Open letter from Aunt Arline:

Aunt Arline sent this update. She is enjoying the herald updates and wanted to let everyone know whats up with the Chicago Hoban's:

Midwest news.  

Bill had a heart-attack one Sat night several weeks ago as he was working on a sport story,  He was rushed to San Francisco - was in there for a week while the cardiologist and team were making decisions. He is back home and the Dr. is setting a date for a major operation in a few weeks.  Tina - did her work while she stayed in SF via the computer.

Nancy and Mike: 

are currently living with Rebecca and Jai in Chicago.  They sold their house and are building a beautiful one in Mich. - on the lake.  They traveled to South Africa and Switzerland the past few weeks.  Jenny and Ben and the two girls are in S.Africa for two years on assignment for Ben's company.

Rebecca and Jai took their two girls to Switzerland where Jai was involved in presenting some vital info to other doctors.  N/M met them there and traveled around Switzerland before coming home to Chicago.  Rebecca and Jai bought a house in Chicago and redid it.  Both are in Chicago hospitals and love being in the city.  Jenny and Ben did not sell their house in Chicago and will go back with the two girls when Ben's assignment is finished.  Emily travels all over the world with her company.  We will see everyone at Christmas when they all go to the NEW house in Mich.

Chris and Jane:  

Chris works for a company that allows him to work at home and travel around the Midwest taking care of his customers. The past few days he has been in Kansas City and the surrounding area. Jane still does her antique business. Ashley/ Nick and son (1 yr old) live in Aurora. Both have great occupations and have redone a house.  Nick is a whiz on anything that has to be done.  Jason and his female friend, Jessica, have an apartment in Chicago and it is close to B/J and R/J. All of them live in this very upbeat and interesting area.

Laura and Dave have been traveling - many times they take me along. Their two daughters are not married.  Katie was married but she divorced him.  She is now in Texas with her company and Kristina (the lawyer) is still in CA.  Laura has her master's degree and saves those who need immediate care in the hospital but because San Diego is very close to the border, she has some difficult  patients and some trained translators to help her.

Sarah is married to Mitch Walker and have a daughter, Anna, who is in high school this year. They live in Barrington, IL. about an hour's drive - at 6 AM or midnight.  I stay there frequently.

Several years ago, Sarah was the travel editor of the now defunct Sears travel magazine.  She moved on to being the editor of the Student Lawyer Magazine  - designed to help - obviously  student lawyers but she had to travel into Chicago every day. She decided to leave and was called back  to substitute at times and finally decided that the travel time into Chicago from Barrington was too long.  She published one book and has been free-lancing for several years for magazines.  

Mitch, her husband had his masters degree in library science and was hired by the Barrington library to take over the children's department.  Good choice - the library is very close to their home.  Sarah then started a career in senior citizen services in Barrington. She left that job to focus on her writing career.  We have a wonderful theater in Aurora and the three of them come in on the Saturday afternoon for the Sat night performance and  for dinner with me and attend the series of plays during the year.  It is late at night when the play ends which means that the three of them, plus dog, stay overnight. Then they do some of my home repairs which I never seem to find time to do.  It is an excellent arrangement for family visiting and I do appreciate their help.

Sue - the youngest - after graduating from college, joined  an organization similar to our Red Cross.  She was assigned to work on a small island helping  Viet Nam people who were escaping the war activity.  She was there for a year and Bill and I asked her to come back home for her own safety.  She came back and married a college sweetheart - John Sullivan. They live in Woodstock, IL.

She rec'd her Master's Degree in public Health and started a small clinic in Woodstock -  for women who had no health insurance and could only pay what they could afford.  Three moves to larger clinics ended up with a wonderful new building in Crystal Lake, IL.  two years ago. She has received much recognition for her ongoing efforts to provide health care to many adults and has this wonderful husband who supports her in her work at all times.  John is a high school teacher in a city north of Chicago and commutes daily via train.  She and John have two sons, John and James and a daughter, Clara - all are in various colleges.

As for Arline - that's me!  I am in excellent health and travel as often as possible. Bill and I traveled so many places on the earth but he refused to go to Iceland with me. I took John (jr) to Iceland.  I took James to Ireland.  I took Clara and Sue to London.  All three trips were very interesting and we covered many things while we were in these places.  I have a widow friend who can also afford to travel and we go on many cruises  but not to the Caribbean area.  I fly to Florida and California - San Diego and Sonoma.  I do stay home at times and take care of my gardens.  I have made several changes to my house to accommodate my ageing body.  I plan to live to 100 so that "the woman President can send me a birthday card".