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A word for you on '62 About the time turkeys begin to wonder how soon the ax will fall, the Xmas card recap becomes order of the day, it always seems that you never realize how much has gone on in the past 12 months until you start to knit the loose ends together. Some years Les seems to travel more than others, this was one such year. Early in January he started with a trip to Chicago, a final conference on the book about library fire protection which he co-authored. Its publication by the American Library Association has been delayed several times, but there's still a good chance the 'Protecting Library Resources" may be rolling off the presses before the year closes. In May, a two-week assignment took him back to Regina, Saskatchewan, with a swing over to Winnipeg on the way home. The stay was long enough to justify taking the car, so the little Valiant had its first taste of Canada. Consulting firms have their ups and downs. Like all other businesses and in July this unfortunate economic fact caught up with Les. Some contracts didn't materialize as hoped, so job hunting had to substitute for engineering as an essential activity. As the result of many letters back and forth, plus two trips to the West Coast (via military aircraft, naturally!), it looked for a while as if California might have another settler, but that land of smog and taxation wound up in second place. In September, Les accepted a position as Senior Research Engineer in the Fire technology Section of Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. It wasn't easy to Leave Kansas City. It's a wonderful place to live. The decision came after school arrangements for the year had been set up, so the family is staying in Kansas City to finish school. Les set up a Texas bachelor apartment for the interim period. So far, he has resisted the urge to go native and buy him a ten-gallon hat and cowboy boots! In San Antonio the research projects proved to be most engrossing. One concerned the supersonic commercial transport to fly in 1970-75, the other covered a study of conflagrations by using small scale models. There are high hopes that a useful invention may result from the model project. The idea looks good if it can successfully be demonstrated as feasible. The trips continued - Washington and New York in October; New York, Boston and Washington in November; San Francisco, Seattle and Portland in December. They make a good way to get back to Kansas City for unexpected weekends there. Two weeks of active duty in March in Kansas City were followed by a two-weeks electronics refresher at Keesler AFB, BiLoxi, Mississippi, On July 1, that long-awaited silver leaf arrived! It's nice to be a Lt. Col. Once again, in August, the uniform was donned for a two-week unit encampment of the 8581st Recovery Group. So Uncle Sam's Air Force got its share of attention in 1962 - a full six weeks in uniform. As communications officer, there was an implied obligation to acquire practical knowledge in the field. After many hours of code practice, Les got up to 13 words per minute, passed an Amateur General License and received the call signal WA0BRC. This was in March. A kit type transmitter was purchased but many obstacles slowed down progress, so not until September in San Antonio did WA0BRC get on the air. Les operates single sideband phone, mostly 40 meters when he can find time. Contacts have been made all over the country. The rig really gets out. Larry had a frustrating year, and probably wishes 1962 could be erased from the calendar. The nervous trouble that plagued him at Gettysburg in 1958 and forced his withdrawal, put him on the skids at Missouri so that in February, history repeated itself. Again he had to abandon the student way of Life. Larry knows his way around an organ, though, and was offered a lump sum contract to remove an organ in sad repair from one building, recondition it and install it in a Columbia church. It should have been a quick job. It wasn't. delay after delay dragged it out until in May a phone call from his roommate at Columbia said Larry wa

in KC Mo Ed (19) Dan (16) Mom Larry (22)

1960 ln Small Doses Christmas comes only once each year butt with all its blessings arises the problem of what to do. about a card. This year things were complicated by the fact that Les was in Detroit and Larry in Columbia at picture-taking time. Wonder when phones will be wired for TV. Last December, Les was just: starting some fire safety work in the Detroit schools. It turned out to be his major effort for 1960. In mid-February a field headquarters was set up in Detroit and from then on he got only occasional weeks at home. Those weeks were strenuous, preceded and concluded by an 800 mile trip with the little red "tomato can." All the work, though didn't concern school fire safety. One interesting assignment was to conduct a one day session at Oklahoma State University. Another was to investigate an accident which damaged a reactor vessel en route to an atomic power plant near Omaha. Other jobs involved exotic fuel applications. That '59 Hillman was driven hard. It figured in a minor traffic scrape at Paxton. Illinois in April and was convincingly run into in Detroit in June. Maybe it was too small for some drivers to see. As it approached 40,000 miles Les decided it could be honorably retired, so he got a blue Valiant in September. Surely that would be big enough for anyone to see! A month later, somebody clipped the front fender. Guess the only place for a car is home in the garage. The book "Engineered Hydraulics in Fire Protection" was at an almost complete standstill during 1960. Most of the major rewriting and expansion started in 1959 was complete early in 1960 but the Detroit work took so much time and energy that something had to be neglected, so the critical editing and the putting on of finishing touches had to wait. At home the house was pretty much neglected except for the most urgent repairs. Even those were done with a lick and a promise. The Hi Fi took less effort and was upgraded to a new high quality turntable, stereo amplifier, stereo tone arm and multiplex adapter. All these were built from kits While that takes work, it has the same sort of fascination found in putting together a jigsaw puzzle. With Les away Edward had a heavy load of maintenance chores much of the year. He has gotten to be a good electronics trouble shooter and with many radios around he has had plenty of chances to keep in practice. If anyone had to predict what Polly might be doing in any given year, he'd be safe in saying she plays the piano. In this, 1960 was no exception. She continued playing for the boys and the girls choirs at St. Andrew's and substituted at Gregory Methodist in the summer for two weeks. She played all year at Notre Dame de Sion, at Southwest and began to play some at Barstow School this fall. To this was added some ballet playing at the Y as well as playing the eight o'clock Communion service once a month. In the spare hours, she continued with Cantata Singers and covered the state contest with Southwest High School as well as hearing many concerts. Larry spent most of the year working at the Main Library. Gradually the nervous knots of 1959 began to ease up and he started back into the scholastic routine at KC Junior College. By summer he was feeling like himself again and he registered at the University of Missouri as a history major. During the summer, Larry substituted as organist at Oak Park Christian Church. When he got to Columbia, he found a need for an assistant organist and choir master and with all this, he still manages to spend enough time with his books to get good grades at MU. He became one of the marching band on clarinet and his tooting took him to many football games including some out of town trips. Having watched the big team do well, he is about to fly to Miami for the Orange Bowl. Edward is enjoying his Senior year at Southwest and is getting mostly good marks. Sometimes he meets trouble in numbers, but he fights back. His trumpet does a good job now in band and orchestra and this year the school band did well in their marching. Maybe Ed's previous ROTC experience helped... In the

Once the Thanksgiving turkey is eaten, the year is about over, except for Christmas. Getting ready for that crowds everything else out, so for newsletter purposes, the year can be reported before the calendar says it's time to do so. As usual, Les got in quite a bit of travel. It started in January. The '52 Chrysler was drinking gas at 6 mpg, so it was traded in on a new Hillman- Minx 4 door sedan, bright red with gray trim. Les took delivery at Houston, Texas, then swung over to New Orleans for a few days of balmy sunshine as a short winter vacation. Coming back to work refreshed, he dug into the boron fuel fire research program, where after a long series of frustrations, a breakthrough finally came. The job was successfully completed in May, and an Air Force Technical report appeared in November. The little car was a big success, even though a collision put it in the repair shop awhile. The police report blamed the other driver, whose insurance company paid all costs. The travel highlight of the year was a trip to Eastport, Maine. The event was a symposium on foam, and Les described the work done for the Air Force. Meetings were held on Campobello Island; the hospitality was outstanding. The Roosevelt cottage, now owned by a well known New York art dealer, was next door, and Les lived there for several days. The house is to become a memorial soon. In 1958, his book, "Engineered Hydraulics in Fire Protection" was looking for a publisher. It still is. John Wiley and Sons came close to accepting it, but couldn't be sure of enough sales. Now it's being completely expanded and rewritten to include considerable new material, so in 1960 the search for a publisher will resume. Les is finishing the year by driving his little red "tomato can" to Detroit for a few weeks of school fire safety surveys. The tragic fire in Chicago really woke up a lot of people. There were a number of interesting fire and explosion investigations during the year. That sort of job is like a "whodunit' except that it's "whatdunnit" as well, and there's no obliging author to supply answers on the last few pages. The house didn't get as much attention as in previous years. In June, the back yard was roto-tilled and planted with Zoysia to get a good tough lawn. It didn't take too well. We hope that next summer it will. Walls were chopped open to install a laundry chute. Upstairs a closet was coaxed into yielding enough previously useless space for a built-in chest of drawers and linen cabinet. The mess was horrible, but eventually cleanup, plaster, and paint restored the status quo ante, and Polly's good nature with it. Bit by bit, the hi fi was changed. First came a stereo tuner kit. Then a stereo preamplifier and control kit appeared on the scene. Later on, a second amplifier was added. The next step was to be a record player with stereo arm, but the old TV quit working, and a new set took priority in the budget. The old set will eventually be patched with chewing gum and hairpins as a second TV for use when the family disagrees on what program to watch. Larry was hoping for a tape recorder, but got tired of waiting and bought his own. Year after year, Polly seems to spend more time at the piano. Last year she played for the boys' choir at St. Andrews. This year she added the girls' choir. At Southwest HS in the spring she played for rehearsals and performance of Carousel. This fall, she did the same for the Revels, a variety show. In between she played for many students in various competitions. At the start of the school year, she played full time for a few weeks at one school to help out. Now she has several days every week at a private school plus paying for special occasions. As relaxation, she sings in the St. Andrews' adult choir, and is Secretary and Librarian for the Cantata Singers, a carefully selected group with high musical standards directed by Dr. William Lemonds. When she can find time, she studies organ with Dr. Lemonds. In the spring, just to keep things interesting, she had Pixie bred, so that 4 puppies were underfoot awhile. For a lit

A QUICK LOOK AT 1958 Time marches on. Nothing ever seems to happen, but when you pause at the year's end, there are lots of nice things to remember. As usual, Les crisscrossed the country several times, covering east, west, and the gulf coasts, together with his share of the interior. The long trips were by plane, but the 1952 Chrysler, comfortable as an old armchair on wheels, did its fair share of miles. On one trip, taking Larry back to school, we were side-swiped - so now Les is considering a trade-in on one of the small foreign cars He wants something he can park without driving around the block forever looking for a big enough space. Life at the office was interesting. Just after New Year's, a good friend from Venezuela, Walt Bitterling, dropped in for a visit. He and Les had a great time reminiscing about life in that oil-rich country. In March, a suite of shiny new offices was completed. Les coordinated the move to 15 E. Gregory Blvd. The summer air-conditioning was wonderful! During the early part of the year Les finished a book, "Engineered Hydraulics in Fire Protection." Now comes the problem of getting it published. Ever since last May he has been busy on Air Force research...how to put out fires in the new and exotic high energy boron fuels. The vapors are toxic, even in very small concentrations, as he found out on several occasions. One effect, he swears, was hearing beep signals at odd intervals. It was just like being tuned in on a satellite! During 1957 the house got a lot of carpentry and electrical work. In 1958, attention was primarily directed to the cellar. About 3/4 of the rough stone walls were veneered over with smooth patio block. A shower and bath were installed. Most of the water piping was replaced. The laundry area was put in first class condition, a badly needed improvement. A darkroom was constructed in one corner, and though not finished, it was far enough along to be used to develop the negatives for the photo on this card. During the summer we scraped and burned off a lot of flaking paint Then Larry painted the trim a light green. We couldn't finish the whole house before he had to go back to school, but at least everything that shows from the street is covered. Polly picked the paint color and acted as slave driver to keep the boys on the job. She's been busy with her music all year. The spring was especially a busy one, with accompanying for music classes at Paseo HS every day, sandwiched in with playing for rehearsals of "Pirates of Penzeance" at Southwest HS. This fall, she's concentrating on her work at Southwest HS, and playing for the choirboys at St. Andrews church. She's also accompanist for the Xmas programs at Barstow School. Occasionally she pinchhits as substitute organist. Club activities take a lot of time. The schools have Tooters Clubs in support of their musical groups. Polly is President of the Border Star Tooters Club, and a director of the Southwest HS Club. With all this to do, she dashes here and there in her little Plymouth, but still keeps 6421 Washington on a more or less keel, turning out a lot of meals and laundry for her menfolk. In her spare time last month, she collected for United Funds, the Kansas City community chest. Mother came for a visit Columbus day and stayed until just after Thanksgiving, helping us cook and eat the turkey. Just as she got back to Buffalo, the first of New York States' proverbial winter weather started. The plane landed at Rochester, duplicating its performance from last year's visit. She had to backtrack by bus. Getting a picture with Larry in it is a problem. When he's around during the summer, we never think of Xmas cards. By November we realize Gettysburg is a long way off, It sure would take a big telephoto lens to do us any good! He's 18 now, a sophomore majoring in History. He likes AF ROTC, and made airman 3rd class. It might be a career, for he is seriously thinking of AF Chaplain work. He played clarinet in the Gettysburg marching band again this year. That meant a band camp a week before school opened. The football bo

Christmas 1957 Writing a newsletter is a surprising sort of thing. You don't realize how much has happened until you stop for a moment for an inventory of twelve months' living. It was a year when everybody covered a lot of mileage - even the dogs and cat. Les started it off with an active duty tour at Keesler AFB, away down in Biloxi, Mississippi. Don't let anybody tell you January down South can't be cold! Shortly after, he had another tour at Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, Ohio. It was a little bit warmer, but still wintry. Then he went off to Kansas City to start a new job with a young and progressive consulting firm, U. S. Fire Protection Engineering Service. Temporarily, he took an apartment in a residential hotel, the Brookside, but for several months he traveled a lot, lived out of a suitcase, and saw the apartment only long enough to receive mail and replenish the laundry. Repeated trips to the East Coast, the West Coast and the Gulf Coast, mostly on Air Force business for the firm, kept him busy until mid-summer. Then Polly took a quick trip to Kansas City, and they bought a brick and stucco house, gabled in Old English style, located on a quiet elm-lined street. The house gave Les a lot of work - most of it electrical, getting the wiring in convenient form, but carpentry and plumbing were involved, too. A good abbreviation for do-it-yourself is "labor". Sandwiched in between the work on the house, Les got himself elected a full Member of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers. Then in September he began to review for the Professional Engineering registration examination at Jefferson City in early October. The after-effect of the two-day session was a feeling like collision with a steam roller, but with reasonable certainty of passing. Right now the principal job is writing up a study of hydraulic calculation procedures, intended for publication as soon as the plentiful rough edges can be smoothed off. While Les was madly dashing around the U. S., Polly was engaged in a smaller sort of rat race back in New Jersey, politely known as real estate. She did manage to sell one house, but it was hard work. In May she came out to Kansas City and fell in love with the place, which isn't hard to do. After the new house was selected, she headed back East to wind things up. Fortunately, the house in Roselle Park sold - just as they were getting discouraged. Moving then was just a matter of time. Early in July, the moving van arrived, laden to the hilt. Polly and the boys took their time arriving, visiting all the way out, and camping so as to squeeze in a little extra vacation. The arrival was hectic. One wheel was about to fall off the trailer. Polly got so badly mosquito bitten the last few days that she was completely a mess! After recovering sufficiently to start unpacking, she plunged into all sorts of activities, So far she has gotten involved in playing in a cello trio, two orchestras, playing for choir rehearsals at St. Andrews Episcopal Church, stand-by organist, joining the American Guild of Organists, two PTA's, and two Tooters clubs for school bands. Occasionally, she complains that she gets tired! Laurie was man-of-the-house for the first part of the year back in New Jersey, and after coming west dug in as a wiring expert, doing so much that It left his father slightly incredulous. In his final year at the Pingry School, he was student organist and Glee Club accompanist. Now the "Cadaver" is off to Gettysburg College. Wonder what new nickname will attach itself to him there? He's playing clarinet in the band, bassoon in the orchestra, viola in quartet, and at long last, is getting the good grades we've been looking for all these years. For recreation, he plays the college organ at Chapel for meditation. Edward is now officially a freshman at Southwest H.S. (mentioned in "Time" as one of the Nation's 38 outstanding schools. It makes him work, and since he came down with flu, just as school started, the handicap has been rough, The school has an ROTC unit. Pvt. Edward, in his gleaming buttons, is quite the mili

1956 IN REVIEW The year started off with lots of family and company combined. Our cousin Frank Caldwell and his Hawaiian wife Emily sent us a Christmas card from nearby and ended up living with us for several months. The high spot of the visit was when Frank drove down to Florida to bring back Emily's daughter Ilima and her three small fry. While Ilima danced hulas with the Ringling circus tour, Mahailani, Kaikili, and Keavi, ranging from 3 l/2 down to l 1/2, kept us busy and amused. Emily and the children were photographed for a Newark newspaper story. In January, Les had two weeks reserve duty in Ohio at Wright-Patterson AFB. While returning home, a collision in a sleetstorm at Harrisburg mashed up the front of the car and put him to bed for a week of misery. Shortly afterward, a business trip took him to Venezuela for a month stopping at Aruba enroute. At Easter, he was in the Andes amidst 16,000 ft. glacier capped mountains. It was a wonderful experience. As school closed and summer approached, all but Les went to Band School in Roselle. He finally got to attend the 25th reunion of his class at Cornell. Next, mother came visiting, and the boys ate pie every day. When she left, she enjoyed her first plane ride. After a few weekend campouts, we had a lightly sprinkled two weeks jaunt among New York and New Jersey campsites. Priscilla Allen Barb and daughter Wendy joined us camping Labor Day weekend. This year we added a dining fly, which was nice, and a new tent that is super. A roof and side curtains on our luggage trailer added a lot to our out-of-doors comforts. Even the hornets at one campsite didn't spoil things. For a while we thought Edward was a permanent 2nd class Scout, but hard work in the woods completed his tests, so a 1st class badge adorns his chest. The Junior High Band includes his trumpet tooting, and after school a paper route pays for his toys and candy bars. He did, however treat himself to an electric blanket . Larry is a Senior at Pingry and Glee Club accompanist...organ and piano. He plays viola in an informal string quartet meeting weekly. AtBand School, he studied bassoon. An instrument has been loaned, and he hopes to be in an orchestra soon. Daniel had Drum at Band School. He now is learning the French horn which seems to come easily for him. His practice begins to sound authentic. While splashing paint on the cellar walls this fall, some got in his eye. It was a bad alkali burn. Both we and the doctor were worried. Our best Thanksgiving word was that his sight was undamaged . This has been a major appliance year for us. Les and Frank hooked up a new electric stove in January. When Les returned from Venezuela in April there was a Hamilton clothes drier in the laundry. In August the deep freeze quit. Getting a new one in the cellar was an undertaking! We had to knock a hole in the rear wall, change the old for the new deep freeze, then restore the wall. To make life interesting, the wash machine got tired too. Now we have a new automatic. Some years you hardly can catch your breath in between times! Right now Les is putting ceiling tile in the cellar. The hard part - moving pipes and wiring is done. Polly stayed out of the hospital this year, much to everyone's delight. Now she is in real estate, and around the clock we hear theword about houses and mortgages. So far, no sales, for her clients all seem to run into a snag getting mortgage money. At least, though, she moved out of the jalopy class. The beaten up 1937 Chevy has been replaced by a nice looking 1953 Plymouth. Mother came down again this fall, but didn't stay long enough. When cold weather approached she began to worry about the furnace back home. When spring comes again, we'll be looking forward to seeing her with us once more.

1955 in Review. The past year was busy and eventful for all. Les spent Xmas of 1954 in Aruba, going on to Venezuela via Trinidad in January. Early in April he came back home and dug into all the jobs that had accumulated while he was away. By the end of the summer, the house had been painted white, with yellow trim, and soft blue outline for the window sills. We put in aluminum windows, and Les constructed a winter storm enclosure for the porch, complete with a swinging door for the beasts. They really loved that! In May he had 2 weeks of reserve duty at Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, Ohio. Then in September after long, long years of hopeful waiting was promoted to Major. October took him to Venezuela again, this time only for 2 weeks. Polly had more than her share of troubles. in '55 with two trips to the hospital. Things looked bad in June, but all turned out well and now it's a thing of the past. The doctor threatened to use zippers on the incisions if things didn't improve. He must have scared her. She got better quick! Les did yeoman work for a while as cook, kitchen drudge, and woman of the house. It was a doggy 12 months. We were given a black female cocker early in the year who presented us with a beautiful litter of puppies. A car ended Pixie's life, but her jet black daughter took over the name and now keeps Buffy company. She is now going to Obedience school and doing nicely. The cat joined the family last year. as a kitten was named Peter. Now it appears it should have been Petra, but the old name stuck anyhow. Pete and Pixie have friendly boxing matches. Buffy joins in. but is apt to nip too hard and start a chorus of yelps. Larry, Laurie, or "Cadaver," depending who is speaking, is a Fifth Former at Pingry School in Elizabeth. Translated, that's a High School Junior. The nickname is from school, suggested by his long lean sparsely padded frame. Last summer he learned all about paintbrushes. Now he's getting some know-how on house wiring. One of his studies is Spanish. Because of the time Les spent in Venezuela, conversations at the table have a Latin American flavor. The rest of the family have learned to be good guessers. Edward is struggling with Junior High School. riding his bike downtown. We gain the impression he is having a rough time, but so are the teachers, for his southpaw scribbles are a challenge to unscramble. Things should shake down soon. He toots a trumpet in the band. is a Scout Patrol leader, and almost ready for First Class. Daniel is still very very blond and seems never to stop talking. He is doing well in the 4th grade. but he too has the family lack of legible handwriting. Being a Cub scout keeps his spare time well filled. Some time ago Polly got an old jalopy "just to go to the store" when Les has the big car off on a trip. That darned store had branches all over the eastern half of the country, and the first clunker, a '38 DeSoto finally was steered to the junkyard to be replaced by a '37 Chevrolet. In spite of age, it fills a need and runs well most of the time. We took to the woods last summer. Les picked up a homemade luggage trailer, and after repair and remodeling, it hauled our camping gear on a leisurely zig zag trip up through New England to Laurentides Park, then back to Quebec, over to Montreal. then home via the Adirondacks. Hurricanes Connie and Diane pelted us with rain but eventually we dried out. Now plans are for a bigger better trip in '56. Mother visited us twice during the year, and shared our turkey at Thanksgiving, when the picture was taken.