Days of our Lives celebrated its 59th anniversary on Friday, November 8. It was also Marlena and John’s wedding anniversary, a bittersweet occasion for fans who knew that John’s portrayer, Drake Hogestyn, passed away on September 28, 2024. Though the episode was filmed before his death, Hogestyn was already too ill to appear. John ended up calling in to wish his “Doc” a happy anniversary. But that wasn’t the only tribute to John on that day. Another tear-jerking one took place earlier in the episode.

Out of Sight

Though Hogestyn was sick, John was officially hale, hearty, and off on yet another adventure. He initially left town to process his role in the death of Konstantin’s (John Kapelos) daughter, Caterina. While he was gone, it turned out that Caterina hadn’t died after all. Her father thought she had, but she was actually living in Salem, raising four kids, including Mark (Jonah Robinson), Cat (AnnaLynne McCord), Aaron (Louis Tomeo), and Felicity (Kennedy Garcia).

So that’s something we want to hear more about…later. Now that his conscience is clear, John could have returned home. But Andrew (Colton Little) popped up to say that Marlena’s (Deidre Hall) husband was called for a super-secret meeting with the ISA.

All My Sons

In the meantime, John’s sons, Brady (Eric Martsolf) and Paul (Sean Christopher), grandson Tate (Leo Howard), and namesake/step-grandson Johnny (Carson Boatman) were in the park, tossing some balls around and reminiscing about what a great Dad/Grandpa John was.

We’re not saying all of the above aren’t good actors. Marstolf even has an Emmy. But we still can’t help feeling that much of the genuine emotion in their words wasn’t just good acting about John, but genuine warm feelings for Drake.

Unlike primetime shows that can only talk about relationships that happened twenty or thirty years ago, soaps can actually draw on our genuine memories. We watched John raise Brady, meet and get to know Paul and beam with pride at the births of Johnny and Tate. The episode wasn’t just a celebration of 59 years of Salem but 38 years of Drake Hogestyn, too.