Key among those adopted family members were Elizabeth's new boss, AFP bureau editor Peter Mackler and his wife Catherine. There were also their children, Camille and Lauren. And the other regular feature of our lives was the Kelly family: Allan, Marie-Therese and Christopher and Charlotte. Our son Thomas was born in Hong Kong in 1984.
This surrogate family group included folks from Scotland, France and America. We melded our customs as the years went by, including the celebration of Thanksgiving, a uniquely American holiday. We quickly learned that the chef at the Foreign Correspondents Club cooked turkeys on special order for people celebrating the holiday, and a fine job he did. The last year we lived in Hong Kong, we had to take a ferry to our home from the central district. That meant picking up the fresh-out-of-the-oven turkey in Central, and holding it on our laps for the 30-minute ferry ride to Discovery Bay. The aroma just about drove the people on the boat crazy.
We all remembered those gatherings in Hong Kong warmly in the years after our families scattered to several continents. One year, when we all were living in America, we gathered again at the home of Peter and Catherine to renew our Hong Kong Thanksgiving tradition. Those gatherings I'll recall as long as I live.
We lost Peter last June, tragically, unexpectedly, sadly, to a heart attack. Life is not fair. We've all said at one time our another that despite all his adventures around the world, Peter would have been especially excited to cover this year's historic presidential election, and the momentous events taking place in our economy.
But most of all, I will miss Peter this Thanksgiving. He was family to me. A dear and beloved friend.
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