Family Christmas Card, 1941

I cite this artifact, by the way, in support of my perennial preference to be called “Andy.” Pappy went by the same patronymic nickname, in true Scandinavian* fashion, but primarily among his colleagues at Valley College: Roger Anton, Bill Brenizer, and Ellis Spackman — his occasional Saturday-morning tennis partners at Perris Hill Park. I never heard Mammy call him that, nor any other member of the family. Nor, as far as I recall, anybody at Church.

Me, I became “Andy” in junior high school and have managed to propagate the sobriquet pretty generally among colleagues, classmates, and Church friends. But Valerie stoutly insists that I’m “Richard,” and it’s only recently that some family contemporaries (Brent, Dave Wright, and others) have been willing to go along.

Just as long as they don’t call me “ Dick. ”