(Boston, MA) Postal Carrier Retires - Cliff Clavin who delivered mail for the city of Boston for thirty years announced his retirement from the Postal Service and his plans of moving to Florida. A party in his honor was held at the Minute Man Motel on April 30, 2002. On hand were many of Cliff's friends (Carla Tortelli, Norm Peterson, Paul, & Phil) who hung out at a local tavern called Cheers where Cliff spent many off-duty hours drinking beers and telling fanciful facts on a variety of topics. For example: "It's a little known fact that the tan became popular in what is known as the Bronze Age." and "Everyone in the Swiss Army owns a Swiss Army Knife. That's why no one messes with Switzerland." One special guest at the party was noted psychiatrist Frasier Crane who flew in from Seattle to attend a psychiatric convention but, nonetheless, found the time to reminisce with his old pal, Cliff. Note: One might wonder why the party didn't take place at Cheers? Well, as Carla Tortelli explains: "Cheers wasn't available because Sammy (Sam Malone, the bar's owner) had another party." (a Red Sox Event - Sam being a former relief pitcher for the Red Sox).

(Chicago, IL) Hospital Physician Dies. Dr. Mark Greene, an emergency room physician at Cook County Hospital died this month from complications of a brain tumor. Mark had surgery  more than year ago and for a time his condition went into remission. But a few months ago he noticed his memory failing while at work and so he decided to leave his position and spend his final days in seclusion. The staff of the Cook County Hospital received a letter via fax on May 2 announcing that Mark had died. The letter was posted on the ER bulletin board. Mark is survived by his wife Elizabeth Corday, an ER physician, their new born child, Ella and Mark's teenage daughter Rachel from his first marriage. Mark had spent the last few days of his life getting closer to Rachel. He taught her how to drive a stick shift, surf the waves and recounted to her many fond memories of his childhood in Hawaii where he was laid to rest. Before he died Mark asked his wife Elizabeth to transcribe his thoughts to paper. A portion of the letter sent to his friends in the ER read "Lots of times I thought I should have chosen a different career or gone into private practice, something easier, less grinding, more lucrative, but since I've been gone, I realize that outside of doing what I'm doing right now, sitting on this beach with my family, staying at County all those years, doing what we do on a daily basis was the best choice I ever made." At the end of the letter, Elizabeth included the addendum "Mark died this morning at 6:04 a.m. The sun was rising, his favorite time of day. I sent this on so that you might know he was thinking of you all and that he appreciated knowing you would remember him well." Services were held in Hawaii and many of the Cook County staff were in attendance. After the service, Mark's daughter Rachel symbolically released a blue balloon tethered to a signpost and watched it soar upwards into the morning sky.