People from the past

When I was growing up in Wheaton, Illinois, four decades ago, the house across the street from us was inhabited by a number of colourful people in succession. One of these was the family of John Noble, a former prisoner in the Soviet Gulag whose obituary appears here and here. We used to play with the Nobles' children, whose ages paralleled our own. After they moved out, a sport writer for the Chicago Sun-Times (whose name escapes me at the moment) moved in and lived there briefly. Then came Prof. Arthur Ernest Wilder-Smith and his family. His wife was German and their children were bilingual, speaking to each other in the other language when they wished to conceal something from us during play. What fascinating people to grow up with!