At the end of the Tuesday, October 29 episode of Days of Our Lives, the show paid tribute to the late Drake Hogestyn.

In Memoriam

When the episode ended, a scene involving Chad (Billy Flynn) and Cat (AnnaLynne McCord) cut to black. Then, an In Memoriam graphic saying “In Loving Memory” and a photo of

Hogestyn appeared.

Hogestyn’s presence was felt throughout the episode because much of the conversation revolved around John Black. First, Steve (Stephen Nichols) returned from Paris with news for Marlena (Deidre Hall). He told her that the woman Chad married wasn’t Abigail after all. He then told her who she really was, that her name was Catherina, “Cat” for short.

In addition to coming clean with Chad, Cat also admitted that her namesake was her mother, Catherina Meleounis, Konstantin’s (John Kapelos) daughter. Naturally, this meant that Catherina had survived that fateful night decades earlier. And this meant John wasn’t responsible for her death after all.

Recently, the show explained John’s absence by saying he was on a trip with his dad. So Marlena called John to give him the great news that she had hoped would finally give John peace of mind. He had been carrying the guilt ever since Konstantin enacted his plan for revenge by attempting to turn him back into the Pawn.

Later, Marlena joined Eric (Greg Vaughan) at The Pub, where Holly (Ashley Puzemis) had just forgiven him for lying to her about being responsible for her father’s death. Mother and son connected before Eric returned to Paris. After telling Eric she’d miss him, she mentioned she had talked to John. He wanted her to tell Eric that he loved him and would miss him as well.

Marlena also told her son that John had learned about something that he was still processing. She said she’d fill him in later. When Eric asked if everything was okay, Marlena had an unexpectedly emotional response, “Everything is more than okay. It’s like we’ve had a little miracle.”

Hogestyn, who played John Black for nearly 40 years, The beloved actor’s final airdate was September 9.