1958

The world of retirees will be welcoming John Hart come the end of February 1996. John will be winding up a long career in forestry, most recently at Michigan State. While plans are somewhat uncertain, Colorado may be his next domicile. For one who loves to hunt and fish, John will find many opportunities in the Rocky Mountain state.

You may see another retiree, Jim Preston, on the slopes ofMt. Okemo this coming winter. Jim has recently retired from selling computers. While he and his wife will continue to split their time between Ludlow, Vt., and Westport, Conn., Jim will not be lacking for things to do as he tackles the job of remodeling a farmhouse in Ludlow. Having myself just finished a similar project after 22 years, Jim, keep a close eye on your checkbook. In whatever spare time remains, he plans to pursue golfing and windsurfing while his wife continues her work at IBM.

If you are in the Doral area of Miami, Fla., give Marquis Gilmore a ring. After renting for four years, he and his wife, Connie, decided to buy a townhouse. I'll bet Hurricane Erin gave them a few moments of panic before it veered to the north of Miami.

In the recent edition of The Sound and The Fury, John Murphy reminded me of our trip together with Al Gazzaniga across the country at the end of our sophomore year. What our world traveler classmate omitted was his memorable quote just two hours into the trip. As we crossed the Hudson River somewhere north of Saratoga Springs, John turned to Al and me to say, "This is the farthest west that I have ever been in my life." Never mind that there was still more than 2,000 miles or 61 more hours of driving to go.

An unwilling addition to the ranks of the retired is Doug Smith. I suspect most of us missed the import of the recent purchase of Sterling Winthrop from Kodak by Sanofi. Doug sure didn't, it cost him his job. He and his wife now have the onerous task of looking to relocate somewhere where the living costs are more reasonable. Must confess that I sometimes forget the human toll as I read in my morning copy of The New York Times of the many mergers and acquisitions taking place across the country.

Halfway around the world in Jakarta, Indonesia, Lindley Hall is acting as an advisor to the Indonesian government under a USAID contract. For the coming six years he will be helping to organize national regulations and technical guidance for urban water supply, wastewater, and solid waste management systems. In the few spare moments that he has, Lindley found time to visit Vietnam where he was stationed with the Navy Seabees in 1968. He noted that there had been wonderful changes and Americans are most welcome, even in Hanoi. It continues to amaze me how situations can change so dramatically in just a few short decades.

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