1959

Belated congratulations to John Ferries, elected several months ago a director of First Brands Corp.! A press release from First Brands quotes William V. Stephenson, its chairman, president, and CEO, as having said: "We are pleased with the addition of John Ferries to our board. John brings leadership and expertise in several key areas." This may be an understatement, as the press release indicates that john has been president of D'Arcy, Masius, Benton & Bowles Inc. Americas since 1993, and serves on its executive committee and board. Before that john was president of DMB&B International, and prior to that he was president of DMB&B Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and Africa regions, concentrating on expanding company operations in those regions, establishing operations in emerging countries like China, and negotiating 16 overseas acquisitions.

The mailbag contains news from three classmates who have retired and from another who hopes to do so. Paul Egner retired about a year ago after 34 years at Shell Oil, the last 22 of which had been in Houston, where he and his wife, Jane, plan to stay. Paul also retired from the Coast Guard Reserve at about the same time. Jim Wilson, who shared my upstate New York stomping grounds for a while, reports that he retired over a year ago from the Ford Motor Co. in Michigan after 31 years of service. Jim says that he has been doing a lot of traveling over the past six years, and hopes to visit all of the lower 48, Alaska, and the

Canadian provinces. Charlie Mac Vean reports that he is in a state of "max happy" enjoying: San Diego since 1978, grandchildren since 1994, children all in California since 1990, and not working since 1996. Hoping to retire in the year 2000 is Jim Neff, who says he relocated to Virginia in 1989.

Mai Halliday is proud to announce that he and Inga have six grandchildren and two more on the way. Better yet, all live close to them. Mai and Inga enjoy canoeing and the outdoors at their second home in Harpswell, Maine, each summer.

Charlie Decker put his marketing consulting practice on "slow-go" several months ago to write a book. Pocket Books (Simon and Schuster) has contracted with him to write a book tentatively titled 99 Reasons Procter & Gamble Is So Successful—And How You Can Apply These Principles to Your Business or Career. Sorry about the delay in getting this into print, Charlie, and hope that your plea to hear from anyone who has some thoughts on the subject has not been overtaken by events.

John Orcutt writes that he and his wife (both of whom are architects) are still up to their ears with the [Ed. Note: very successful] architectural practice and family life in Maine. John says he thought at 60 he might slow down a bit, but that he really doesn't have the inclination to do so yet, and just wishes there was a little more time.

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