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
