Leaping Into the Quarry

Immediately after Mike and Vicky’s wedding at Boris’ club, Zack and Randy drove to Chicago. After looking at a dozen places, they selected an apartment on the north side, in Edgewater. They were close to the YMCA on Broadway, which had a well-established leaping program. Randy taught there, as he did his student teaching, and continued to teach leaping for many seasons. As soon as Randy finished his student teaching, he was offered a position as Physical Education teacher at Lawrence Middle School, near Western Avenue. Randy and Zack were exempt from military service during the Vietnam conflict, because of their professions.

About the time Zack was finishing his medical training and internship, Randy wanted to become a foster parent. It took some doing to get the Illinois Department of Family Services to agree to let a single man adopt. Zack agreed, and he adopted the two Hispanic brothers, two and three years old, who had been living with them, since the boys were infants. Randy could do this, because they had good child care. Their old leaping mate, Joyce, moved to Chicago after graduation, but didn’t find her niche in the working world. Randy and Zack talked her into becoming a surrogate mother for the two boys. She lived in her own place, about two blocks away from their house, on Lawrence Avenue with her partner, Delores, a lawyer.

While Mike and Randy saw Mike, Vicky and the children several times a year, the next time the whole leaping group was together was for Violet’s funeral, in 1982. They gathered at the farm near Decatur, which Ted now owned. Joyce couldn’t attend, because she was caring for the boys. Mike, Vicky, and the teenage twins, Mikey and Marcy attended. They were as attractive as their parents, at that age. Mike was a successful sales manager for State Farm Insurance in Champaign. He and Vicky served on the Gamma Phi advisory board, as well as coached. Stan, who had been adopted by Mike and Vicky shortly after their marriage, brought his fiancé. Doc had sold his practice but helped on a part-time basis while Boris continued to cook as a private chef. They continued to have students live with them in the two houses. James and Olin, both strikingly gorgeous, traveled from New York City, where they were models. James was pale and, obviously, not well. A few months later he succumbed to AIDS, as did Olin. Randy and Zack attended James’ funeral in New York. James had no relatives in attendance. Beautiful men gone, young and so misunderstood.