snow Hill helping with the bookstore and getting Alice to various appointments. I asked Ann if it would be helpful for me to come down for a week to assist since I was sort of between volunteer gigs at the moment. Randy called me back and said come on down, we’ll take all the help we can get. I showed up in early September and ended up staying into early January. On a camping trip in Canada, left to right in back: Joanne "Nursie" Fagan, Randy Ifft, Todd "the bodd" Stauring, Diane, (then Ader's finacee), John Ader, John "the goon" Fagan, Alice Kesterson and Jennifer "the lady" Petschke. Down front: Gina Maida, Me and Candice Wells. I think this is around 1993ish. Looking good for a bunch of people with tent head.