Punahou 50th Reunion at Oahu

Oahu-Tuesday June 7

Upon our arrival at Honolulu International airport, we gathered our luggage and stood outside the Thrifty Car pick up and waited and waited but no bus.  After about 20 minutes, a rival company, after seeing us wait as he went by 4 times, agreed to take us to Thrifty because he went right by the place.  Thrifty is not just at the airport but at least ¾ mile away.  As it turned out, I made the reservation for 2 days later by mistake (I won’t go into it) but they had a car available, a dirty one but upon complaint we received a clean on, a Ford which was a very nice car and very quiet as compared to my Camero.  The directions to return the car were confusing also and I had to ask directions.   Next time we go to Oahu, I am renting an Avis or Hertz no matter what the cost.  Life is too short to deal with the hassle. 

We check in to the pink exterior Royal Hawaiian and have a room slightly facing Diamondhead in the newer tower.

 The next day, a special tour has been arranged to tour Pearl Harbor, guest of Admiral Dixon Smith with his executive assistant Stanford Yuen hosting.  The tour was not just out to the Arizona Memorial, but also included a close-up of Ford Island, the shipyards, the mothballed fleet, active ships, the USS Missouri, and memorial to the USS Utah.  At the USS Arizona, the class presented a floral tribute on behalf of the Class of ’61.   Among the highlights of the tour were a view of the aircraft carrier, the USS Carl Vinson (the ship that buried Osama ben Laden at sea) and we saw a nuclear submarine return to port.  We passed Hickam Air Force Base on Ford Island and a series of mothballed ships.  And at the USS Arizona, evident of oil rising from the sunken tomb is clearly visible. 

That evening we walked about a mile up Kalakaua Ave. to the Tiki Bar and Grill overlooking Kuhio Beach for happy hour and some light pupu (hors’d oeuvres).

The following day about 11 of us played golf at the Navy Marine Golf Course.  After making my excuses that I was playing with rented clubs and had only played 9 holes this year, I parred the first hole and shot a respectable 94 after three triple bogies.  Meanwhile, Judith had lunch at the Willows restaurant, a favorite meeting place since 1944.

That evening some of the class boarded the 65 foot catamaran for a two hour boat ride along the coast.   To the right of the left photo below, the brown Sheridan and Pink Royal Hawaiian can be seen.

 

The following day, Thursday June 9^th, we visited the Iolani Palace and Chinatown.  The Iolani Palace has been beautifully restored and the history of the royal family was rich in power and intrigue.

The guided walking tour of old Chinatown was another chapter in the rich history of various ethnic groups coming to the islands to contribute their labor.   Lunch was at the New Empress restaurant at the Chinese Cultural Plaza.

To be continued

The Big Island-Part 3

Monday June 6

We checked out of our hotel and drove down the Mamalahoa Highway along the western shore of the island to the city of Kona.  Along the way we saw massive black lava flows of varying textures from Mt. Hualalai. The International Kona Airport is built upon these lava flows.  The local graffiti is to use white limestone rocks and spell out names, pledges of love, or outright commercials.  We actually drive past Kona to Kealakekua and the Greenwell Coffee Farm and old stone structure of the Kona Historical Society.

We have some Kona Coffee as the docent gives us a blow by blow account of the missionaries that came here, the coffee plantations and the Japanese workers that lived and worked on the plantations. 

The Greenwell family also ran a store which probably resembled most turn of the century general stores.  We then toured the coffee plantation; saw the beans on the trees, the bean drying, and the roasting equipment. One of the Japanese women gave us a tour of one of the simple, but efficient homes and how food was prepared among other activities.



From there we drove toward Kona and stopped for lunch at Teshima’s Restaurant for some traditional Japanese food.

Then on to Kona, now a glitzy tourist town, but was once a place of power for ancient Hawaiians.  King Kamehameha made his home there.  A descendant, King Kalakaua built Hulihe’s Place on the water for his vacations.  We were given a private tour of the palace taking our shoes off to protect the beautiful wooden floors. We walked a short distance to the King Kamehameha Hotel to see another heiau beside it. The heiau and the hotel are being restored due to the damage caused by the recent tsunami off the shore of Japan.

Our final activity on the Big Island before flying to Oahu was to have drinks and Hawaiian pupu at the hotel’s lanai where a group picture was taken of the attending classmates and spouses.

Aloha Big Island

The Big Island-Part 2

 

The next morning we went to the Waimea Farmers Market where we bought malasadas, a Portuguese imported confectionary which originally came from Madeira.  Lard and sugar were used up before Lent to make them, so you can get the idea of the caloric impact.  There are several bakeries throughout the Hawaiian Islands specializing in them. The one near Waikiki on Oahu where I went on my first visit there had a 15 minute wait to get them.  We washed them down with some good Kona coffee.  There was a large variety of local flora for sale, including things I never had seen before. 

The places the group visited were for the most part, not visited by the normal tourist.  And some of the events were hosted by a classmate who provided special access or inside knowledge of something to see that is not well known.  As a result, I experienced an enriched Hawaii known mostly to local Hawaiians. 

Along that vein, the next stop was to Kawaihae to see the Kamehameha’s Heiau constructed by Kamehameha I in 1790 to begin to unite the islands under one rule.  It is now a National Monument and also a living temple because the Hawaiians use it once a year as a spiritual and cultural gathering. www.nps.gov/puhe/index.htm

The park ranger explained that Kamehameha I built up trade with the outside world using sandalwood brought down from the mountains to trade with China who used the wood for incense. In return he received gunpowder and cannons which were much more effective that spears. This gave the king more firepower when he engaged in wars with the other islands. Eventually the trees were all cut down and the being a hard wood, they grow slowly.  This caused permanent change to the landscape. The king did see what damage was being done and halted the trade and began planting, but it was too late to bring the forest back.  It was at this site that his chief rival was murdered after being invited to talk peace.  Some 28 years later all of Hawaii was united under one rule.  

It was very hot this day so we all welcomed lunch at Spencer Beach Park on the Kohala Coast.  We had a generous lunch of local foods at an Oceanside pavilion and were free to spend time at the beach although we passed that opportunity to enjoy our hotel and its surroundings.

We were on our own for dinner that night so we drove south from our hotel down the coast and had an excellent dinner at popular restaurant, Roy’s Waikoloa Bar and Grill.

Sunday June 7

Every island has its wet side and dry side and most tourists only visit the wet side where most of the people live.  Our outing today was along the north Kohala Coast, the dry side, starting with the Lapakahi State Historic Park the site of an ancient fishing village.  The waters here are thought to have special healing powers and it is forbidden for anyone to have sunscreen or insect repellent on their body if they enter the waters.

From there we traveled further up the coast to historic plantation towns of Kapaau and Hawi, then continued on to the restored planation estate and church built my missionary Elias Bond. www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elias_Bond  The gggrandson spoke in the church to our group and gave a lengthy and very interesting lecture about his family’s history from the beginning of the Elias Bond’s arrival to the present day.  The church has survived earthquakes and lightning strikes and after restoration efforts it remains quite beautiful with its Spartan simplicity.

We drove down the western side of Mona Kea (the highest mountain in the world, if measured from the ocean floor) along a ridge with glimpses of the ocean and coast line, until we reached the winding, descending drop into Waimea. There we visited the Anna Ranch and toured her home before having a big bash there. I had never heard of Anna Lindsay Parry-Fiske before but learned about her contribution to the rich history of immigrant success stories that added to the cultural changes that occurred on the Big Island. She was a woman driven to succeed and she did. www.annaranch.org  

The dinner/luau was well attended at the ranch and three men sang their hearts out filling requests from traditional Hawaiian songs (most of which I had never heard) and popular early 1960’s tunes.  For sure Elvis songs were included as who could ever forget the movie “Blue Hawaii”.  Judith tells the story of how she wondered into the set during a scene shoot and was allowed to stay.  The King walked right past her on the way to sing his song.  He had dark makeup on to try to make him look Hawaiian.

There lots of songs to sing along with and even some hula dancing by a couple of women classmates.

To be continued.

Who Has a 10 Day High School Class Reunion?

 If you graduated from Punahou High School in Honolulu and came to your 50th anniversary celebration, you would have the choice to spend one evening with your returning classmates, or up to 10 days visiting both the Big Island and Oahu.

As you may know, Punahou was founded by Christian missionaries about 175 years ago for the purpose of assuring a quality education to the children of white people who came, from mostly New England, to take advantage of the economic opportunities to make fortunes and/or to transform the highly spiritual Hawaiians away from their religious views to adopt Christianity. It became the home for children of the wealthy and powerful to be educated to assume into their place in society. Nothing was ever suggested during their education that there would be any obstacle too great to fulfill their destiny. They were programed for success, I would say.

Somewhere along the way, Punahou allowed deserving students to receive scholarships which were given to bright children with educational skills and to football and basketball talent. Judy Ann Morgan (my wife) and Barack Obama were two such scholarship students. Every year at the end of the school year, Punahou holds a class reunion for all graduates with those classes in multiples of 5 years being featured. We attended Judith’s 40th reunion just before we got married but only attended the main ceremony, the luau.

The 50th anniversary is a special deal, with the class being invited to a president reception and being ushered to their seats at the luau with the Punahou band with cheers from those already seated, etc... However, it is the tradition for a class, especially the 50th, to hold many group activities before the luau. Usually this means having activities at the Big Island before having some on Oahu. Judith decided this was the time to go all out and attend almost everything. So for 10 days we traveled around the Big Island first then to Oahu to attend places of interest. Not all the places we attended would be on the typical tourists’ to-do-list.

Most of the group on the Big Island lodged in Waimea but Judith research the lodging and decided it was not good enough even though it was more centrally located to most activities. We flew to Hilo, reported to have the most rain of any city in the U.S. and we did get some rain, but mostly showers in the afternoon or night. We picked up our rental car and drove to a very nice B&B, the ”Palm Cliffs” run by a retired couple from Oregon. We were served breakfast on a veranda overlooking the ocean and the morning sun.

We had to drive to Hilo for dinner, a trip on 13 miles one-way and the next day we went to Hilo to walk around a visit the home of one of the first missionaries from Massachusetts to settle in Hilo. It is a museum now of course. The native docent was quite good in describing how they lived and what happens to them and their descendants. Much of the original house and furniture still remain. Although Hilo is not a large town but plenty of churches were in evidence.

The first group activity was on Friday morning at Volcano National Park about an hour’s drive.  At the visitor’s center, we picked up our badges to wear around our necks, divided into manageable groups and drove a short distance to the Jagger Museum on the rim of the active volcano, Halemaumau where the plume continues to spew water vapor, ash, bits of lava glass, and rock dust.  There was a huge explosion in March 2008 as our colorful park ranger explained.  The smoke, fog, and sea mist presents a hazy atmosphere that seems to change constantly and quickly.

Afterwards, the drove across the highway to the town of Volcano where we had lunch and everyone introduced themselves and where they now lived.
 
Then we drove back to Hilo, picked up our left luggage as Palm Cliffs and took the 2 lane highway up the eastern side of the island where the vistas were sometimes spectacular, with jungle like foliage and small waterfalls. After a couple of hours we turned left and continued on to Waimea. We drove through Waimea, down a twisting downward highway to the Kona coast where we checked into Kapuna Prince.

We hurriedly changed clothes and drove back to Waimea to meet up with some others from the reunion at the Parker Ranch Center and caravanned up to the beautiful new home of classmate Wendy Greenwell Craven high up the slopes of Mauna Kea for a Paniolo BBQ dinner. There was live Hawaiian music.

The hostess showed us her stunning home with local and other exotic woods throughout. The main living space had a high ceiling complete with a large fireplace.

The lanai overlooked green pastures toward the west. Clouds prevented seeing a sunset but the view was pretty awesome nevertheless.

We drove back to our hotel late at night. Fortunately, there were reflectors along the road to guide our way back to our hotel.


To be continued.

Amsterdam

 On our way to Uganda we flew into Amsterdam, stayed 3 nights, took a train to Brussels, Belgium, stayed overnight, and then took Brussels Airlines, first landing in Rwanda then proceeding to Entebbe, Uganda.


The best way to fly to Africa via United Airline is to fly to Europe then take one of the United Alliance airlines to fly south. In order to break up the trip and go somewhere we wanted to visit we chose Amsterdam.
I must say I loved Amsterdam, home of the Anne Frank museum, Dutch masters’ art museums, many canals, wooden shoes, windmills, bicycles, trams, beautiful men and women, and legal marihuana. We taxied to the renowned Pulitzer Hotel very close to the Anne Frank museum and on one of the main canals. Late afternoon we took a canal trip on beautiful hotel boat that once carried Winston Churchill through the canals and out into the ocean harbor.

The next morning, we walked two blocks to line up at the entrance to the Anne Frank museum.  It was early morning and many people were already lined up but after 20 minutes we arrived at the payment window.  Afterwards, we ate along the sidewalk as it was a beautiful day.  Lots of bicycles, quiet trams, small cars, were in evidence.  The sun was warm and tourists and non-working locals also found a sidewalk cafés that lined the streets and canals. 

Many kinds of boats were in constant motion along the canals and we learned people have boat homes on the water that are permanently moored.  They have all the utility hook-ups that a RV camper has at a camp site.

Those who know me well would assume that I would check out the “brown coffee houses”, and they would be right.  A “brown coffee house” is where you can LEGALLY buy marijuana.  This was quite an experience.  Doing a little on-line research, I learned where the best shops were and found one near the hotel.  The one I went to was not seedy at all.  It did have remnants of 70’s art on the walls but the music was modern soft rock.  Cushioned benches and chairs were provided with a very small cube to set your bong down upon.  The smallest amount I could purchase was a gram and there were several varieties to choose from.  Being cautious, I asked what was recommended and after establishing I didn’t want to get wasted and only want to get high, I bought a gram that lasted the 3 days in Amsterdam.  I lit up about 4:20 PM and came back each day as it was illegal to smoke in the streets or hotels.

We took a fine dining boat trip during our stay which included a trip out to a part of the North Sea.

 After the diner cruise, we walked through the famous red light district where young, beautiful women in skimpy lingerie were on display through small store front windows. What eye candy!

Wooden shoes and windmills are a must to see so we signed onto a small bus tour and visited a tourist place where we saw how wooden shoes are made today. Machines help out a lot but there still is some hand work to be done. The shoes are still very popular amongst the farmers. Wood lasts much better than leather where walking on dampness is common.

We did venture up into the inter-workings of the wind mills and saw that they were very substantial structures made from wood.

Our last day, we walked from our hotel about one mile and went to the Rijksmuseum which was going through extensive renovation. But we saw a fabulous Dutch master’s art collection and some insight into the technique the artists used.

Oh, yes, we have tulips.

We learned that pancakes are very popular in the Netherlands but they are not eaten at breakfast, in fact the very popular restaurant, The Pancake Bakery” is closed until 11 AM. We did have pancakes for lunch.

I was totally impressed with the liberal way of life in Amsterdam. The Dutch seem to be happy people who allow others to accept responsibility for the lives. I mean, prostitutes openly (and tastefully, I might add) displayed and cool places to enjoy a doobie means their minds are in a completely different place than most Americans. I wish we were more like them.

We took a train down to Brussels and stayed and took a taxi to the 5-star Amigo Hotel, one block from The Grand Place public square, a World Heritage Site, and 3 blocks from the famous statue, “The Little Pisser”.

Maison Du Roi (The King’s House)

The Guild Buildings.

The Brussels City Hall

The Grand Place at night.

The Little Pisser.

On our hotel room wall, two copies of Belgium artist Rene Magritte’s art.

We left for our long flight to Entebbe the next day.

Uganda

 President Museveni has been the President for 25 years and just was “re-elected” for another term. Thee opposition leader was attacked by the police when he tried to organize a protest close to the smearing in ceremony. There have been no details about his injuries but “the police sprayed his face and back with pepper spray and tear gas then dragged him face down and stuffed him into improvised seats on the back of a police pick-up truck, the way they do unidentified corpses, accident victims, and armed robbers.” This led to some sporadic violence resulting in some deaths and a crackdown on the media.

All this happened before the AIDS conference here and we have not heard about any further incidents although being ensconced in our highly rated Hotel Serena, there is little opportunity to really judge the temperament of the country.

While Judith was attending her conference, I had an opportunity to take some tourist ventures and I found out that seeing the gorillas was a 3 day event and I would return the day we would leave. So I passed and instead took a white water rafting trip on the Nile and then went to the source of the Nile where the Nile flows out of Lake Victoria.

I was picked up at the hotel at 7 AM and was driven to Jinja, a trek of 90 minutes in a van with a dirty windshield. Along the way I saw hundreds of people walking to work or school or riding in vans that are used for mini-taxis. We were driving against the main traffic flow into the city. Along the way I saw many, many supply trucks, some overloaded with green bananas. They stopped at markets where the market sellers were preparing their wares for display, mostly on the ground. While there are a few “supermarkets” in Kampala, the main place to buy food for the day outside the city and mostly within is at these markets.

I noted that all women wear long skirts. There were no exceptions. This required them to ride side saddle on motorcycles always driven by men of course. And come to think about it, I saw no women drivers of any vehicles. Mind you Uganda is not primarily a Muslim country, but a Christian one where displays of “God is Good” are seen frequently on buildings and on a few of the mini-taxis.


This seems like a perfect place to digress about some very brief Uganda history. When the white man first came to this neck of the woods in Africa they brought in Catholics from France and Protestants from England. The resulting religious politics that were trust upon the king caused no end of grief for him and tried to make a deal with the Germans, but the Germans made a deal with the British to cede several territories to them for exchange for a small but strategic island in the North Sea. In 1893, the Union Jack flew over the newly formed territory called Uganda. England ruled until 1952, then the next 10 years independence was fought for and on 1962 a leader named Obote inherited a nation fragmented along religious and ethnic lines to the point of being ungovernable. Skipping along to 1971, Obote flew to Singapore leaving behind instructions to his army commander to explain the disappearance of $4 million U.S. dollars out of military coffers and his involvement in the murder of a brigadier and his wife. The commander decided his only option was to strike and Kampala was rocked with the news of a military coup led by Idi Amin, a killer with the demeanor of a buffoon. He was responsible for the murder of 300,000 Ugandans and finally was disposed when he overreached and declared war on Tanzania and was driven out of Kampala by Tanzanians and Uganda exiles in 1979.

This should have been terrific news, but most Ugandans now regard the 7 years after Amin’s exile to be worse than under Amin. Corruption and violence continued and eventually the current president Museveni, came to power in 1986 and instead of violence continuing, he was able to establish a Human Rights Commission, established the rule of law, increased freedom of the press, and was able to govern without the past ethnic divisions causing trouble. Economic growth was 10% in his first decade. He established a no party system explaining that Uganda needed stability and the past ethnic divisions would emerge with a multi or two party systems.

I cannot escape the parallel to China here. Both have a one party system whose stability has brought economic growth and a mostly united nation, but a government that has no room for dissention, and periodic crackdown on freedom of the press when criticism is voiced. At least China is wise enough to change leaders once in a while, although just how a successor is chosen is a big mystery. My question is how a successor will be chosen in Uganda and will it be a peaceful transition.

But, back to my rafting trip.

On the way to the rafting place, we crossed the Nile and saw a big hydro-electric dam which supplies most of the electricity to the nation. A short ways away was the sign-in place for the rafting. I explained that I only wanted the ½ day trip and got into another car and 40 minutes later, I arrived at the actual place to embark. Bananas, and hot tea or coffee were available as we waited for others to arrive. A small bus drove up and 11 other people unloaded for the trip. They were mostly Australians with some UK people and 1 small Japanese woman. Two of the men were young alpha males from Australia who looked just the type for ones seeking adventure, but the majority was women who were of the same ilk.

We were instructed to remove all shoes and change into something that would get wet. I explained that I had hearing aids that could not get wet and I placed them into a water tight box that would be securely strapped to the raft. Apparently the leader thought not having full hearing would be a problem should emergency instructions have to be shouted out, so I was relegated to a larger raft where the form of movement along the river would be one man rowing and it wasn’t me. As I was about to protest, the rower man explained that we would be going through the same rapids, so I kept silent and went along with the program. This meant that during the next 2 hours, I didn’t have to do anything physical except to hold on at the appropriate times. I probably could have talked my way into being with one of the other two smaller rafts, but I was satisfied the way things turned out. Each time we went through some rapids and falls, I got thoroughly drenched.

My only complaint was walking barefoot on pebbly ground and up and down steep rocky banks. When I was young I would go barefoot all summer long and my feet would be leathery tough and walking in cindered alleys was not a problem. But now I get foot massages and an occasional pedicure using a sanding board to remove thick skin. If I ever go again, I am buying some wind surfer footies to protect my delicate lower paws.

Look, at my age, I have nothing to prove about how tough I am. It is all about protecting and preserving my body as long as possible.

We went through 3 water falls, the first being the most extreme. Here is a photo of me going through the 2nd fall. I could have purchased 6 photos for $50 but I chose just one, for $10.

At noon, we stopped for lunch consisting of mushroom soup and fixings for a folded sandwich and some soda. We had to climb up a very steep hill, again with bare feet and I was happy to find my sandals waiting for me in the car that brought me. Everyone else signed up for a full day of rafting and I said good bye and left with my driver to return to the sign-in place where I met the van from Kampala.


We then travelled a short distance to the source of the Nile which flows out of Lake Victoria. I got into a small boat and was taken out into the lake a short distance from the river and the official marker of the beginning of the Nile

The trip back took 2 ½ hours, an hour longer than leaving the city. The traffic was horrific. I decided to stay at the hotel and enjoy the beautiful grounds and spa facilities the rest of the trip.

We took Brussels Air back to Brussels in coach and after a 3 hour layover, enjoyed the trip back to Chicago in a laydown seat in Business class for some much needed sleep.

The Fire

Patricia and I were living in a small, 3 room basement apartment on Wood Street in Ames, Iowa.  It was September 1958, and we had been living there since January.  We moved there after getting married in November 1957 and both of us quit our jobs as dance instructors at Arthur Murray’s and I returned to Iowa State University to complete my studies and to obtain a degree in Ceramic Engineering.

Patricia was 3 months pregnant with our first child.  It was Saturday night and I was scheduled to begin my required Senior Inspection Trip on Monday.   Suddenly we were awoken by commotion from our landlord, Mrs. Weirson, who lived upstairs and I instantly knew the reason, as the smell and fog of smoke was everywhere.  The upstairs was on fire.  We quickly climbed the 6 steps from the basement to the entrance landing of the back door and dashed out.  We were safe.

Then a panic thought entered my mind.  My expensive books I had just bought for the coming term seemed to be at risk.  Of all the things we owned, they were the most valuable possession.  So I ran back down to my study area and scooped up my books. I ran back up the stairs and by that time the fire was had grown a lot and was very much visible in the entry way as it came out of the kitchen above. The heat was very uncomfortable even though I was exposed only for about 3-4 seconds as I plunged out the door, my arms filled with books. A few feet away I dropped a couple of them but I had been so intent on escaping the fire that I didn’t notice it until later where I found them in decent shape but smudged with black ash. They later became a constant reminder of that night.


I had a crew cut then and my hair got singed as well as the hair on my arms. “Wow”, I thought, I just did a really stupid thing. While I have never been in a fire since, I always remember how fast a fire can spread the intensity of the heat and smoke.

The firemen were there almost as soon as I came out the second time and the fire was put out, destroying only the kitchen area. But of course there was some water damage and the smell of the fire was everywhere. Two persons in the second floor had to be rescued from a window.

We were able to pack up some clothes and secured most of our other belongings in my 1950 Mercury. I left Monday for my trip on time and neighbors across the street put up Patricia while I was gone.

My clothes smelled of smoke all during the trip, but no one seems to notice that my hair was a slightly different color on the ends. Boys peroxiding their hair were not uncommon back then, so maybe it was overlooked because of that.

My senior trip included visiting refractory brick companies in Missouri and pottery companies in Illinois and Missouri. We visited Hager Pottery in Joliet, the south works of U.S. Steel in south Chicago, A. O. Smith in Milwaukee, and Maytag in Newton, Iowa. This was my first exposure to the world of big time manufacturing operations and the value of the trip was plain for me to see.

When I returned to Ames after a week, it was plain that we could not continue to live in our basement apartment and I learned of a place just 8 miles away in Kelley, Iowa (population less than 50), in back of a big building that housed the post office on the first floor in front of the building, next to the only other store in town. I remember that the rent was $40/month a reduction of the $60 we had been paying. We had to buy our own heating oil and the added expense of gasoline reduced our savings but we still lived cheaper. We had plenty of room and someone we knew lived in the same building. We burned our own trash outside and we had railroad tracks, just outside, and an occasional train would awaken us in the morning especially when it was cold and the screech of steel on steel would pierce the air. The ceilings were 16 feet tall and the plumbing was very elementary.

Our son, William Joel, was born in March just after a sizable blizzard which closed the roads from Kelley to Ames. Some men arrived at our door step two days before we left for the hospital. They had heard Patricia was on labor and had a snow plow outside to help us get to Ames. Fortunately, the rumor was false, but it was reassuring because I had wondered what I would do, if her labor started.

I remember our place in Kelley fondly, and, looking back, it seemed a perfect place to jump off into a better life for us after I graduated and we moved to Dayton, Ohio.