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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

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

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 substit

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 M

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

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

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 Illinoi

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

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

san antonio ed (22) dad, mom, dad (19)

WE LOOK ONCE MORE AT SIXTY-FOUR It happened again! In spite of all good resolutions to the contrary, the annual newsletter didn't get written until well into December. Even though the year is pretty well along by December 1, the spirit of procrastination dies hard... It's so darned easy to put things off a few days at a time. Ideally, any annual effort should be written as of December 31st, and dreamed up some six weeks in advance by liberal use of a crystal ball. Then the printer and the mailman would have plenty of time to do their respective parts well before Xmas. But crystal balls seem to be of plastic these days, and give confusing results. So the literary dilemma of covering a year a bit early is still with us. What was the year like for us? Well, as you might guess, Les got in a lot of travel, covering quite an assortment of geography. It started in February, with a return to Venezuela, where he spent a month. En route, he stopped over in Mexico City, and was greatly impressed by that bustling metropolis. Venezuela was quiet compared with 1963. The political terrorism abated after the December elections, and so he was able to get in some interesting side trips on weekends. One was to Mérida, high in the Andes, where he rode the highest teleférico in the world, reaching up to over 15,000 feet. It was a scenic marvel. On another trip he got deep into the Motilone Indian country on the west side of Lake Maracaibo. The next trip was by car in April. Sis came down from Buffalo for Fiesta Week so, to start things off, we three drove down into Mexico, swinging around through Saltillo and Monterrey. Sis came back loaded with souvenirs! Fiesta is always a big occasion in San Antonio. Then followed another trip out to Stanford, attending a technical meeting. It was a busy, interesting week. For several months there were only a few trips around Texas, but late in July business took Les to Pittsburgh, Pa., and Niagara Falls, N. Y., so he was lucky enough to see all the improvements at the Falls and visit the folks in Buffalo. The honeymooners who never got to see Niagara Falls back in the days when it was a Mecca for newlyweds, would certainly be surprised today. Back in 1959, Les attended a Foam Symposium up on Campobello Island, where he was a guest at the Roosevelt cottage. August took him there again, but this time the cottage bad been turned into a national monument. Those at the meeting all commuted from the Maine shore, using a new International bridge. This particular trip was highlighted by hours of tired, aching feet - the result of weekends en route spent at the World's Fair. The Fair is a tremendous spectacle, and well worth while, but it sure is a physical challenge. There's so much to see, and usually so little time to do it in. About this time, our Kansas City tenants decided to move to a larger house. The place was quickly re-rented, but it was obvious that some long-deferred maintenance should be done at moving time. So, just before Labor Day, Ed and Les drove up with a car full of tools, plus 3 kittens to deliver in KC. That was a week of nightmare. It involved carpentry, electrical work, masonry - even putting in a new steam boiler. The two labored from early morning until late at night, fell into bed exhausted, only to repeat the pattern the next day. When they got back to San Antone, it was all like a bad dream. But just the same, they'd worked miracles in fixing up the house. There was another quick trip up to Pittsburgh in October. Quick means on short notice, for often these days air travel is anything but quick. You spend hour after hour in air terminals waiting in frustration for a relatively few minutes aboard a plane en route. Ham radio has kept Les pleasantly distracted during the times when he wasn't off on a trip. A big vertical antenna sprouted in the back yard and a beam was stuck on the roof peak. It didn't stay where it was meant to. One morning when Les was in Venezuela a guy wire parted and the beam collapsed with a mighty thud that shook the house giving the banana plants a new kind of f

Newsletter - 1963 Just about the time the last agonized turkey gobble is heard, another kind of cooking-up begins. It's the Xmas card project, and invariably there's some storm and strife getting everybody together for a picture. This year we did better, using an August photograph. But you can't write about events before they occur, so the newsletter is a last minute production that takes a lot of memory racking. Eventually a design is clipped, patched and pasted together. As always, the printer seems to work a miracle from the crude copy we hand him! The year started off badly. Mother Eggleston died early In January after what was thought to be only a slight illness and Les rushed up to Buffalo for the funeral, getting there just ahead of rapidly deteriorating weather. Afterward, a howling blizzard set in, accompanied by subzero weather. When the skies finally cleared, he moved on to shiver in -19 F weather in Chicago. In March business took him to Atlantic City and Washington. After his return that month, Polly came down from Kansas City and spent ten long days house hunting. Finally, the right place turned up and a signature placed on the proverbial dotted line. April is Fiesta time in San Antonio and the activities are hectic. They include a river parade, a big day parade, and a torchlight parade. Along in May, Les moved his bachelor quarters to the new house, using a few sticks of borrowed furniture. He tried to grow corn in the garden but soon found he was no farmer. The crop was a flop! As usual, there was travel - a quick trip to Chicago. June war moving month. The Kansas City house was rented rather than sold. Les drove up to expedite things dragging a trailer behind him, which came back to San Antonio well laden. What a night. Everything happened in July. Early in the month ALA (American Library Association) published the book on library fire protection that Les had done so much work on during 1961. Then Creole Petroleum asked him to come to Venezuela on a consulting contract; as soon as details were fixed up, a mad race began to get unpacking and settling done before the August departure date. Venezuela was an interesting experience. Much had changed since the last visit in 1956. The contract was split into two phases, the first of which was completed just before Thanksgiving. After three months in an atmosphere of political terrorism, it was good to return to the States even though the arrival was clouded by President Kennedy's assassination. En route, two days were spent in another old stamping ground, the windswept island of Aruba north of Venezuela, one of the Netherlands Antilles. Ham radio war a big help during the year. Les used his Station WA0BRQ to keep in touch with Kansas City, and the hams there obliged by running phone patches. After the new house gave him a permanent address, he was assigned WASGOQ as his call. It didn't get much service from August to November, but down in Venezuela. Les was regularly talking to the States on YV1CM. Larry put on Uncle Sam's uniform last November. After basic training at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri, he came to Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio where they turned him into a Medic (better known as a pill roller). That was January to March and Polly got to see him once during her house hunting excursion. From Fort Sam he was lucky enough to get his preferred area of assignment and is now a PFC with Serial #RA 17 646 388. He is sweating out promotion to Corporal and can be addressed at 4th Field Hospital, Fort Dix, New Jersey, Zip 08640. Here his principal job is as a clerk. Perhaps they needed help in counting those pills. Ed was in Drury College up in Missouri as the term began last fall and had just discovered to his evident astonishment that going to college is a serious business requiring both study and hard work. So he belatedly dug into his books and just missed getting respectable grades but, when he applied to Texas A & M, it was most strongly and pointedly suggested that he go to summer school to get 2 good grades, thus offsetting 2 not-so-good ones. A word