“Ask Dan” Brings Blast from the Past
Dear Dan,
I am former and I guess old neighbor from Piermont Av. in South Nyack. I was enjoying a cup of coffee in the lobby of a hotel last week reading a USA Today and the conversant headline caught my eye. Lord knows it never hurts to be more conversant. Your name jumped out at me. I am saying to myself, think I used to hang with this guy. I was a lot younger than you, ha, maybe by 5 years, so by hanging with you I think you older cool guys let me play baseball with the big guys. It was not my skill level, you just needed a body.
I must say that there is something special about reading an article that all of a sudden brings me back 50 years. Wow the time went fast. It is nice to see you are doing very well and I will be buying your book. Maybe some day we will have a Piermiont Av. reunion and you will autograph it for me.
Chris Devins
Dear Chris,
I remember the Devinses well–you-all were such a nice family altogether, and there were, as I recall, so many of you. It’s good to hear from you, and speaking of reunions, a bunch of guys from Nyack High ’59 get together once a year or so up there–but they are older. You are a mere 63, or something like that. After you left that house, another family moved in with quite a few kids, as I remember it, but in any case my family referred to them as “the false Devinses.” So, to the Menakers, you are famous as the real Devinses.
Thanks for writing in. Thanks for buying the book, if you do, and somehow I hope to get to sign it, if you’d like, and to say hello. I hope you and yours are well and happy.
Best,
Dan Menaker
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