Editor, Gazette-Journal:

Sidney Poitier died earlier this month at the age of 94. This brought much sadness, but also some vivid memories to me. We, as a military family of the ’60s, were living in Ankara, Turkey, and had an experience that still lingers and brings to mind my teenage daughter and son coming home from school.

I was standing on a balcony watching for both young teenagers coming across an empty lot. I was seeing a young black teenager with them. My daughter was holding his hand and yelled “Mom, guess who’s coming to dinner.”

I don’t remember the young man’s name, but I do remember that he was the son of an ambassador and was living in the dorm and going to the American school. The dorm was closing for the Thanksgiving holiday—he couldn’t go home so daughter brought him home to have Thanksgiving with us. He stayed and was a very polite and interesting young man. On leaving, he asked for several of my recipes to take to his mom.

Many memories flow through my he...