1958
Avalanches and Arab terrorists notwithstanding, Jane and I made it back from a wonderful two-week ski vacation in St. Anton, Austria, in one piece. We only had a day and a half of sun, but that was made up for with some of the best and deepest powder snow I have ever seen, at times over our knees. Despite the haunting memories of some of my bachelor past we really enjoyed that Austrian "gemütlichkeit." Our return trip was somewhat extended due to a 350' wide, 25' deep avalanche which closed the Arlberg Pass and turned a threeand-a-half-hour trip to Zurich into a fourteen-hour train ride on a sealed train through Germany around the Alps and back into Switzerland. The tight security at the Zurich airport had us a little tense and made very real the terrible situation in the Middle East.
We were very pleased that John and UttaFisk and son Sascha could join us. They are living in Paris in a penthouse apartment which occupies the top floor of a parking garage. John is thoroughly enjoying his law practice in that city. He has put on a fair amount of weight since I last saw him, but then many in St. Anton were heard to say that "he skis quite well for a fat man (no offense meant). We were very impressed with Sascha, who at the age of two is trilingual, understanding English, French, and German, as we make futile attempts to learn German. Enjoying a little schnapps in the adjoining picture is your scribe and Frau Jane, and John and Utta Fisk and son Sascha.
Among the accomplishments of the trip, we proved that Eastern "hard-pack" skiers can learn to ski deep powder, both heavy and light, and that one can dance in Lange boots.
Catching up on some of the back .mail the supply of which is dwindling rapidly, I received the annual Dick and Nan Stoddart corporate report. Dick successfully finished his first campaign for public office. "The campaign began late in September - forty days of coffee klatches, people, speeches, and more of the same. Dick was running for a two-year Cleveland Heights City Council term to fill out an original term he was pointed to some fourteen months ago. When it was all over, Dick won by a whop: pring 10,400 to 2,600 for his opponent. Great for now - but we're not looking forward to another campaign in 1971. On Council Dick serves as chairman of the Traffic and Transportation Committee and the newly created Redevelopment Task Force, the latter designed to stimulate rehabilitation and redevelopment in the aging commercial and multi-family sections of this 55-year-old 63,000 population, affluent suburb of Cleveland." On top of all else, Dick and Nan moved into a new home at 2604 Dartmoor Road.
"The Taipei, Taiwan China Post" reported that Bill Hartley, Wall Street Journal Correspondent in the Far East, spent four days visiting that city. Bill, who makes his headquarters in Tokyo (anyone going to Osaka?), was in Taipei covering the news on Chinese herb medicine, interviewing Dr. Wu Hai-feng, executive director of the Society of Chinese Medical Practitioners and visiting Chinese herb medicine manufacturing firms. He had been in Taipei a year ago reporting on efforts to build up Taiwan's economy including railroad and harbor systems. Following his stay there, Bill visited Singapore, Borneo, Saigon, and Manila. How about a letter with some of your experiences for this column, Bill?
Spreading the gospel around the Michigan area is the Rev. Paul Frederick. Paul is at the Rice Memorial United Methodist Church in Detroit, but has been guest speaker throughout the state. He received a bachelor of divinity degree from Oberlin Graduate School of Theology in 1967 and the same year was ordained an elder in the Detroit conference.
"Helping People with Problems - Health, Mental Health and Welfare" was the subject of an information series on the social services sponsored by Hartford (Conn.) College Counseling Center and moderated by John Conklin. John is Associate Director, Psychiatric Social Services, State Department of Mental Health. A graduate of the Connecticut School of Social Work, John has been a psychiatric social worker in England and at the Connecticut Valley Hospital in Middletown.
Dave Payne has been elected a senior vice president of the Connecticut Bank and Trust Company in Hartford. Dave is assistant head of the bank's trust division with over-all responsibility for the trust administration and investment departments. He has been with the bank since 1958 when he was assigned to investment research. In 1961 he became head of investment research and was elected an assistant secretary of the bank. He assumed responsibility for the trust department in 1965 and was appointed assistant vice president. He was promoted to vice president in 1966. Dave is president of the Hartford Chapter American Institute of Banking and serves on the executive committees and is a past president of the Hartford Society of Financial Analysts and of the Dartmouth Club of Hartford. He lives in West Simsbury with wife Beverly and their three children.
How about some mail to build up my decimated back log?
Secretary, ' 43 Cornell Rd. Wellesley, Mass. 02181
Class Agent, Varnum, Riddering, Wierengo & Christenson 666 Old Kent Bldg. Grand Rapids, Mich. 49502
