Seeing The Old Louisville Places Then Saying A Goodbye

...Continued from yesterday:
       Jan, my best friend from college, 

...and an expert horsewoman, ​

 ...died last December a few weeks before Christmas when a freak accident caused her to be thrown from her horse (see post from https://www.ailantha.com/blog/good-bye-dear-friend).   
      Her family held her celebration of life service on Saturday, May 17, and this sad occasion was what brought us back to Louisville all these years later (see previous post, https://www.ailantha.www.ailantha.com/blog/our-return-to-louisville). Jan lived with her husband Jim in New Albany, Indiana, which was just across the river from Louisville and for all practical purposes a suburb of the city.
​        Jim with their much-loved dogs. 

       On Saturday morning we woke up to a view of the coppery morning light over the city,

...and since Jan's service wasn't until 4:30 pm, Tom and I had the day before us. We decided to spend it visiting some of the old places where we used to live, work, and go when we lived in Louisville 48 years ago.
​         But first, breakfast. The day before we had discovered that across the street from our hotel was what appeared to be a former warehouse renovated into a brunch eatery called Wild Eggs.

       The decor was, not illogically, egg-themed.

     The food was really good, especially the breakfast potatoes, which had a certain je ne sais quoi about them that made them crispy on the outside and perfect on the inside.

     We topped off our eggs and potatoes by splitting the most decadently delicious cream cheese-topped cinnamon roll.

     After finishing our sublime cinnamon roll we headed out from downtown,

...to the south end of town,

...to see if our old apartment complex on Utah Street was still there. 
​      Turned out that it was. How it looks now:

     How it looked back then (That's my sister and Tom in the courtyard):

     And there was our old apartment:  3714 Utah Street, Apartment 2.

    How it looked back then (that's me in my grandmother's coat):

       I was standing in the courtyard snapping some pictures when a woman came out of one of the units with a pit bull on a leash. I called to her that I used to live here about 50 years ago and just wanted to see how the place looked now. 
           "Okay, that's cool," she called back then walked on with her dog.
          I continued snapping and another woman came out of my old apartment followed by three small children. I likewise called over to her that I used to live in her apartment and just came back to see it again. She gave me what I thought was a glare and didn't answer. I thought mayhaps it was time to cut short my stroll down memory lane. 
             While I was walking back to the car several boys who looked about middle school aged came out of another unit and passed by me. I explained to them what I'd explained to the two other residents, that I used to live here.
             "Must have changed a lot," one boy said as he walked by.
             "Oh, yeah," I said.
       Actually the apartments looked a lot better now than when we lived in them. Back then the siding was all stained and cracked and the exteriors appeared to be in a state of general disrepair.
          Me in front of our apartment with  Merhdad and Atal, a couple of Tom's friends from the University of Louisville grad school program who were over here from Iran studying engineering.

      We then drove around around the block to Taylor Avenue to see if the A&P that I used to walk to was still there. We found the building, though it was no longer the A&P, but was now the PicPac.

       We also passed what used to be a little neighborhood grocery store but was now a day care center.

       Churchill Downs was about half a mile from our apartment, and we used to walk there sometimes and, as the public was free to enter,  we'd meander around the track when there were no races going on. 

      We drove over just to see the place again.

       I remember the first time I ever saw Churchill Downs I was shocked that it was  not set majestically back upon rolling green acres, but rather plunked down in the middle of an urban neighborhood. The neighborhood surrounding Churchill Downs still looked pretty much the same as it did 48 years ago.

        Our next stop was the University of Louisville where Tom got his masters degree in criminal justice and I worked as an archivist at the university Archives and Records Center.

      We strolled around the still beautiful campus.

      Tom in front of the Southern Police Institute where he used to have his classes.

      Me in front of what used to be the entrance to the Archives and Records Center, which at that time was located in an old warehouse by the railroad tracks.

      But that old building has since been renovated, and what was once the entrance to the Archive and Records Center is now the back entrance to the John Marston Houchens Building, which houses student services.

     John M. Houchens taught electrical engineering and later became the university Registrar and was highly regarded and well-loved by both the students and his colleagues. I knew Mr. Houchens. After he retired from the university he was given an alcove in the Archives and Records Center where he would come every day meticulously dressed in a suit and tie to work on his papers.
​       When I first started working at the archives my 25-year-old self was intimidated by Mr. Houchens' presence, having been made aware of what an important distinguished person he was. But then one day I got up the nerve to go over to his desk - I don't remember why anymore, I think I might have had a question regarding the collection I was organizing and I thought he might know something about it, or something like that. 
        Rather than coming across as the honorable highbrow, Mr. Houchens was friendly, funny, interesting, and happy to chat even with a lowly young archivist such as myself. I found myself stopping daily at Mr. Houchens' desk for a chat and we became friends. He would invite Tom and me over to his lovely old home and we got to know his gracious wife Mariam, and we eventually struck up a friendship with his son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren.
       John Marston Houchens was a good, kind, brilliant, decent man who left the world a better place.
       Unlike another Louisvillian we know who doesn't have a building named after him on the University of Louisville Campus,

...even if he and his wife do have their own spot in the lower level of the campus library (See post from 11/30/2016 https://www.ailantha.com/blog/the-grad-student-the-archivist-and-mitch-mcconnells-wife) .

     Me in front of the Archives and Records Center, now located on the fourth floor of the library.

     After our visit to UofL we returned to our hotel, and when it was time we left for the dénouement of our trip and the reason we'd come to Louisville.
       Jan's celebration of life took place at the beautiful old First Unitarian Church in downtown. 

      The service was simple and heartfelt, with scripture readings and prayers, including St. Francis of Assisi's prayer for peace and a prayer once written by Jan.  Jan's pastor, Reverend Alta Burnett,  gave a homily on our soul's journeys. A guitarist sang a rendition of "Morning Has Broken" and we listened to the hauntingly beautiful song, "Fields of Gold."
       Jan's husband Jim gave a eulogy and showed us a video of Jan riding her beloved horse Highlander on a forest trail and, just to bring us a smile, this video of Jan playing a "symphony" on a dandelion stem:

      But the most tearfully heart-touching part of the service was a sharing of our memories, during which time a number of us stood in front of the gathering and recounted some of our happy, funny, fond memories of Jan.

         There was a moment of silence for all of us to say our goodbyes to Jan, to bless her and set her spirit free. The service ended with a Prayer for Protection:
                                               The light of God surrounds us;
                                               The love of God enfolds us;
                                               The power of God protects us;
                                               The presence of God watches over us;
                                               Wherever we are, God is.
       Wherever you are, Jan, you'll always be alive in our memories and our hearts.