Goodbye, Friends of Old Time Radio - But Hello, Friends I've Made

Jay Hickerson, Valerie Thompson, Arthur Anderson

Sigh. As I Tweeted earlier this evening, the Friends of Old Time Radio event has come to an end. Well, there's a sort of post-convention panel Sunday morning - but the official end comes Saturday night, and that's when this is. Everyone is trying to be upbeat, savoring the fun and treasuring the friends we've seen only once a year - but there were many of us who were too teary to join in when Organizer Jay Hickerson began the finale by playing and singing his own version of "Thanks for the Memories" and then invited us all to join him in "I'll Be Seeing You in All the Old Familiar Places" and "We'll Meet Again." The evening was filled, not only with food at the dinner and two re-creations, but also tribute after tribute to Jay and Karen Hickerson, who have brought us all so much pleasure. Among the tributes was a scrapbook of FOTR memories presented by radio personality Arthur Anderson (the voice of the Lucky Charms Leprechaun, among countless roles) and daughter Valerie Thompson. There was a cake. There were tears. There was laughter. When shall we meet again?