Year in Review 1989
GreetingsThis year's card is Joseph Farquharson's wonderful painting Glowed with Tints of Evening Hours. Farquharson was born in Edinburgh in 1846. He was renowned for his fine winter landscapes. He became a member of the Royal Academy in 1900. For easy reading, the text of the original 1989 review is repackaged below.
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Transitions
- This was the year of the early retirement offer at AT&T. Four of my former bosses retired in 1989. So long to Gene Siegel, Erich Weber, John Nowak and Ralph Roberts.
- I flew to Houston this April to honor a promise made in 1966 to see my good friend Reginald Smyth get a PhD in Psychology!
- I joined the Circumnavigations Club, a club for people who have made a trip (or in my case 2) around the world. Our motto is: ”Through friendship, to leave this world a little better than we found it.” A modest, but noble goal.
- On the same day the Berlin Wall was opened, I received a letter from Herbert Pietsch, my pen pal in East Berlin. Talk about timing! What a tremendous sight on TV to see people reunited with Loved Ones after 28 years. Although I’m not much of a shopper, I was totally fascinated watching East Germans shop in West Berlin. Some had never seen a banana. Next is Wiedervereinigung.
- This year I made 2 trips to Moscow. By chance, I was in Moscow this summer during the initial sessions of the new Parliament. What a time! People were glued to televisions and radios. Every minute of Parliament was broadcast. Red Square was closed as insurance against Chinese-style riots. No riots, but never before had the people heard such ideas in public. It was illegal before.
Vacation
This summer on vacation, I visited San Diego and Palm Springs and then Vi Smith in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In Santa Fe, I arrived on the 20th anniversary of the movie Easy Rider. I attended a special showing and talked to Peter Fonda and Dennis Hooper. The famous bike with the long chrome neck for the front wheel was there too. A couple of Hippies also made it. It was the biggest event that day in New Mexico.Family Tree
- Thanks to Floyd Parrish for the documentation showing that James Campbell, our ancestor, fought in the American Revolution.
- Thanks to Maja Eriksson for documentation showing, which ship Otto Peterson, took from Sweden to America 120 years ago.
- Thanks to my first cousin Julie McKissack for naming her first child, Christina, (born 12/5/89) after our great great grandmother from Scotland.
- Thanks to my sixth cousin Jan Vegelius from Sweden who will have many of us working on Otto’s family tree for a June 1990 publication date.
All the best to you in the 1990’s -- Don
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