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NEWSLETTER 1974

Looking over the cards for the past few years, we note that in 1972 the forecasted chances of a 1973 version would probably depend on whether the writer could overcome an expectable degree of laziness. Well, the 1973 newsletter got over that hurdle, but it, in turn pointed out that a 1974 edition was highly unlikely. So, until a month or so ago, nothing was planned. But we kept on getting request, yea, even demands for just one more newsletter to wrap up the 33 year long series.

So out came the whip to lash the publishing. forces into action. They wailed in anguish, but got to work. And here it is. We don't expect to stop sending cards in 1975, but we'll probably use store-bought cards instead of these do-it-yourself versions, and cut the list way, way down to manageable proportions. Hopefullly, we'll still be able to keep in touch with our friends of long standing without the present card.

This dissertation, in preamble, relates to the fact that all of us approach a time in life when pensions and annuities start to pay off. Customarily too, you can then adopt a more relaxed way of life. Les has been preparing for that period for several years now, and in the early part of 1971 gradually began to shift from active project direction into more of an advisory role. His official retirement was early in July, but it didn't change things much. He became a consultant, worked only halftime, and kept busy.

He was active on many projects. The most interesting concerned the fire protection of floating off shore nuclear power plants, but right behind it was an Army project for a water spray system for ammunition plants which could withstand the blast of a box of TNT and still keep on working. This task is being worked on now and will continue into 1975.

It didn't take much of the half time work before the matter of taxes and lost Social Security benefits convinced Les to cut down even more. Now he's trying to limit himself to quarter time. This isn't easy, but it's the only way he can continue to work and still collect the Social Security earned over many long years. There are so many interesting projects to tackle, that his hopes of quitting work completely and getting "Space A" military travel. Thailand (?) etc. have had to be pushed back. It seems that fires and explosions keep on occurring that need skilled investigation and expert advice. So for a while, he probably won't get very far from San Antonio.

The angina pectoris reported last year has been no problem at all. Les always carries his nitroglycerine pills with him, but seldom has any need of use them. Which is as it should be.

As 1973 drew to a close, Polly had hopes of a 10 day charter tour of the holy land in February, but somehow or other the Arab-Israeli conflict effectively wiped that out. Then in March, she took Amtrak up to Kansas City to play at a wedding. For about a week, she had a ball, musically speaking. On the way home, she swung over to Columbia, visited Larry a few days, and finally came home via St. Louis, again by Amtrak. Polly likes trains far more than airplanes. As you'd expect, her musical activities have continued, though sometimes under difficulties. The first part of the year, she was organist for the chapel at Air Force Village, but then she picked up a bad case of flu on the Kansas City trip, got popped into Wilford Hall Medical Center to get squared away, and while she managed to get out of bed and to go out on pass a few times to play the organ, it just wasn't feasible to continue. The weekly 5 FU treatment lost its effectiveness, and trying to work out a new treatment required a lot of hospital time. For example, a trial of intravenous 5 FU drip treatment kept her at WHMC for 38 days. She felt good though, and halfway through, managed to get a 5-day pass to visit family and friends up in Tennessee, returning with more visits in Atlanta, Georgia. She's an out-patient now, still under treatment, and while the chemotherapy sometimes slows her down, you'd hardly notice it. Our next door neighbor's three children are taking piano lessons, and on Saturday's she plays the organ at St. Brigids RC church for the 6 P.M., mass, During the year her harpsichord was finished, and while Polly prefers her piano for most things, the little tinkle box gets a lot of exercise. Polly takes lots of pills these days, and spends plenty of time driving back and forth to WHMC, but aside from that things are about the same with her.

1973 found Larry reluctantly deferring his quest for a degree at the University of Missouri, and putting his military medical training to work at the Medical Center there. He's been at it a year and a half now, accumulating the necessary cash against his return to the academic struggle for that elusive sheepskin, He maintains close ties, though, particularly with the band, where he's still 'one of the family". He plays with them whenever opportunity knocks. When he's not playing the organ at Fulton, or getting himself well involved in a new radio show as producer, writer, engineer, DJ, etc., he's still to be found at 17Z3 W. Worley Apt, 6A, Columbia, Mo. 65201 (314) 445-4638. After all this time, the apartment is getting to be well settled and it really feels like home to him, Larry, though, is getting interested in public affairs and politics, even as a possible candidate for city council. If that happens, he wouldn't get much chance to stay home. Politics demands a lot of time, Larry had problems with his right ear while in the military service. When he was separated, only minor surgery could be done. Now, after a long wait, the VA caught up with the paperwork and the first of three major operations has been successfully completed. The doctors expect almost full restoration of hearing. The work, incidentally is being done at the Medical Center where Larry works. The VA hospital is part of the complex. While he's not on the job, he's sure staying close to it.

At least from what he says, Ed's year was pretty uneventful. Still at 4725 Boiling Brook Parkway, Rockville, MD, 20852, 770-7515 he continued his daily treks over to Annapolis making electromagnetic compatibility analyses for various pieces of military gear, When the gasoline shortages came about, Ed took a long hard look at his Ford LTD, and changed over to a little Fiat, that goes a lot farther, and probably just as fast on every gallon. He's always been a photo fan, and so he built himself a basement darkroom in the true do-it-yourself tradition. Les looked at it while on a quick trip to Washington last summer; it was a masterful bit of carpentry, plumbing, and electrical work squeezed into a very, very confined area. When Polly went to Tennessee in July, Ed hopped on a plane and flew down to be with her for a few days. He'd talked before about coming down to San Antonio, but Tennessee proved to be a lot closer.

Dan continued to teach at Jefferson Davis Middle School, and he kept on with his historical research. His original MS thesis was to have been on the black community of Kingsville, Tx. and now he is reworking his accumulated data into something usable. About 400 pages of typed copy have been done, with another 200 to go. At the same time, he's been updating his thesis on Shawn Phillips, titled Portrait of a Young Artist", Hopefully, it might get published. With seven years of teaching behind him, Dan is well established in his academic routine. Now, he's a real householder too. In June, he moved from a mobile home into a small house much nearer school...his address is now 137 Julia Helen, San Antonio 78222...phone (512) 333-7596. Whenever he's not home, his two Siamese cats, Archie and Mehitabel watch the place for him. In return, they ask only for lots of food and attention, which of course, they get. Dan got in a little travel this summer, keeping a watchful eye on Polly during her trip up to Tennessee, and getting reacquainted with Ed at the same time. Then, in August, he joined with some kindred spirits in a jaunt up to Indianola, Iowa for the National Hot Air Balloon races, With 159 balloons participating you'd expect Dan to spend some time aloft. He did, but not enough time to get him that coveted balloon pilots license. His aerial career has been in low gear for some time now. There just isn't enough ballooning around San Antonio to keep Dan occupied. Dan is about to be grounded for a while this month, Following Larry's example, but on a smaller scale, he's scheduled for a hernia operation during the Xmas holidays. What with Polly and Les being in the hospital at various times during the past few years, Dan has lots of experience as a visitor. Now it's his turn to be the visited. He'll probably learn hospital life has disadvantages too!

The four furry felines are still around, and continue to make life interesting. Kit, the white longhair, is about 13 now and is noticeably changing her habits. After all these years of independence, she suddenly discovered the joys of being a lap cat, and works at it with determination. Which is fine, except when Les sits down to read the paper. Then a contest of wills results. There's rivalry too...Taffy and Mai Tai used to be the lap cats...now it's a matter of who gets there first, with the loser stomping off in a jealous rage with appropriate sound effects. They like to sleep on the bed too. There may be a pattern on which cats sleep on which beds, but it's hard to figure it out, since they seem to stake out territorial rights every so often. Taffy has definite ideas on bed sleeping, she prefers the pillows, so sometimes she needs convincing that people come first in such matters.

Well, here's the end of Newsletter 74, and in all probability, it will be the last version to appear. It's been fun since the first card came out in 1941, and its acceptance has been gratifying. But it's also meant a lot of hard work, and now with retirement years of sweetly doing nothing, well, almost nothing, it's time to take it easier as promised earlier. We'll do our best to keep in touch with all of you.

230 Montpelier Drive
San Antonio, Texas 78228
(512) 734 0698

last family pic

dan (28) dad mom
san antonio

Newsletter 1973

A year ago, the appearance of Newsletter 1973 was promised as a definite maybe. Well, we made it, but this will probably wind up the 32-year series. The chances for Newsletter 1974 are awfully slim. It takes energy to get out a package like this, and energy is in short supply these days, particularly for the older members of this family! So, if it doesn't appear you'll know inertia finally caught up with the editorial and publishing staff! We don't say that it will happen, but it certainly is apt to. At least, that's what the crystal ball tells us.

As usual, Les was involved with a wide range of projects. The Air Force fuel vapor concentration study, a carryover from 1971 and 1972, finally appeared in report form, and the study on water spray as a defense against flammable vapor released was finally finished up. The current major task an unusual one, involved development testing of concepts for external fire protection of offshore floating nuclear power plants This is probably the most interesting task to have come along in many years It is so far outside the state-of-the-art that it represents a real challenge to figure out practical approaches.

Les, tho, is hoping to start slowing down in 1974, getting toward a less demanding way of life, Last December he found that some occasional chest pains were actually angina pectoris An occasional pill, as needed, keeps the situation under control. So, it in no great problem More of a nuisance than anything else! Just the same, he wants to enjoy a more leisurely life, hopefully to get in some "space available" travel via military aircraft. For example, to exotic Thailand. Ed's descriptions of the country made Les want to get there too Also, he hopes to return to Europe. The trip last year just whetted his appetite for sightseeing there Perhaps by next summer, a semiretired status will make this possible. In his spare time, he continues to stay active in ceramics and ham radio No painting for the moment. There's no space left on the walls to hang new pictures, and more than a few stored in the garage.

Polly, as you would expect, spent lots of time playing the organ at weddings and as substitute organist at various churches She's avoided permanent jobs, since they tie her down too much. She gave up teaching piano for just that reason. Polly loves to travel, For some years she's wanted to get back to Kansas City for extended visiting. So, her gadabout schedule this year was based on getting to the American Royal Stock Show there. The trip took two months in all, with over 3000 miles of driving, mostly around Kansas City. Most of this was before the energy crisis got to be a problem and gasoline in short supply. She left in early October and returned early December. Her next hope is for a 10-day charter group trip to the Holy Land which was scheduled for February 1974. That was before the war started What will happen to the trip is anybody's guess. If this doesn't materialize She'll probably come up with something else. While she wonders about it she can play her new harpsichord, now being assembled from a special kit by a musician friend. The movement is playable and the cabinet work almost ready for finishing. What with her piano, the little pump organ and the harpsichord, you can have almost any sort of sound you like. Polly has had her medical troubles. The cancer that grounded her in 1972 re-established itself and spread to the liver. An exploratory operation in June showed surgery couldn't do much for her, but chemotherapy might do the job. So now she's on a weekly dose of 5 FU. She feels good, and as far as we know now, the treatment is doing a good job. For a while she was hesitant about the Kansas City trip, but since she could get treatment in military facilities wherever she went, it was a completely successful affair. She felt good and really had a ball !

Larry had hoped to get his degree this year up at U of Missouri, but it didn't work out that way. Money became a problem, outside jobs a necessity, and now he's putting his army talents as a medic to good use full time at the University hospital. Hopefully, the few credit hours he still needs can be picked up part time in 1974. Let's hope he graduates at last and pleasantly surprises us all. Sooner or later, the day will come. His musical activities continue as an organist in Fulton, serving on the Commission as Church Music, and as a guest with the Missouri Band. He's rebuilding an organ for use in a new church building in Fulton. Larry has a new address now - 1723 W. Worley - 6A, Columbia, Missouri 65201. His phone is still (314) 445-4638.

After some hectic and exciting years, reported in the past few newsletters, such as his sojourn in Thailand and getting a Master's degree, Ed has settled down into a relatively humdrum way of life. On occasion, this happens to all of us. He commutes from 4725 Boiling Brook Parkway, Rockville, Maryland 20853 to Annapolis where he runs computer analyses on various Department of Defense communications problems. The radio frequencies around the world are so heavily used that the Electronic Compatibility Analysis Center (ECAC) is kept busy all the time to coordinate what is done, act as a sort of traffic cop, and try to keep all systems working. It's a real challenge, as Ed finds out every day. In his spare moments he's involved with two little theater groups, and discovering they are lots of fun. You can still reach him at (301) 949-3513.

Dan, still teaching at Jefferson Davis School here in San Antonio, finished his course work for an MA in History last year. The thesis, though, had still to be completed so during the late spring and summer he worked hard putting it together, draft after draft. The subject was unusual: "Portrait of a Young Artist. " It was the life history of Shawn Phillips, a rock singer ! Shawn, incidentally, is getting better known all the time. Finally getting it finished and accepted, Dan put on his cap and gown again, becoming a MA in August. Les just missed getting a ticket for speeding on the way down to Kingsville, but it probably would have been worth it! On paper, at least, he's now qualified to teach high school classes, although the prospect doesn't appeal to him. The middle grades seem to suit him very well. So why change? At least, until there's some good reason for doing so. Right now, he's well suited to his assignment. He finished his teacher's certification, too, getting this done in July. For years, Dan had a nice apartment not far from his school, but when the landlord sold the property he had to seek new quarters. The solution proved to be a mobile home on a private site out in the country. It's working out very well for him. The new address is Route I Box 366 EE, San Antonio, Texas 78223 and Dan's phone is (512) 633-0585. He's still active in hot air ballooning whenever the chance arises, although his thesis work somewhat limited his activity there last summer. Eventually he'll wind up with a balloonist's license, but getting the necessary flight time is a slow process, especially in somebody else's balloon. It's a sport heavily dependent on favorable wind conditions.

Some changes have occurred in the animal population. Buffy the cavorting cocker, had to be put to sleep in the summer because of a serious illness. For a while we had only the three cats, Kit, Ming and Taffy. Then a Siamese kitten was offered us as a replacement for Dan's cat Natasha, lost or stolen down at Kingsville last year. But, through a weird mixup, he found himself owner of two other Siamese kittens, named Archie and Mehitabel. A third cat was the last thing Dan needed, so we kept the kitten, naming her Mai Tai. Ming was full of mischief before. Aided and abetted by Mai Tai, things are never dull. It's like having a pair of monkeys around. If you think one Siamese can wreck havoc on a house, you should see what two can do! They seem to inspire each other in deviltry. Taffy has always been an oddly shaped cat, and with her bobbed tail she's somewhat unusual. This year, we were advised by the Vet that she's an American Manx. It came as a surprise, but there really is such a breed! Kit is more and more getting to be a sedate old lady which is not unexpected, since she's now around 12 years old.

Well, that's it for newsletter '73. Later than usual, but we expect it will get thru, at least before New year. And, if next December, a '74 edition doesn't come along, we'll do our best to reply to cards on a smaller scale.

The Egglestons
230 Montpelier Drive
San Antonio, Texas 78228
(512) 734-0698

dad, mom, dan (27)

san antonio

dad, mom, dan (27)

san antonio

Will this be the last newsletter? Perhaps yes, and perhaps no. After 30 years, with the family all grown up and scattered, there's a good logical excuse for wanting to lean back, relax, and simply enjoy life as it comes. So, whether or not a 1973 newsletter comes out will be mostly a matter of the Laziness Quotient (LQ) at the moment. If the LQ increases at the current rate, the chances of a '73 newsletter are pretty slim!

Les had a variety of projects cooking during 1972. One was a 1971 carryover, measuring flammable vapor concentrations from fuel spills and leaks in Air Force hangars. The results were 90 surprising and upset so many long-held notions that in September the work was extended to include tests on aircraft shelters in Germany. That was an eventful two-week assignment.

In his spare time Les managed to visit Frankfurt, Heidelberg, Mannheim, Worms, Mainz, Wiesbaden, and drive down the Rhine and back as far as Koblenz. Naturally he stopped to see the Lorelei Rock. On the way 'home he visited in England for a few days, spent mostly in sightseeing around London. He liked Europe and wants to get back and see more!

Early in the year Les was carrying out some tests on acrylic lenses for fluorescent lights under fire exposure conditions. During the preparations he walked into the bottom corner of a window air conditioner gashing the scalp. It turned out to be serious. Dizzy spells and uncertain gait plagued him, and he had to cut outside activities to the bone, including a pottery course at SAC. The doctors finally concluded that there must have been a brain concussion. The "dizzy-dizzies" wore off, but even as late as October kept on flaring up to plague him.

Probably the most interesting project was sponsored by a chemical industry group, evaluating the effectiveness of water spray for protection against large flammable vapor releases. A lot has been learned so far, but there are still many aspects to resolve and hopefully answers will be found.

Polly had a frustrating summer. She'd planned for a long stay in Europe, leaving Dallas for Frankfurt on 17 May, returning via Oakland on 30 October. On 8 April, however, she was rushed to the hospital with cardiac symptons. In a few days, cardiac troubles were ruled out, and a long series of lab tests begun. The diagnosis was gall bladder malfunction plus some yet to be determined complications. Finally, on 8 May she spent five hours in the operating room, Out came the ailing gall bladder plus a section of the sigmoid colon where a cancer had started. She was lucky that the gall bladder rang the alarm bell in time to catch the cancer !

Rescheduling the trip to Europe involved lots of compromises and guesswork on how fast she'd get back on her feet. After several postponements, though, she finally took off for Frankfort on 20 September to salvage what she could of the planned trip. After a few days in Munich, she went over to Dover via Luxembourg and France, just about the time Les got to England, catching up with him in London before he headed back to the U. S. After a quick swing around England, she returned to Munich to join a tour group visiting Istanbul. By then, it was time to go to Frankfurt and catch her flight for Oakland, but not before getting to see Heidelberg. In the States again, she flew down to Los Angeles, thence to San Diego, back north to Fresno, and north again to Portland, pretty well hovering the Pacific coast. From there she turned east via Amtrak with a stop in Livingston, Montana. The train took her as far as Minneapolis. The next travel was by bus, visits in lowa, and down to Columbia for several days with Larry at U. of Missouri. Finally, early in December she arrived back in San Antonio. It wasn't the six to seven month trip she'd first planned, but in view of her hospitalization, that 11 weeks was quite an undertaking!

After many long years and an extended military time out, Larry is now a Senior at the University of Missouri, scheduled to receive his degree next May. Naturally, he' s playing in the Marching Mizzou Band and will be at the Fiesta Bowl in Tempe, Arizona to cheer on those Tigers. He's also the organist in Fulton, Missouri so music keeps him well occupied. In his spare time he carries on student government activities as chairman of one of the committees. Larry spent the summer in telephone solicitation, and did well at it. For a while he managed a men's cooperative, but now has his own apartment

After Ed was released from his military service in 1971, he started work on an advanced degree at George Washington Univ. In 1972, plugging along with a heavy schedule in both Spring and Summer Sessions he received his MS in Computer Management just after Labor Day. The next month he accepted a job in Annapolis, working for the Electromagnetic Compatibility Analysis Center (ECAC), a division of Illinois Institute of Technology Research Institute (llTRI). So Ed has officially joined the ranks of the intellectual long hairs. For the present, at least, he is still in the Washington area, at 4725 Boiling Brook Parkway, Rockville, Maryland 20853, (301) 949-3515, car pooling it back and forth to Annapolis.

Dan still dispenses learning at Jefferson Davis Middle School in San Antonio and soaks it up in other locations. In the spring he picked up a sociology course at SAC toward his teaching certificates. Weekends he accumulated four of a required eight hours on the way toward becoming a licensed balloonist. When summer came, he headed down to Texas A&I finishing the work for his MS degree. All he needs now is to get a thesis written and put on his cap and gown to make it official. Just to make life interesting, he did a stint as a disc jockey in Kingsville and took part in a production of "The King & I." Back in San Antonio, part-time politics got some attention. Dan is the school's delegate to the Teachers Council, and he served as Election Judge and clerk in the May and November elections. He held the fort at 230 Montpelier while the regular occupants were in Europe, got himself a new 10-speed bike, and if his little black cat Natasha hadn't disappeared during the summer at Kingsville, the year would have been a completely happy one. He's living at 177 Bonair now, ( 512 ) 337 - 6430 .

No card would seem complete without a few words about the animals. No changes have taken place in the four-legged tribe. Buffy still bumbles around as the canine cut-up. Kit is still around, and as the years catch up with her, gets quieter and quieter. Most of the activity is supplied by Ming, a lovable but often obstreperous Siamese and Taffy, an always cuddly cat of

The Egglestons
230 Montpelier Drive
San Antonio, Texas 78228
(512) 734-0698
December 15, 1972

dan (26) dan mom

san antonio

A CHRISTMAS CHRONICLE FOR 1971

Thirty years have rolled by since the picture on the inside fold started off this series of do-it-yourself cards. It wasn't originally intended to begin a tradition, but time bas pretty much done that anyhow. Right now, being fundamentally lazy, I can't help think how easy it would be to go down to the friendly neighborhood stationer, come home with a stack of beautiful cards, and just mail them out. But then the mails start bringing in cards from all over, many with personal notes enclosed, inspired by this annual news missive. It leaves me no choice. I turn to the typewriter, wham away like mad, and, after much perspiration, am finally ready to get an assist from the printer. It's a big job, and once it's finished, I'm proud of it. The only problem is to scrape up enough energy to get started each year. Thirty years have been completed, but I don't think the series will last another thirty. Maybe we can stretch out the string for another 5 or 10 years. After that, I can afford to loaf the year around.

The year was a relatively uneventful one for Les. He finally finished the research on hyperbaric fire protection. Occasionally now he acts in a consultant role. The current contracts concern mostly the various aspects of fuel vapor releases and what can be done to reduce the hazard potential. As usual, this requires a lot of travel around various parts of the U.S. Art activities continued in high gear and several large acrylic paintings were finished. To improve his techniques, Les decided to enroll in a Life Drawing course. With two semesters completed, he has mixed emotions as to the results. Undoubtedly a little progress was made, but it convinced him that he had six left thumbs on each hand. After a normal days work, 3 hours of concentrated drawing standing up can leave you pretty well worn out. Right now the plan is to shift to a Clay Pottery and Sculpture course for the Spring Semester. Hopefully it shouldn't be much more difficult than glorified mud pie making. As was the case with painting, he'll probably wind up more clay on his clothes than the object being worked upon. At least though, Les had had a little preliminary practice as a mud dauber. During the summer, he took advantage of the local military base crafts shops and made quite a few ceramics pieces. Polly got in the act too, and with Les doing much of the dirty work, she wound up with a beautiful thirteen-piece Nativity set, plus lots of smaller things. Dan is now exhibiting the Nativity set at his school, complete with a creche whipped up out of scrap plywood. Thanks to retired USAF medical benefits, both of us got some body repair work done during the year.

Polly had had trouble with an aching leg for years, so finally she had a vein stripping operation that slowed her down for several months. That's not easy to do. She just has to be on the move. About the time she'd recovered, Les started some oral surgery to keep the dentists busy. That was a prolonged ordeal that meant little or no eating for a while. He lost 20 pounds, and there was a time when clothes draped on him like a scarecrow. It's a Spartan way to reduce the waistline and definitely not recommended to others. For some months, anybody who called him "Old Sorepuss" would have been telling the literal - and painful truth! At the doctor's command, Polly took it easy this year and let her leg heal up properly. Since she couldn't very well take any long trips in her customary gadding about the country, she decided to take some courses at the local junior college and learn how to play her cello properly. For years she'd fiddled away in community orchestras with a sort of hunt-and-peck method. It was a real struggle to change the old habits. At the same time, she started to learn to play a recorder. It sounds a lot like a peanut whistle with weird variations. For academic leaven, a course was added in Humanities. In her extracurricular activities, she sang in both choral groups. For some reason or other, Polly is always getting mixed up with organs. She was a substitute organist for 19 weeks early in the year, and now is playing the organ part in a performance of the Messiah at Randolph AFB close by here. Staying at home this year hasn't settled Polly down. She so enjoyed last year's trip to Europe that she actively plans to do it again in 1972, joining a local college group for a while as they tour Israel as part of a Bible History course. If all goes well and the devaluation of the dollar doesn't make it too expensive she hopes to be on her way as soon as her spring classes are over. Les will stay home; keep the home fires burning and the animals fed.

Larry has had a well scrambled college career. He returned to college in 1970 after many years in the Army, and this year got an unexpected business management education. The student co-op where he lived got into financial hot water, so Larry wound up a Treasurer. After a lot of hard-nosed work collecting bills, cutting expenses, and rehabilitating the house, he got the place back in the black ink side of the ledger, but it was a rugged experience. It's a shame he couldn't get course credit, for it taught him a lot about human nature and the value of a dollar. In what time he could spare he ran the stage lights for the Summer Repertory Theater, so it wasn't all work. Years ago Larry was a member of the Marching Mizzou Band. He is again and this was his fourth season. The football team, though, didn't do very well, with a sorry 1-10-0 record. The band, as always, was a winner but the gridiron boys never caught up. That took a lot of fun out of the games. We hear rumors that Larry goes to classes and passes courses with respectable grades. It must be so, since he says he officially qualifies as a senior in January 1972. Hopefully by the end of the year he'll finally get that coveted sheepskin. Address is Crest CoOp, 500 E. Rollins, Columbia, Missouri 65201.

Ed spent much of 1970 as a 1st Lt., Signal Corps, out in the boondocks at Korat, Thailand. In early 1971, the headquarters began to more into new quarters in Bangkok, so Ed got a good chance to see the big city. He liked Thailand and wanted to extend his tour, but with things being wound up in Southeast Asia, found himself headed back to the States in April. We enjoyed his tour in Thailand through the many beautiful things he mailed home. Once released from active duty, Ed came back to San Antonio for a while. Before long, it was time to head up to Washington, D. C. where he'd enrolled for an MS in Computer Management, starting in the Summer Session. Looking around for a Reserve assignment, he landed with an active group, and so had two weeks of duty at Ft. Belvoir between terms. Thus his military obligation helps pay the school expenses. Ed reports A's and B's in his courses so far, and has his schedule pretty well mapped out. By the end of the 1972 Summer Session he expects to be ready for the required comprehensive exam and the degree. Address is: 4725 Boiling Brook Parkway, Rockville, Maryland 20853

Dan, now teaching for his fourth year, is practically an old timer. In his third year at Davis, he expounds on Language Arts, Social Studies and Music to Sixth Graders. He even taught Art for a while on Saturday mornings! As usual, the summer was spent at Texas A&I working towards his MA degree. It's almost in sight now. Next summer should finish the job. As a pleasant sideline, Dan was in a production of West Side Story. Last year he spent a lot of time helping to chase and retrieve a 75-foot advertising hot air balloon. This year his persistence paid off. His first night came over Labor Day and with two more flights accomplished, he's had 3 1/2 hours of flight time. Les has been promised a flight, but so far it hasn't materialized. Dan's collection of high angle pictures of San Antonio from the air is growing rapidly. He takes a ribbing about doing well at teaching and ballooning because he's gotten to be a hot air expert. Dan gets over almost every Sunday so we manage to keep pretty well posted on his activities. Could it be he finds the cooking better at home? Address : 177 Bonair, San Antonio, Texas.

We started 1971 with Buffy, a blond cocker, Kit a white longhair cat, and Ming, a bluepoint Siamese. Life without them would have been dull. During the summer an orange colored waif turned up in a friend's back yard. Somehow or other, her tail had been almost cut off in an accident, and she was such a peculiar cat to say the least. But she was such a friendly little rascal that she was added to the domestic zoo. For obvious reasons, she had to be named Taffy...it suited her better than "yellow belly. " That made three cats in the house for Buffy to play with. In November, while the roof was being replaced as aftermath of a May hailstorm, Ming disappeared. The same afternoon we found her dead...apparently from poisoning, tho we'll never really know. The place she left just had to be filled, and now Ming II, a tiny Siamese kitten is hard at work as a replacement. How such a small animal can make so much noise and get into so much mischief is beyond all comprehension. They say a Siamese is half tiger and half monkey. Ming seems to be at least 75% monkey! Dan, too, got himself a kitten, a black bundle of energy named Natasha. When he comes to dinner Sundays. Natasha comes along. Kit thinks herself too dignified to romp about, but Taffy, Ming II, and Natasha have a ball. Four cats practically constitute a feline fiesta! It's a weekly cat race.

Well, that's it for 1971. Now I can relax from the duties of scribe, stretch out in my easy chair, and loaf until the passing of Thanksgiving and approach of Christmas 1972 puts me on the spot once again.

230 Montpelier Drive
San Antonio, Texas 78228

The 1970 News Review


This all started way, way back in December 1941. I'd just taken a picture of Larry and the dog in a bushel basket, and it seemed appropriate to use as an Xmas card greeting, especially with a blurb added about "putting all the Eggs in one basket. " Nothing more happened until 1947 when, out of uniform at last, card sending could begin again. Except for a lapse about 1955, when I was away in Aruba, the series has continued unbroken. It gets to be more of a production problem as the years go by and the boys are scattered around the country. Last year's group picture was just good luck that everybody was home at Thanksgiving. Even getting up-to-date activity reports isn't always easy when it must be done by mail.

As 1970 drew to a close, Les had been painfully reminded that he was inferior in the interior. So the local USAF medical specialists went to work to debug his problem and right after New Year's a cholosystectomy took place. That particular slice job is best known as a gall bladder operation. It hurts just as much by either name, and it sure slows a man down for a while. After those internal repairs and alterations were complete and convalescence over, Les dug with renewed energy into the problems of hyperbaric fire protection that had been taking up much of his time since the astronauts died at Cape Kennedy early in 1967. By the end of the year most of the headaches had responded to aspirin and hard work, a final report had been written, and a major effort about completed. Paralleling this work was a study for the Office of Civil Defense, dating back to 1968. This involved outlining a feasible defense system against nuclear attacks, with a hypothetical application at San Jose, California. So most of the 1970 travel was back and forth to the West Coast, helping to keep the airlines in business. The OCD project report was released in December, so two big jobs were finished up during the 12-month period.

That first painting in June 1969 really started something. Now, about 20 pictures later, wall space is at a premium. There are six paintings on the office wall. To date, none have been hung in the bathrooms or kitchen, but who knows what the future may bring? A few are oils, the rest are acrylics, including one inspired by that 1941 eggs in the basket photograph. Two were based on color transparencies taken on the beach at Guadalcanal way back in 1944. Art classes at night have provided the necessary guidance and a convenient studio to work in. The biggest problem seems to be that he gets paint all over his good clothes and has five thumbs on each hand.

Usually Les has been the family traveler, but 1970 found him a poor third in the rat race, both in mileage and remoteness of the places visited. Polly started the year with her usual musical mixed grill of concert going, a few piano pupils, substitute organist, and celloing in the orchestra. In June things started to happen. First she headed up to Buffalo by car and bus to attend an AGO (organ) convention. On July 16th, a plane took her to New York where she changed to another jet bound for London to begin a long summer in Europe. Traveling via Bristol, she went to Wales for a very pleasant week's visit and seeing the beautiful countryside. The next extended stop was Glasgow, where she looked at lots of castles, relived history, took many side trips, and attended a MacMillan family reunion. It wasn't easy for her to leave Scotland, but after about three weeks she reluctantly moved down to London as a new base from which to explore England. With so many things she wanted to see, and places she wanted to visit, the biggest problem was making a choice of what came first. A British Railpass eased transportation costs considerably, and she sure got around. Halfway through the London stay an opportunity arose to join up with a conducted tour on the Continent. She couldn't resist. A hectic action-packed week carried her by plane and bus to Switzerland, Italy, Austria, and into Bavaria where she saw the Passion Play at Oberammagau and the Oktober-fest in Munich. By the time she'd rested up back in London, it was time to plan for the trip home. Getting in the maximum sightseeing possible en route, she crossed the Channel to Belgium, looked around Frankfurt for a few days, then early in October, against her desires, climbed aboard the big aluminum, bird destined for New York.

There was no urgent reason to return to San Antonio immediately, so the trip south was leisurely, spaced by visits in New Jersey, Ohio, Indiana and Missouri, traveling in all deliberate haste. Polly was in a considerable dither when two pieces of her baggage got lost. Les got busy on tracer actions and eventually one turned up in New York, the other in Memphis. Both reached San Antonio before she did in early November. Plans for a return to England next year already occupy her thoughts. This first trip just whetted her appetite for more.

Larry finished up about seven years in the Army late in 1969, so 1970 found him getting readjusted to civil life. The year started with a bang! Les had hardly gotten out of the hospital from his operation when Larry came in one evening in sad shape. He'd been out hill jumping on a motorcycle. Bike and boy got separated. Once again it was proven that birds can fly, but when people try, the landing may be rough! A badly torn knee immobilized him awhile, but eventually he recovered and in April started to work on the 1970 Census as an enumerator. Apparently persuading people to use the right spaces on census forms is a real art, for Larry got a commendation on his work and was called back for supplementary surveys. All summer long he was acting Post Organist at Fort Sam Houston. Supplying wedding music, conventional or otherwise, was his specialty. In September the time came for a return to student life. Riding his trusty Volkswagen, he moved up to 500 E. Rollins, Columbia, Missouri 65201 to hit the books again and take his place once more with the Marching Mizzou Band. It's a good way to go to football games, even if TV often has a better view. Hopefully Larry will get that elusive and long-deferred sheepskin in the spring or summer of 1972. So far, his grades look pretty good.

Ed was the family champion in both local and long distance mileage for the year. Late in 1969 he was a 2nd Lt. SigC assigned to Ft. Monmouth, N. J. and shuttled back and forth to a defense plant near Washington as liaison officer on a research project. Around Xmas, he was alerted for oversea. duty in Southeast Asia, but the commuting continued right up to late April when he went to San Francisco via San Antonio and looked down at the Golden Gate en route to Thailand. Some 22 weary flying hours later the plane deposited him at Bangkok for a bus trip up to Korat, about a hundred miles to the north in the hill country. Ed was assigned to STRATCOM CCCCA, APO San Francisco, 96233, so we had an address for him but not until recently did we know much of what he was up to. It wasn't secret, but his letters were somewhat fragmentary. Obviously you can't run a complex military machine without good communications, and since Ma Bell stays home in her stateside kitchen, a comparable phone/radio network had to be established and operated worldwide to support the troops. Ed became a cogwheel in the Thailand portion. Something like that is a 24-hour a day operation, so he was quickly put on lots of shift work. Once he got used to the arduous and demanding schedule, he began to look around Korat, making friends among the Thais and seeing the sights, which are plentiful and interesting. At the moment, his base of operations is being moved to Bangkok. He's not happy about leaving Korat behind, but life in the big city should bring new experiences. Ed comments that his tour of foreign duty is becoming more and more both enjoyable and educational. If he doesn't get things done at first, he can always Thai, Thai again! (That gag just couldn't be resisted!)

Dan has gotten himself pretty well settled on the academic treadmill. He's in his second year of teaching at Davis Middle School here in San Antonio, with all his requirements completed for his certificate. That was done locally this spring by courses at Our Lady of the Lake College. The summer was again spent down at Texas A&I plugging away on his M. A. degree. The thesis will be about the history of the Negro community of Kingsville. Naturally, the summer wasn't entirely devoted to work. He had parts in two plays, one the ever-popular Gilbert & Sullivan musical, HMS Pinafore. Dan currently teaches Language Arts and Social Studies, and music is one of his responsibilities. Years ago, the schools offered reading, writing, and arithmetic. Rumor has it that they still do - after a fashion - but all the subjects have new titles, and you almost have to attend the class to figure out what's supposed to be covered! He's moved to a new address at 177 Bonair, closer to his school (78222), on a place large enough for his landlord to keep a hodgepodge of livestock. Occasionally Dan gets put to work as part time farm boy. That, too, is an education! He continues to enjoy politics as a precinct chairman and as a delegate to the Teachers' Council. His class studied the stock market and bought a share of stock as a practical exercise. He's even gotten mixed up with ballooning, helping to retrieve a 75-ft balloon used for local advertising purposes. So far, he hasn't flown in it, but hopes to soon, up at Austin where it's based. Les has ideas in that direction, too. It would be perfect for high-angle pictures of San Antonio.

As for the animals, Buffy, our blonde Cocker, went to obedience school all fall and spring. Now she can be made to behave if you put your mind to it. She has a mind of her own. They say that to train a dog you must be smarter than the dog. That must explain the problems we have. Last year, Kit was ruler of the roost, but now since Buffy is bigger and Ming bossier, Kit just lets them push her around. Within limits, of course. The other two roughhouse each other and have lots of fun, but Kit maintains her dignity. If there's a dowager type in the kingdom of cats, she qualifies as one. Ming is just an extrovert clown. What a character!


Well - - there it is for 1970. Wonder what next year will be like?


230 Montpelier Drive
San Antonio, Texas 78228

san antonio

dan 24, mom, dad

ed & larry living out of state

1969 Annual Report


Every year, I find myself in a fresh state of amazement that this serial has lasted so long. It could almost be classed with the TV soap operas, at least in endurance. The end of thirty years of cards is now just around the corner, and rumor has it that a few people still have many of them. Some can even read the small print without a magnifying glass! But continuing the tradition isn't as easy as it once was. The first card showed Larry sharing a bushel basket with our cocker spaniel of the time. He seems to have outgrown that basket, and it's one picture I couldn't re-make! Also, so much goes on with the five parties concerned that packing the news into the space available now requires pre-conditioning courses in a sardine factory. Perhaps we live at an increasingly hectic pace.

Once children grow up and scatter, the taking of complete family pictures becomes a real challenge. For the past few years, we were too widely separated. This year, it was a struggle, but we made it, just before Thanksgiving. The next day, Dan went to Houston, and Ed went to Dallas. The pictures, though, were on exposed film, and the only real problem was to select the best shot. No single picture ever flatters all five of us!

As usual, Les had a lot of travel, but for a change, all of it was inside the country. Much of his time was concentrated on the fire protection of hyperbaric chambers, an activity that began early in 1967. Atmospheres such as found in diving chambers and underseas habitats present a real problem with fire, for you can't escape readily, and most fire equipment is unsuited for use under such conditions. Learning how to provide fire safety is necessary if man is to successfully conquer 'inner space' ... the vast unknown of the deep oceans.

He had numerous other projects too, among them some systems analysis work for the Office of Civil Defense. A technical conference in June was held near Monterey, California. It is beautiful country, but cloudy weather spoiled some planned photography. As a result, he was horn-swoggled and bulldozed into trying to paint one of the scenes. To everybody's surprise, including his own, the result wasn't bad at all. Primitive, yes, and certainly the sort of thing that made Grandma Moses a byword among painters. After that, Les had no choice to continue, so he enrolled in an evening drawing and painting class at San Antonio College, and already has started to put his stuff on the walls. A second trial of his grandma Moses initial effort turned out pretty well. It will be quite a while, though, before he reaches the smock and beret stage. Right now, it's hard work, but it's also a lot of fun.

As usual, ham radio claims its share of time. Activity on the military MARS circuits keeps Les busy several nights a week. There was one interesting weekend providing communications for some sports car races, and finally the local radio club put him to work as an officer. Since his travel schedules preclude any regular attendance at meetings, they came up with a bright idea, making him Sgt. at Arms, with practically no duties at all. The local Cornell Club too managed to catch up with him, making him President for 1969. As with the radio club, the duties were light, most of the time.

In April, Les started to draw retired pay from the Air Force, with all privileges, including medical care. This is coming in handy. Just before Thanksgiving, he got to feeling quite inferior in the interior. The specialists are working on it now, and it sure is nice to be so adequately taken care of.

Polly started off the year, busy, busy, busy, with her piano pupils and the vocal studio. In April, Doris came from Buffalo, and the two went off for a week in Mexico City, followed by San Antonio's Fiesta week. But all this activity began to catch up with her, and by summer the doctor was feeding her sedative pills, to make her slow down for her own health. Since Larry was due for release from the Army in late summer, she waited until the separation date was finally set, then took off for New Jersey on a vacation trip plus visits that lasted a total of 7 weeks, to bring him back to San Antonio. Of this time, some 3 weeks were spent along the New Jersey shore, using Ed's house as a temporary home base. The travelers returned just before Thanksgiving. Now she's gradually getting into the swing of things, but at a more leisurely pace. Music continues as her major interest.

Larry started off the year with an airplane ride, homeward bound from TDY in Okinawa. Coming into San Francisco, he detoured d through San Antonio on the way back to Fort Dix. It was really his first trip home as such, for when Larry was here at Fort Sam Houston in 1962, Les was camped in an apartment. The rest of the family were still in Kansas City finishing out the 62-63 school year. Larry was due for release in May, but fate had some unkind surprises for him. First of all, his car was stolen. Without wheels, it's not easy to get around. Then his ears began to give trouble. Before he knew it, he was put on 'medical hold' status so his hearing could be corrected before discharge. Week after week went by with not much accomplished, and not until October was he processed for discharge. They never did get his hearing back to normal. He plans to go back to the University of Missouri in the fall of 1970 to finish up his degree. In the meantime he's relaxing as a civilian in San Antonio waiting to hear from the VA. After a few months, he'll probably go back to the New York metropolitan area and work in theatrical productions until the time comes to resume the scholastic life once again. He's been out of school since 1962.

As 1968 was drawing to a close, Ed's draft board was casting loving looks in his direction, Ed was fully aware of the situation, and not at all happy at the idea of losing several years of engineering usefulness in a non technical capacity as an enlisted man. After researching the Officer Candidate School possibilities, Ed ran across an obscure Army regulation that permitted direct commissioning of those possessing certain special engineering skills, which fortunately he possessed. So he applied in January, was accepted in February, and then began an intensive effort to finish R&D projects at LTV Aerospace before putting on the uniform. It wasn't easy! Late in April, Les swore in Ed as 2nd Lt, Signa] Corps. For two months at Fort Gordon, Georgia, the new shavetail went to school to get educated in the military way of doing things. Finally, in July, he allowed to US Army Electronics Command at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, assigned to a group with the impressive sounding mission of Combat Surveillance, Target Acquisition, Night Vision System Laboratory. Except for the first month or so, Ed hasn't been spending much time at Fort Monmouth. He's been shuttling back and forth to a plant in the Washington, D.C. area as liaison officer on a project under development there. The chances are good that by next spring, he'll have a tour of duty out in southeast Asia, Ed has a relaxed attitude about the whole business.

Dan began 1969 teaching English 11 at Brackenridge High School, helping with the band and taking an education course in a local college at night. Just for a change, like a postman taking a walk on his day off, he went back to Texas A&I for summer school. That added another BA in History and English (cum Laude), plus a start on his Master's degree. All summer long the San Antonio schools tried hard to keep up with the many HEW directives. Nobody knew what they would be teaching or where. In the final shuffle, Dan wound up assigned to a newly created junior high covering the 6th, 7th, and 8th grades. He has 120 pupils under his wing in language arts, social studies, and math courses. For a while, it was a problem to know what to talk about in what class. Until he got a routine established, he tied strings on his fingers to remind him which of the classes was which. (Dan of course denies this). It was a long haul across San Antonio to the new school, with lots of early morning traffic to fight, so Dan took an apartment nearby at 1226 Schley. By the end of the school year, he should be a pretty good cook and housekeeper. Aside from weekly trips home to use the washing machine, we don't see much of him. When his prowess as a chef warrants, we'll invite ourselves there for dinner!

There have been some changes in the animal population. Pixie, Polly's faithful black shadow got so feeble that life was just too much strain. So in January, just short of her 14th birthday she was put to rest in the garden. Several months later, our neighbor across the street called. Zeke was lying down on her lawn. What happened, we don't know, for there were no marks on him. Afterwards the house was so darn quiet that Polly got herself a blond cocker puppy. What a holy terror that mischievous little brat turned out to be! You forget how much trouble it is to bring up a puppy. We settled on calling her Buffy, and she's gradually taming down, tho still a self-willed charmer. Going to obedience school is on the schedule for her very soon, and she sure needs it. Ming and Buffy have a ball together, wrestle and chase each other all over the house. Kit stands for no nonsense from either, but on occasion they give her a hard time. Animals can present a lot of problems at times, but they certainly make life interesting.

ed (26) dan (23) mom larry (26) dad

san antonio

last picture with all 5 members present

The 1968 Story

In the 28 years that have elapsed since this series of do-it-yourself cards began, many things have happened. Wars have come and gone. We have moved around the country, living in 5 different states: New Jersey, Florida, California, Missouri and Texas. All three boys have grown up. So far, there's been a new picture every year. It seems that we look about the same every time now except for the animals, but the photograph actually is slightly different. Time leaves its marks. This year it was truly a do-it-yourself nightmare. With no neighbor handy to press the shutter, it had to be done by remote push-button. Ed had a raging toothache from an emerging wisdom tooth. Zeke, one of the white cats, couldn't be found till the picture was taken. Les and Ed had to take care of mechanical details. There were all sorts of distractions. All in all, this year's picture couldn't be considered a prize in photojournalism.

Les had a lot of travel this year, starting off early in January with work to do in New Orleans and Miami, enroute to Venezuela via Aruba. A lot of territory was covered there, including a strictly tourist side trip to the little-known Gran Sabana in the southeast. Trips like this
are an education in geography. It was early March before he came back to the States via Colombia and Panama. During late January, he snapped a delightful picture of a little girl
washing her clothes beside a small river in eastern Venezuela. It was so nice that a long-time family friend in New Jersey painted a big 24" x 36" copy in oils from the color print. Now the painting hangs beside Les' desk, a prized decoration for his office, and the envy of all who see it.

The perpetual report writing chores were hardly finished before April brought a series of technical meetings on the West Coast, and just about this time more foreign travel was scheduled. It was May before the arrangements could be completed, and then Les headed for Buenos Aires, stopping over in Lima, Peru. As he found out, that is a long, long airplane ride, but the scenery flying over the Andes was magnificent. On the return, he took pictures from the flight deck most of the way. In Argentina the meat is excellent and cheap, a regular paradise for a steak lover. Returning, Les had a short assignment in Jamaica, but it wasn't the island in the sun he hoped for. Just about then a long drought ended with plenty of rainfall. For Jamaica, you'd like less work to do, more time to do it, and beautiful weather. It didn't work out that way!

Back in San Antonio, HemisFair '68 kept all of us busy. Dan and Polly got to the opening celebration in April, and in June the radio amateurs held a national convention here which kept Les on the run as a member of the host club. The hams operated a radio station at the Fair ... WSSC... and every weekend Les was there helping out. Except on the MARS military circuits, his own call WASGOQ didn't get used much, except at some sports car races where the hams provided communications.

Ed came down for one of the races to help as a track official. Les covered the country by plane, bouncing back and forth, here and there during the last half of the year, on various projects. One interesting study was related to Navy's underseas program and concerned fire protection inside chambers operating at up to 700# pressure. The problem is peculiar, to put it mildly.

As a senior at Texas A&l, Dan had himself a year of glory. He got into local party politics, was President of the Math Club, member Student Council, selected to the Honorary History fraternity, member of the band and of the Music fraternities. They used to call this being a BMOC (Big Man On Campus). Maybe it is described differently now, but the idea is the same. For recreation, he and Polly took a camping trip to Big Bend Park at Easter. That's a really beautiful spot. In May, sheepskin in hand and a 3.2 scholastic record to be happy about, he began work on a second BA degree, teaching History during the summer as a Graduate Assistant taking courses as he could. It kept him plenty busy, but still he managed to participate in campus productions of "Oklahoma" and "My Fair Lady. " As the summer waned, he was approached by Brackenridge HS, of San Antonio, to teach Math, his major subject. He agreed, and after sweating out a deferment from his Draft Board, reported at the start of school. Suddenly the picture changed, so he found himself teaching 3rd year English. They say the world is full of surprises, and this illustrates it. It pays to be literate! Naturally Dan needed wheels to get back and forth, so he bought himself a tomato-can red Renault 10. It looks like an automobile, is almost as big, and is said to go miles on just the smell of gasoline. It squeezes into pint-sized parking spaces, and we still can't figure how Dan can get his long legs inside, yet have room left to squeeze more passengers. It reminds us of getting a dozen or so college students inside a phone booth.

As you might guess, Polly wasn't able to indulge her wanderlust and go on a long motor trip this summer. There were just too many of our friends and relatives planning to visit here during HemisFair, and so instead of leading a gypsy life during the summer, she stayed home. More accurately, she didn't get far from San Antonio, and many, many of her days were spent at the Fair touring the exhibits with our visitors. All those admissions were no problem, for we stocked up on tickets beforehand in the advance sales. Besides, Les had a gate pass because of his work at W5SC. It was a relief though when the Fair closed in October. Then Polly returned to her normal routine of piano pupils, playing accompaniments in a vocal studio, cello in the Trinity orchestra on Monday nights, and working with the children's' Symphony programs, being a part of the advance effort in the schools and garden club.

Larry started the year up at Ft. Dix where he's been stationed for a number of years. He got himself promoted from Specialist, 4th Class to Staff Sergeant, and now he's a real honest to goodness noncom in rank as well as pay. Larry has been working in Medical Supply, and recently began to look around for possible overseas assignments to round out his military experiences. Pretty much out of a clear sky, he found himself ordered to three months temporary duty in Okinawa to help clear up a supply problem. That was good news. Once before, he'd hoped to be ordered there. It is one of the better overseas stations. So off he went, and upon arrival bought a small motorcycle to explore the island. Just before October 31st, when he was due to return, in fact almost on the airplane, the tour was extended two more months. So right now, Larry is way way out in the Pacific, with return to be an end of the year proposition. Hopefully, he will visit San Antonio for the first time since 1962.

All through the year, Ed has been plugging away at Ling-Temco-Vought near Dallas in test work to make their A-7 fighter plane a better bird. It is already in service in southeast Asia. He has had his share of adventure in a foot loose, fancy free bachelor life. For example, a little old lady got him in trouble. She was 86 years old, as wide as she was high, and she came driving down the opposite side of a dual highway. Then she decided to make a left turn, and Ed just couldn't manage to get his Comet out of the way quickly enough. There is a limit to how fast
you can dodge! Thanks to a seat belt, he wasn't hurt, but the car had to be towed away, and now he's driving a sporty new Ford Torino. As any young man can tell you, women can be a real hazard, though you don't expect them to wreck your car for you. Along in the Fall, both Ed and Dan had to sweat out Draft Board actions. Dan managed to get a deferment, but since Ed has had occupational deferments since his graduation from Texas A&M in 1966, and also, since he is approaching 26, the end of his draft liability, his local board bas him worrying a bit, awaiting word on what they propose to do, one way or the other, As a highly skilled engineer, he is important to LTV. As a warm body, he is draft material. There is always the possibility that next spring or summer Ed might wind up in the military service, but right now the picture is still pretty vague. Who can guess the future? In the meantime, Ed does his job, carries on, and enjoys the fact that over half of the U. S. population is female. You are only young once.

Well, that's about it. It was a good year, all 52 weeks or 12 months of it, as you please, lived one day at a time. You get up in the morning and go to bed at night. You do what has to be done on the job, and then at the end of the year you discover when you look back that while many days were just routine, enough of them weren't routine so that the highlights read pretty well.

230 Montpelier Drive
San Antonio, Texas 78228

dan (22) ed (25) dad, mom
san antonio

1967 Newsletter

It's been twenty-seven years since Les produced the first in this long series of Christmas cards. Probably 20 out of the 27 have carried newsletters. A few years we used photographic cards, and printing a long letter on them just wasn't practical. During that period, the family grew, grew up, and now the boys are beginning to strike out for themselves in homes of their own. There were two wars, or was one of them just a "police action"? Maybe we should say three wars, to include this current conflict. But anyhow, it meant that each year about Thanksgiving time, the old man had to rack his brain for a card design, try to remember what had been going on for 12 months, then concoct a plausible story.

When you live in south Texas snow is a rarity. You forget that winters offer problems when Mother Nature gives you an overdose of that thick white stuff. Les went to a technical meeting in Washington in February. A blizzard hit the city, traffic came to a screeching halt, and most of the time was spent in a struggle to get back and forth. Later in the month, delivering a paper at an AIChE meeting in Houston, the weather was a little nicer. Starting in 1966, Les had been working on a system to detect and suppress explosions in the manufacture of aluminum powder. Just after the Apollo fire at Cape Kennedy, two airman were lost in a similar fire at Brooks AFB. Les participated in the investigation, and later when systems had to be evaluated for protecting men working in 100% oxygen atmospheres, his background in explosion work proved
extremely useful.

There's always home improvement going on someplace. Back in 1963 while Les was out of the country awhile, Polly had a contractor enclose the back porch with jalousie windows. This year, that space was remodeled. The outdoor shingles were stripped off, sheetrock installed, and new
doors put in. Now it's another room inside the house. It should have been enough work for the year, but the do-it-yourself bug had scored another bite. Les began to plot ahead for central air conditioning. Knowing that Polly and Dan planned to be away all summer, no overt action was taken until they left. That eliminated the sideline bosses. Then the fun began, or perhaps hard work would describe it better. Single-handed for the most part, a concrete slab was poured outside, the compressor unit set. Inside, the furnace had to be removed, the sheet metal ducting modified to take the chiller, lines run, controls wired, etc. Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. The neighbors helped with the heavy work as needed, and Ed came down one weekend to join in moving the furnace around. The whole job only took about two weeks, but there were many, many strenuous hours working in a sweltering cramped crawl space above the house. Once it was done, though, the trials and tribulations could be forgotten. Here in Texas where the summer sun gets over enthusiastic on occasion, central air is a real comfort.

While Les was laboring, Polly and Dan were headed north. This year, they drove a better car. The old '60 Valiant, after 97,000 faithful miles was definitely tired out. A long trip would have been risky. So the travelers fell heir to the '65 Dart, while Les got himself a brand new second handed '66 Dart. As in 1966, Canada was to be the target, this year at EXPO 67 in Montreal. The general idea was to rendezvous with Larry at Fort Dix, then all would go to EXPO. Unfortunately, he couldn't get leave at the right time. For three months and 16,000 miles the gad-abouts swung in a big loop up northeast across Tennessee to Virginia where they visited old Williamsburg, into New Jersey where they visited around a week or so, on up across New York at a snail's pace, and finally to EXPO 67. They said it was a marvelous fair. In case you hadn't heard, we should do pretty well ourselves in San Antonio next summer with HEMISFAIR 68. It's shaping up fast right now. After some post EXPO touring in Canada, the travelers angled down toward Buffalo, generally heading west across Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois to Iowa where they relaxed awhile. Dan had to be back at Texas A&I for preseason band practice, so in a few days they went down through Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and finally back to Texas.

Just about the time the travelers returned, Les had to take off on a 2 1/2 week business trip to the East coast. Shortly afterward, with just enough time to clear up the desk of interim accumulated work, he set off again for the West coast. This time the trip took 3 1/2 weeks. All this was good practice in how to live out of a suitcase and wait around airline terminals, but it sure took a lot of nervous energy and Les badly needed a rest afterward.

Larry is still at Fort Dix in Medical Supply, and has gotten up to Staff Sgt. His leave came through in late summer, so he went up to EXPO 67, returning across Canada via Buffalo to visit the family there. We can't figure out how he stays in the States. At various times he's been expecting to go to Okinawa or Viet Nam, but nothing has happened, and we've come to believe this is the normal confused state of the military life. If sent overseas, he promised to travel via San Antonio. Wonder if HEMISFAIR 68 will get him here? He has his headaches with car accidents, fortunately none serious. Such things are part of life in a metropolitan area. But there are compensations too. The army gave him a $275 award in October for a suggestion that saved them thousands of dollars in supplies every year.

Ed, working for Ling-Temco-Vougbt just outside Dallas, gets home on occasions such as when his father gets desperate at the piled up work. LTV builds the A-7 airplane for Air Force and Navy. Changes are always being made, and Ed is involved in instrumenting the necessary test work. There's been a lot of overtime, and Ed has also gone through training in various sections, so his time since he left Texas A&M in 1966 has been quite productive. In November, he finally managed to get away for a vacation, flying down to Acapulco, Mexico. Ed enjoys life these days. He's earning enough to be comfortable, and as a carefree bachelor can look over lots of sweet young things, appreciating their charms with a discerning eye. No entanglements are anticipated. He's strictly playing the field.

In San Antonio, Polly has pretty much a set routine of musical activities. Most of her time is spent playing accompaniments at a vocal studio though she has a few piano pupils at home. She still plays the cello in the Trinity U Community Orchestra, and does promotional talks in the schools for the children's concerts given by the local symphony. If and when any time is left over, she, like the postman walking on his day off, often goes to a concert.

Dan is now a Senior at Texas A&I at Kingsville. Playing in the band, he closely followed the fortunes of their football team, and when they wound up on top of the NAIA scramble, was proud as Punch. We know he attends classes, for we see his grades, which are excellent. We wonder, though, when he has time for them for he seems to be working hard to be a BMOC (Big Man on the Campus). He is in many student organizations, holds office in several, and when they pick delegates to go to conventions, seems to get the bid. One such trip last winter was to Minneapolis. Hurricane Beulah was headed straight at Kingsville this fall, and we had our misgivings as to Dan's safety. It swung a little to one side, and though the campus got thoroughly soaked, the damage was nominal.

As you can see in the picture, Zeke and Kit, the two white longhaired cats are still around. Usually they are docile for the annual picture, but this year they were anything but tractable. Maybe jealousy of Ming caused this. She turned up in October as a sick, miserable, homeless waif. It took a lot of care to get her back to health. Ming is a bluepoint Siamese, half way between kitten and little cat. Maybe little monkey would describe her better. She's almost five pounds of deviltry and affection, racing around the house at breakneck speed. How any one animal can get into so much mischief is a mystery. At first the other cats resented her, now they accept her as something to tolerate. Pixie still trails Polly around as a feeble black shadow nearly 13 years old.

230 Montpelier Drive
San Antonio, Texas 78228

dan (21) ed (24) dad, mom

san antonio

SIXTY-SIX WAS AN EVENTFUL YEAR

It would be easy to summarize 1966 for us in just a few words. Everybody
traveled but Ed, and even Ed didn't stay put. Late in 1965, alter several years of renting, we decided to sell the Kansas City house. It had been a wonderful house to live in, and we hated to see it go, but a property over 800 miles away can be a real financial headache to rent, maintain and manage. So a small army of workmen descended upon the place, put it in apple-pie order, and shortly after the beginning of the year a buyer turned up.

As a rule we all take minor sickness more or less in stride. One kept Les at home a few weeks in February, and then, just when he was about to return to work, excruciating pain landed him in the hospital. It was a kidney stone attack, and added to fly left him in low gear for a while. Fortunately, recovery was prompt enough to permit a trip to South America in April. This was a two-week assignment in Lima, Peru as instructor at a Security and Fire Protection Seminar. It was strenuous at times, but thoroughly enjoyable, and a real opportunity to get acquainted with Francisco Pizarro's ancient City of the Kings. Afterwards came a sightseeing trip to Iquitos, up across the Andes and over into the Amazon Jungle area. The high (?) spot was falling into the Nanay River and banging up the camera a bit. That Nikon F needs shock absorbers! Last year, it was dropped on the ground at Cuzco. Some primitive Yagua Indians were seen, still hunting with blowguns and curare tipped darts, but no shrunken heads in evidence. Perhaps all the head shrinkers went to the USA to practice psychology!

On the way home, a short stopover was made in Bogota, both for business and pleasure. Colombia is a nice place to be. Then back to the states, well laden with Xmas gift purchases. Les had so much baggage that it was worthwhile to go via Los Angeles to avoid an overnight stopover in Mexico City and the extra Customs involved. Early in the year, the big radio project was erection of a 50 foot antenna tower and beam antenna system. Ed and Les have a lot of monkey blood, so the actual erection went smoothly. Late in May, disaster struck. A freak wind storm hit San Antonio, the guy wires were snapped like so much string, and as Les looked out the back door in horror, the tower folded over in less than a minute, a lot of expensive junk filled the yard. Not until late November was the bulk of the damage repaired. The beam is still in pieces! May was a bad month. Les invited a chunk of money from the sale of the house in blue chip stocks. The bear market this summer left them black and blue chips! Like lots of others, we got hurt!

All this time, Ed was racing down the home stretch at Texas A&M, enjoying the fringe benefits of being a senior, including interviews for a job after graduation. Polly and Dan, were planning for a bit of travel. Hopefully, Larry would drive down for Ed's graduation, then all three would go gallivanting. Dan finished school at Texas A&I the 26th. On May 28th, everybody went over to College Station. Polly and Dan continued north. Larry didn't get his leave in time. What a trip! They were away three months, covered 31 states, three Canadian provinces, and put I5,000 miles on the speedometer doing so. First they ambled leisurely up to Fort Dix, New Jersey where Larry, stationed at the Field hospital, managed to get a furlough. He made Sgt. in March, and had just re-enlisted. The bonus helped him get a new red Plymouth Fury. From there, all three continued generally north, way up to Nova Scotia. The next target area was Kansas City, via Buffalo, traveling in zig zags to visit as many people as possible. Larry wants to make Kansas City his permanent home, so there were lots of things for him to do there. Eventually his leave time grew short, so the Fury dashed back to New Jersey. The long trek continued, back in the Valiant. It was anything but a race with time. The dauntless duo meandered over the northeast, visiting and camping as they went, recrossing their trail four times. They got as far north as Minneapolis, then turned generally south via Kansas City. When they finally straggled into San Antonio, plans were already in the making for the summer of 1967, this time to cover the Western states. Since Dan will graduate in 1968, and the HemisFair will be in San Antonio, they reasoned this would be their last good chance to go gadding.

In early June, Ed packed most of his things and moved to the Dallas area to start a new job with Ling-Temco-Vought. He works at the Grand Prairie plant, which is building the Navy A-7 fighter bomber. Our new electrical engineer is assigned to Ground Support instrumentation. Home for him is a shared apartment a few miles away in Irving. After bullying Polly's old Plymouth into operation the last year at A&M, he wanted better wheels. Now he's driving a brand new second handed Comet. Ed enjoys grown up life with his own home, his own car, a steady professional assignment and the knowledge that he's at last on his own feet. But back in San Antonio, Les feels the pinch, now that his highly skilled "slave labor" is no longer around.

Polly and Dan weren't the only travelers. For several years Les had planned to attend his 35th Class Reunion at Cornell. Originally, it was to be a leisurely vacation trip but it didn't work that way. There was a lot of business to be taken care of, so the scheduling was a bit on the rugged side. Early in June, after a flying trip to Norfolk to attend a meeting, he jumped in the car and begun to drive, but not in easy stages. There were many miles to cover, stops to make, and not much time. By midweek though, he was with his classmates, knee-deep in nostalgia for a few days. It was hard to figure why he felt just like a recent graduate when most of the class showed so much wear and tear! Reunion over, the Dart was headed toward the New York-Philadelphia
metropolitan area where he concentrated on business. Then came a long haul out to northern Wisconsin, across Iowa, down to Kansas City, and finally south to San Antonio, arriving on the 4th of July. It was a rugged three weeks and 5,900 miles! There were high spots though, that made it all worthwhile. For the first time, Les traveled with two meter FM radio in the car. Mobile ham radio is a real thrill and a help too.

Down at Texas A&I, Dan is getting to be a practical politician. He was elected Secretary of Alpha Phi Omega, and is going to Minneapolis during this Xmas vacation for their National Convention. He's VP of the Young Republicans in this area and swears that the recent resurgence of the GOP is all his work. These college juniors really get to be big wheels around the campus. Dan continues to play in the A&I band and got to lot of football games that way. They hope to go to the New Orleans Mardi Gras next Spring. That would really be a grand occasion for the band.

Polly continues at the piano. Until May she played every day at a nursery school, but gave it up because it was such a long drive across town. Now she's concentrating on her accompanying work, a small group of piano pupils, and playing the cello in the Trinity orchestra. A few weeks ago, Larry reported he had been upped to Staff Sgt. An overseas tour is in prospect, and he hopes for Okinawa.

The animals? Still all with us. Pixie is getting deal and shows signs of age, but the cats have more than enough pep for all.


230 Montpelier Drive
San Antonio, Texas 78228
1 December 1966

SIXTY-SIX WAS AN EVENTFUL YEAR

It would be easy to summarize 1966 for us in just a few words. Everybody
traveled but Ed, and even Ed didn't stay put. Late in 1965, alter several years of renting, we decided to sell the Kansas City house. It had been a wonderful house to live in, and we hated to see it go, but a property over 800 miles away can be a real financial headache to rent, maintain and manage. So a small army of workmen descended upon the place, put it in apple-pie order, and shortly after the beginning of the year a buyer turned up.

As a rule we all take minor sickness more or less in stride. One kept Les at home a few weeks in February, and then, just when he was about to return to work, excruciating pain landed him in the hospital. It was a kidney stone attack, and added to fly left him in low gear for a while. Fortunately, recovery was prompt enough to permit a trip to South America in April. This was a two-week assignment in Lima, Peru as instructor at a Security and Fire Protection Seminar. It was strenuous at times, but thoroughly enjoyable, and a real opportunity to get acquainted with Francisco Pizarro's ancient City of the Kings. Afterwards came a sightseeing trip to Iquitos, up across the Andes and over into the Amazon Jungle area. The high (?) spot was falling into the Nanay River and banging up the camera a bit. That Nikon F needs shock absorbers! Last year, it was dropped on the ground at Cuzco. Some primitive Yagua Indians were seen, still hunting with blowguns and curare tipped darts, but no shrunken heads in evidence. Perhaps all the head shrinkers went to the USA to practice psychology!

On the way home, a short stopover was made in Bogota, both for business and pleasure. Colombia is a nice place to be. Then back to the states, well laden with Xmas gift purchases. Les had so much baggage that it was worthwhile to go via Los Angeles to avoid an overnight stopover in Mexico City and the extra Customs involved. Early in the year, the big radio project was erection of a 50 foot antenna tower and beam antenna system. Ed and Les have a lot of monkey blood, so the actual erection went smoothly. Late in May, disaster struck. A freak wind storm hit San Antonio, the guy wires were snapped like so much string, and as Les looked out the back door in horror, the tower folded over in less than a minute, a lot of expensive junk filled the yard. Not until late November was the bulk of the damage repaired. The beam is still in pieces! May was a bad month. Les invited a chunk of money from the sale of the house in blue chip stocks. The bear market this summer left them black and blue chips! Like lots of others, we got hurt!

All this time, Ed was racing down the home stretch at Texas A&M, enjoying the fringe benefits of being a senior, including interviews for a job after graduation. Polly and Dan, were planning for a bit of travel. Hopefully, Larry would drive down for Ed's graduation, then all three would go gallivanting. Dan finished school at Texas A&I the 26th. On May 28th, everybody went over to College Station. Polly and Dan continued north. Larry didn't get his leave in time. What a trip! They were away three months, covered 31 states, three Canadian provinces, and put I5,000 miles on the speedometer doing so. First they ambled leisurely up to Fort Dix, New Jersey where Larry, stationed at the Field hospital, managed to get a furlough. He made Sgt. in March, and had just re-enlisted. The bonus helped him get a new red Plymouth Fury. From there, all three continued generally north, way up to Nova Scotia. The next target area was Kansas City, via Buffalo, traveling in zig zags to visit as many people as possible. Larry wants to make Kansas City his permanent home, so there were lots of things for him to do there. Eventually his leave time grew short, so the Fury dashed back to New Jersey. The long trek continued, back in the Valiant. It was anything but a race with time. The dauntless duo meandered over the northeast, visiting and camping as they went, recrossing their trail four times. They got as far north as Minneapolis, then turned generally south via Kansas City. When they finally straggled into San Antonio, plans were already in the making for the summer of 1967, this time to cover the Western states. Since Dan will graduate in 1968, and the HemisFair will be in San Antonio, they reasoned this would be their last good chance to go gadding.

In early June, Ed packed most of his things and moved to the Dallas area to start a new job with Ling-Temco-Vought. He works at the Grand Prairie plant, which is building the Navy A-7 fighter bomber. Our new electrical engineer is assigned to Ground Support instrumentation. Home for him is a shared apartment a few miles away in Irving. After bullying Polly's old Plymouth into operation the last year at A&M, he wanted better wheels. Now he's driving a brand new second handed Comet. Ed enjoys grown up life with his own home, his own car, a steady professional assignment and the knowledge that he's at last on his own feet. But back in San Antonio, Les feels the pinch, now that his highly skilled "slave labor" is no longer around.

Polly and Dan weren't the only travelers. For several years Les had planned to attend his 35th Class Reunion at Cornell. Originally, it was to be a leisurely vacation trip but it didn't work that way. There was a lot of business to be taken care of, so the scheduling was a bit on the rugged side. Early in June, after a flying trip to Norfolk to attend a meeting, he jumped in the car and begun to drive, but not in easy stages. There were many miles to cover, stops to make, and not much time. By midweek though, he was with his classmates, knee-deep in nostalgia for a few days. It was hard to figure why he felt just like a recent graduate when most of the class showed so much wear and tear! Reunion over, the Dart was headed toward the New York-Philadelphia
metropolitan area where he concentrated on business. Then came a long haul out to northern Wisconsin, across Iowa, down to Kansas City, and finally south to San Antonio, arriving on the 4th of July. It was a rugged three weeks and 5,900 miles! There were high spots though, that made it all worthwhile. For the first time, Les traveled with two meter FM radio in the car. Mobile ham radio is a real thrill and a help too.

Down at Texas A&I, Dan is getting to be a practical politician. He was elected Secretary of Alpha Phi Omega, and is going to Minneapolis during this Xmas vacation for their National Convention. He's VP of the Young Republicans in this area and swears that the recent resurgence of the GOP is all his work. These college juniors really get to be big wheels around the campus. Dan continues to play in the A&I band and got to lot of football games that way. They hope to go to the New Orleans Mardi Gras next Spring. That would really be a grand occasion for the band.

Polly continues at the piano. Until May she played every day at a nursery school, but gave it up because it was such a long drive across town. Now she's concentrating on her accompanying work, a small group of piano pupils, and playing the cello in the Trinity orchestra. A few weeks ago, Larry reported he had been upped to Staff Sgt. An overseas tour is in prospect, and he hopes for Okinawa.

The animals? Still all with us. Pixie is getting deal and shows signs of age, but the cats have more than enough pep for all.


230 Montpelier Drive
San Antonio, Texas 78228
1 December 1966

san antonio
dan (20) dad mom ed (23)

230 Montpelier Drive
San Antonio, Texas 78228
The '65 Gossip Column

Theoretically it's easy to write a news letter. All you have to do is summarize what everybody has been doing for the past twelve months, then wrap this up with corroborative details contrived to lend literary verisimilitude to what could easily be a bald and uninteresting narrative. But it isn't quite that simple. We all live a day at a time, and casting back for a year means cudgeling the memory a bit. This has rewards, though, for once the chore is done, you can realize how much has happened. Writing isn't the only problem. The camera hasn't been invented yet that can come up with a group photo with the principals widely separated. With Larry in New Jersey and Dan and Ed away in school, you do the best you can at Thanksgiving, hope for the best, and process film in a hurry just in case you have to repeat the process. The animals don't help either. Last year we had to borrow a neighbor's white cat in a hurry to complete the ensemble! Zeke had wandered off while the camera was being set up.

As you'd expect, Les was the first of the family to travel, starting in January a trip to Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh on business. Polly wasn't far behind though. She had enjoyed her trip to Monterrey, Mexico so much in 1964 that when a chance came up in April to fly down with an old friend from Iowa, she didn't hesitate for a minute. It was quite a flight, for San Antonio was fogged in when her plane returned. She had an extra ride to Nuevo Laredo and a bus trip back to San Antonio.

Just about then, Les was asked to go to Columbia and Peru, the same sort of mission in bolstering fire defenses against terrorist activities that took him to Venezuela in '63 and '64. This involved two months of intensive travel and hard work, but fortunately a few days here and there could be spent in tourism. For instance, there was a week at Cartagena, the famous walled city of the old Spanish Main. This was the principal target of pirates and buccaneers back in the days when galleons were carrying the treasures of Peru to Spain, and Fort San
Felipe, a massive stone citadel testifies as to what defenses it needed.

There was a quick trip to Barranquilla, and way up the famed Magdalena river valley. Another trip took Les up to Neiva, where bandits have menaced the countryside for many years. They still are a constant threat. The next part of the indoctrination travel was an airplane hop over to Lima, Peru, followed almost immediately by a move to the Talara oil fields in the extreme north. Years ago, Francisco Pizarro marched over this same barren coastal desert before striking up into the Andes in his conquest of Peru. After a concentrated tour of the area, the next jump was to Mollendo, the southernmost seaport. traveling by plane to Arequipa, thence by car. Arequipa was a fascinating old colonial Spanish city, and had almost recovered from the disastrous earthquake of a few years ago. Then came a chance to take a breather and use some vacation time. Immediately Les headed for Cuzco, the old Inca capital and Macchu Picchu, the lost city of the Incas that Hiram Bingham rediscovered in 1911. Enroute to Cuzco. you fly at 20,000 ft. in an unpressurized plane with the aid of oxygen tubes. The snowcapped Andes are a magnificent sight!

So far every step in Peru had been an education in history. More was to come. A final swing up north by plane to Chiclaya. returning by car gave a chance to see the Chimu ruins of Chan Chan, near Trujillo. This was an adobe city covering about 9 square miles, with an estimated population of around 100,000 people. Farther south. a quick stop was made at the old Inca coastal fortress of Paramonga. This was a tightly scheduled trip. The car went right to the airport, and Les took off for the return to Bogota, where report writing plus local sightseeing for three weeks left him limp and exhausted. The plan was to return via Los Angeles and loaf a few days before taking up the routine again. Les got there all right, but fatigue plus some "walking flu" got him down. So he dragged himself back to San Antonio to rest up.

In the meantime, Dan had been busy in his freshman year at Texas A&I. January saw him on the Dean's list for scholarship, and the next month, being in an academic frame of mind, he went to work in the college library as serials clerk. This didn't seem to chain down his wandering feet. though. February he went to the George Washington Day parade in Laredo with the Band, and in March they toured the Rio Grande Valley, including a trip to Houston. All this travel put ideas in his mind. So he and Polly decided upon a trip to Mexico City. As soon as school was out. the two of them joined a tour group from A&I, driving over to Laredo to ride the train. That was an eventful week for both of them. Polly discovered Mexico City to be a fascinating place where Spanish is useful, but not absolutely necessary. They visited some pyramids, went to opening night at the opera, and learned some geography first hand. Dan, as his mother's interpreter, found his Spanish mighty handy and something that added a lot to the trip. They've promised themselves another trip when it can be worked out. After all, there's a limit to what you can cover in a single trip! Only a few days after returning from Mexico, Dan was off again, this time by chartered bus to Los Angeles with the A&I Band. They played at the Lions Convention there, and managed to take top honors of the 35 bands in their class.

Aside from a few weekend home trips from College Station, Ed didn't get much travel until school closed. Then he went up to Garland, Texas (north of Dallas) as a construction laborer. It paid well, and put him in wonderful condition, but about all it could teach him was that living away from home costs a lot of money. So in midsummer, he came back to San Antone as an electronics technician at Southwest Research Institute. Not only did he learn a lot, but he was available for chores around the house, helping his father. One such project was to complete a 2 meter rig that Les had had under construction for some time. Another was to repair and rehabilitate an electronic counter. This represented a real challenge, but Ed was successful in making it work. He also raided the junk boxes and crammed all sorts of parts, sardine wise, into a very small box winding up with a good transistorized stereo amplifier. The cost was negligible. Ham radio got a lot of attention during the year. Early in the spring, Les got a single sideband receiver kit (SB-300) and liked it so well that by summer he was ready to order a matching transmitter kit (SB-400), so the two could operate tied together as a transceiver. At first the transmitter wouldn't work, hut eventually Les and Ed, mostly Ed, got the bugs out. Now it's a pleasure to operate. Sometimes Les is on 3 MARS traffic nets at the same time, which is a bit strenuous. Up in Kansas City, Ed had a Novice amateur license, but it expired. In September he and Dan for license conscience so now Ed has a Technician ticket and is WA5NZO. Dan is a Novice, WN5NZP. He hasn't any equipment yet, but hopes to arrange something at school. Ed will use the big transmitter that Les replaced, operating on MARS frequencies. That will help a lot in maintaining contacts between College Station and San Antonio.

After the hectic first half of the year, things slowed down awhile. We all baked in the blazing San Antonio sunshine, retreating when necessary into air conditioned comfort. Les concentrated on the research projects that had been set aside for the trip to South America. Then the tenant of our Kansas City house wrote he'd been transferred and would have to move. Les and Ed were well tied down so Polly and Dan drove up to Kansas City to start arrangements for selling the house. We found a lot of rehabilitation and painting was needed, but luckily we had a very capable and trustworthy neighbor who did a marvelous reconditioning job. It cost a lot, but when Les saw it in November, it looked marvelous. Now all we need is somebody to buy it. That chance to see the Kansas City house, incidentally, was incidental to a trip to the West Coast to observe a 40 acre test fire up in the Sierras, near Mono Lake, California. It promised to be an interesting mass fire experiment, but the weather man wouldn't cooperate. California was hit with a record heavy rainfall, the mountains were covered with snow and cold wet slush, and the test had to be called off indefinitely. So for all practical purposes, Les had traveled thousands of miles to accomplish little or nothing. But you can't win all the time.

Speaking of travel, Les got a new Dodge Dart in September. Air conditioned. of course for here in San Antonio, summer driving can resemble a session in a fiery furnace. Naturally. Polly took over the '60 Valiant, and for a while we thought of trading in her old 53 Plymouth. Finally we passed it on to Ed. . . as a Senior at A & M, we figured he'd have sense enough to use the car intelligently. We've been pleasantly surprised. He's continued to keep his nose on the academic grindstone, so the car is used relatively little.

Back in Kansas City. Polly played her cello quite a bit. After coming to San Antonio, it stood in the corner unused until by chance she began to play with the Trinity University Orchestra. She's getting back into her piano work too, playing 3 days a week as accompanist for a vocal studio. And 2 days a week, she plays the organ and piano at St. David's nursery school. The net result of all this is that Polly keeps happy and Les often has to cook his own supper.

Up at Fort Dix, Larry is far enough away so that he's not easy to keep track of. His basic activities as an Army "pill roller" apparently have been centered on supply and administrative chores, and since you can't run an army without lots of paperwork this resulted in a promotion to Specialist 5th Class about Thanksgiving time. He draws the same pay as a Sergeant, but isn't classed as an NCO. The original plan was to return to civilian life in November. but the war clouds changed all that. His enlistment was extended until next May, and who can guess what will happen then? After 33 months with the Fourth Field Hospital, he's more of a fixture than the electric lights! But, with luck, he'll be out next fall and return to Missouri as a junior. Dan will be a junior too, so the time may come when we have to go to two graduations at the same time but 1000 miles apart! We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. but he sets a high standard indeed.

When Les gets home and sits down to read the paper, Zeke hops up. stretches out on Les' chest and rubs his furry head against the whiskery chin close by. He just loves to nuzzle. So far, Kit is a wee bit standoffish, but always manages to stay close where the can see everybody. So the house. . . at least until such time as they tire and curl up for a nap.

Last year the Egglestons got one member into MENSA. this ivory dome high IQ society. The count is up to three members now. So far. we still haven't figured out any really good reason for joining, except to prove that it's possible to qualify. Still, there are some fine people in the San Antonio group and the meetings are most interesting.


Well. that's about it for 1965. It's been an interesting, sometimes a hectic year. More is in store for 1966, and come next year, the newsletter will tell you all about it.
Happy New Year