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These are the pictures that were graciously given to me by Sylvia Sodder Paxton, the youngest surviving child from the fire on December 25, 1945.

This is the billboard the family put up starting in 1952.

Maurice Sodder, 14 years old on December 25, 1945.

Martha Lee Sodder, 12 years old on December 25, 1945.

Louis Sodder, 9 years old on December 25, 1945 (his birthday was in 5 days).

Jennie Sodder, 8 years old on December 25, 1945.

Betty Sodder, 5 years old on December 25, 1945.

And I loved it. Loved it. Had a great trip to West Virginia with Art Silverman, my producer at NPR. We were there to do a piece about a fire in 1945 in Fayetteville, WV. It was a sad story, but I loved Fayetteville and all the people I met there.

This is me in Not New York City.

This is the Fayetteville Courthouse.

This is the site of the fire. The family constructed a billboard which sat at the top of the rise, by the pine trees.

I have pictures of the billboard and the children who were lost in the fire which I will scan in later.

It’s Sunday morning and it’s a winter wonderland. That’s the view out my front window. Time to go out and build a snow fort.

After I make sure I’ve got everything ready for my trip to West Virginia tomorrow. The last time I left NYC was … I can’t remember. I went to Bermuda and Paris in the 80’s. Oh wait, I went to California in the early 90’s. That was the last time. It’s been ten or more years. And next month I going to North Carolina for THREE months.

Well, 700 boxes of treasure await me at the Duke University library. I should be okay.

Missing Photo! A photograph was here! Don’t know where it went!

Last weekend my friend Kevin and I visited the former Kings Park Psychiatric Center. We tried briefly to find the graveyard but no go. The picture above is of one of the doctors residences. There is something so beautiful about the abandoned. My camera died with that picture, but there are many great sites about Kings Park.

Here’s one.

And another!

I’m reading at a bar called Rocky Sullivan’s, tonight at 8PM. Rocky Sullivan’s is an Irish bar at 129 Lexington, between 28th and 29th.

If you’re not sick of hearing me read, stop by!