From: Steve Caney via Fred Kagel
Hi folks,
Seeing all those ’59 duPonter email addresses on the header from Goldy’s email was my inspiration to report. Sorry I missed you all at the last reunion. It’s only the second one I didn’t make. As you may have heard, I finally had my first significant illness and it was a super nasty cancer. The kind where they first try to almost kill me, then somewhere close to death (that was the time around the reunion) I begin a long recovery from the treatments. Well now, thanks to all those Boston area pros who needed a guinea pig to try their new concoctions, I’m just fine with very little in lasting problems.
I’m back on the motorcycles traveling the world with Shelly (15 countries so far). We’re still living in central New Hampshire (“On Golden Pond”) except during the crappy late fall and early spring months when we hang out in Bermuda – although this fall we’ll be off to Houston where my daughter is now living with her husband and two of my three granddaughters. My son Noah (father of granddaughter three) works with me in the ad agency I own outside Boston. We specialize in marketing advanced energy technologies like fuel cells and microturbines for businesses owned by Ingersoll Rand, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and foreign interests.
To those of you aware of my writing career in children’s nonfiction, my latest book, Steven Caney’s Ultimate Building Book, just came off press a few weeks ago and should be in stores now or soon. My new book starts with a chapter called, "When I was a kid" and covers some of my growing up in Wilmington. Also, with a sharp eye you'll find several photos of structures from around the Wilmington area. And...the book just won the 2006 award from the National Association of Parenting Publications. Writing this book of 300,000 words, 2,000 photos, and 800 illustrations took twelve years – which may prove to be unprofitable, but did take Shelly and I all over the world exploring and photographing structures. Only when taking pictures of the Delaware Memorial Bridge this past fall did I run into trouble. Seems the bridge police, the state police, the county police, homeland security, and the FBI didn’t think I should be taking those images of “one of America’s most important bridges,” so Shelly and I received separate on-the-spot interrogations. In the end, my New Hampshire plates assisted the authorities in believing that we were just naďve hicks from the boonies.
Almost forgot, Dick Dubroff helped with one of the book projects and took a great photo of his daughter building with cake blocks.
Shelly and I regularly do get to the Wilmington area a couple times a year – usually in May and September to visit Longwood and the other beauty spots I didn’t appreciate when I lived there. We always stay at the Fairville Inn on Rt.52 and take day trips to explore those places once known and new places I had not known. And of course, I come to Wilmington to eat subs!
That’s the update from here. I’m well. I do plan to be at the 50th in ’09, and look forward big time to seeing you all.
Steve Caney