My Gramma leaned over and whispered to my mom, “He works with computers and likes a drink before supper.”
By the time I was five or six I already knew that if adults whisper… you listen closely.
I also knew computers were cool and “a drink” was a grown up thing that made them argue about Nixon and Vietnam.
My Aunt B started dating a guy named Chris and he was early 1970’s cool.
He introduced me to the Shirley Temple and always made sure that I had a kiddy cocktail when the adults had theirs.
He eventually became Uncle Chris and he filled into the family perfectly.
He was very smart and expected that I had a strong vocabulary and applied myself in school.
I was the nephew from Chicago and was developing my Chicagonese at an early age.
Chris would immediately scold me if I used a “dese, dem, youze or doze” in a conversation.
When I moved to Indianapolis I’d spend weekend’s at Aunt B and Uncle Chris’s house. They had a house in Cartersburg, Indiana.
Their home had a creek, a toboggan hill, snakes, barns, Hoosier girls and a huge meadow. It was a great get away for a kid from Chicago.
Chris would let me mow the four acre meadow on his riding mower and he’d give me twenty bucks before I’d leave on Sunday night.
Uncle Chris was a strong influence when I was young. On my 13th birthday he gave me the book “Boys and Sex.”
Uncle Chris planted the seed that would eventually become “JumboLove.”
Thank you Uncle Chris for being a solid part of my life during those tumultuous 1970’s and early 1980’s.
Today Uncle Chris McEvoy turns 80… Happy Birthday UC!
Keep correcting my grammar and making me Shirley Temples… now with gin!
