Life partners
My mom, the indefatigable Lois Filreis, 91 y.o. & plucky as ever, made the trip on her own from Florida to spend Thanksgiving with us here in Philadelphia. Thanksgiving Day marked five years exactly since my dad, Sam Filreis, died—yes, with us all here that day in my house. Thanksgiving Day also happened to be my parents’ wedding anniversary. Sixty-nine years ago they were married in my grandparents’ house on DeKoven Court in Brooklyn. Yesterday, as my mom prepared to go back to Florida, we went through old photos. Found a good one: taken the moment after they were pronounced life partners 69 years ago.
Al Filreis is Kelly Professor, Faculty Director of the Kelly Writers House, Director of the Center
for Programs in Contemporary Writing, Co-Director of PennSound, and Publisher of Jacket2—all at the University of Pennsylvania. Among his books are Secretaries of the Moon,
Wallace Stevens & the Actual World, Modernism from Left to Right, and Counter-Revolution of the Word: The Conservative Attack on Modern Poetry, 1945-60. His new book is 
Founder/Faculty Director, 