Dan Hogan is alive and amazingly well, but for several hours on Father’s Day it was nip and tuck. Dan was warming up to play tennis when his heart stopped. As luck would have it, he was playing with a urologist, and a cardiac surgeon was playing on the next court. The two doctors administered CPR until the EMTs arrived to apply shock treatment. After four attempts, they finally got his heart beating again.

He didn’t have a heart attack, but rather an electrical problem. His heart literally short-circuited. After several tests and an operation, he is now rewired (again literally) and hopes to be back on the tennis courts in a month.

Dan learned an important lesson from his close brush with death. His iPhone has an app identified with a heart. It’s a place to put one’s medical records and contact information. It can be accessed without first inserting a password. That information would have been helpful to the EMTs and emergency room doctors who first took care of him. He didn’t have that information filled out then, but he does now.

Bill Haefeli fans will be happy to learn that the new cartoon editor at The New Yorker loves his work. She has already accepted 11 of his queries. Thus, we will be seeing a lot of Bill this year in The New Yorker. He has been charming us with his wry sense of humor for 20 years.

I have two East Chop books to brag about this week. Jeff Traenkle’s The Aviators of East Chop is finally out. Over the years Jeff came to know eight East Choppers who had flown during World War II and who had inspired him with their stories. Jeff made one mistake in undertaking this project, however. He decided to write his book about these men after they had all died which made interviews impossible. He made up for this lack of primary source material with meticulous research.

The Aviators of East Chop profiles the flying careers of Page Stephens, Howard Henrickson, Graham Dripps, Paul Roedel, Frank Neil, Chuck Sanders, Marty Mard, and Russell Clark. Interested readers can pick up copies at the East Chop Tennis Club, the beach club, and the Edgartown Golf Club.

Last Summer Jane Coe and I came out with a revised version of East Chop Families. Because all of the costs are now covered, proceeds from future sales go to the East Chop Association.

There are two ways for you to acquire a copy of this book. The first is to contact me (508-693-8065) and place an order. The cost is $20. The second is to participate in a trivia contest. I will give a free copy to the first person who answers the following question correctly. As you enter the ladies room at the tennis club, there are two slender closets painted in yellow on the right. What were those closets originally used for? I will provide the answer and announce the winner of the contest in my next column.

Finally, for those of you looking for a church to attend on Sundays, you might look at Union Chapel in Oak Bluffs. Richard Taylor, Polly Patterson, and Heidi Bryan are the president, vice president, and secretary of the board of trustees respectively. Jeanna Shepard is a member of the board with responsibility for public relations. Kim Patterson and Andy Skeen are also board members. The service begins at 10 a.m. each Sunday with an organ prelude at 9: 40 a.m. Speakers come from all over the country.

Send East Chop news to herricklr@verizon.net.