I returned to my hometown of Dixon for a 2-week trip down memory lane. I left Dixon more than 60 years ago when I joined the Air Force. At the time, I thought I would surely return. But the river of life flowed far from the shores of the Rock River.

I visited the Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home. The visit brought back memories of the Louella Parsons Day Parade. Back in the early 1940s, I tagged along with my older sisters after the parade to the high school soda fountain shop. I think it was across the street from the Dixon theater.

While there, a guy came in and bought everyone in the store a phosphate. That was Ronny. So, when anyone ever asks me if I ever met Ronald Reagan, I tell them, “Heck yes. We use to go drinking together when he would visit Dixon.” The Irish rarely lie, but we do embellish the truth a wee bit.