Julie Sullivan

Former prisoner Frank Guastella, left, and John Pelle married area women and settled down in Spokane after the war. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

1. Jack Donohoe, a retired electrical engineer from Kaiser, is one of the people featured in a new book, "Riding the Bomb." Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review 2. Author Charles Grizzle says of his book: "Young people don't know these stories. I had to tell these stories because they are too good to lose."<

Dave and Jan Perrins fix up their home so they can sell it. Photo by Kristy MacDonald/The Spokesman-Review

Alexander shaw looks up at his father, Carl Shaw, during a Head-Start-sponsored gathering at East Central Community Center. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review

1. (Photo of doll's hands) 2. Marie Fleming's doll collection is just one of the many that will be on display this weekend. Above: Intricate touches add detail to this doll. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review 3. "Baby Hilda," an antique German doll, is one of Fleming's favorites.

Richard and Cathy Whiteaker cruise the Centenntial Trail on a tendem bidycle. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review

Former POW John Carson, 71, and his wife Wanda ride with the International Order of the Blue Knights motorcycle club. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review

1. B-17 pilot Bud Gates spent nine months in Stalag Luft 1 after he was shot down. To mark V-E Day, Gates and his wife, Peggy, will visit England. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review 2. Bud Gates has framed his file from the German POW camp Stalag Luft 1. 3. Don Falk, on the left, was shot down over Belgium. The airman was sent to a Brussels prison hospital, where staff packed his wounds with newspaper and boiled the grass in the courtyard for his soup. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review 4. Don Head, on the right, says his feet go numb each winter from spending his captivity in galoshes after he had lost his boots during the Battle of the Bulge. He will mark V-E Day by attending POW functions. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review 5. Parisians march through the Arc de Triomphe as they celebrate Germany's surrender on May 8, 1945. File/ Associated Press

They come for the stories, to hear how long it's been for others, how long the grieving can take. People come alone to the Solo Strategies conference each spring. But they rarely leave feeling that way. Ten years after the conference for widowed people started as an outreach for displaced homemakers, the annual spring event has become a regional draw for men, women, grieving families and professionals.

1. Phyllis Holmes listens to her daughter Shannon describe the admiration she has for her mother. Holmes will be keynote speaker at an upcoming conference for the widowed. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review 2. Holmes' daughter Shannon and son Donnie, who died at age 3. 3. Phyllis Holmes and her daughter, Shannon Bednorski, are close friends whose monthly phone bills can reach $250. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review

Here's one thing you probably won't get on the information highway: Any wiser. Bombarded by sound-bites, satellite feeds and newsprint, Americans are afloat in information. But few know what's important, how to deal with it or what it means. Saturday, the public is invited to join a leading cultural philosopher in the search for wisdom in everyday life. Jacob Needleman will be the keynote speaker at a daylong workshop at Gonzaga University. The San Francisco author, professor and philosopher's conferences on wisdom have drawn hundreds of people searching for meaning.

JayDean Ludiker doesn't answer her doorbell, though you can see her plain as day through the window. Leaning toward a tiny boy in a 2-gallon hat, she's strumming a guitar to his fiddle bowing, oblivious to the world.

There must be 50 reasons you drove to work alone today: Day care, the dentist, the gym, the swing shift. You needed stamps, groceries, physical therapy, quiet time. You smoke. Besides, it rained.

1. Mildred "Hut" Ferree is seen at the controls of a North American AT-6, in WASP training at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas. Above: Ruth Fritz relaxes before going to her job as a riveter at the Glenn L. Martin plant in Middle River,Md. 2. Rose Ann "Tex" Barbarite majored in electrical engineering and became an engineering aide at RCA in Manhattan, often doing repair work on recording equipment.

It has no building, no money and no paid staff. But the most provocative think tank in Spokane is percolating along into its fourth year. The Francis-Ignatius Center, a unique collaboration between the Jesuits at Gonzaga University and the lay Franciscans, sponsors public "dialogues" that would make the most smug flinch.

1. St. Francis of Assisi 1181?-1226. The son of a wealthy merchant, he trained as a knight before being converted in 1202 by a vision of Christ. Giving away all his possessions and renouncing his father, he lived among the poor and considered nature the mirror of God. He suffered tuberculosis, blindness and the stigmata, the marks of Christ, before dying. 2. Teresa McDermott (right) greets fellow Franciscan Pat Morse. Top left, a closeup of a Tau, the symbol Franciscans wear around their necks. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review 3. Brother Keith Warner leads a monthly meeting of Franciscans in Spokane.