AN ACCOMPLISHED GENTLEMAN

His background was chemistry and he held patents on processes he developed that were used all over the world. The reason he lived in our town was because a local manufacturing company was using some of his patents. He was hired as president so he could train the employees to use his techniques. He hadn’t really wanted the position, but they made it worth his while and gave him great freedom to travel all over the world on business.

He and his wife had already planned for retirement having bought property on an island in the Caribbean, which would be the home base for their large sailboat. That’s where they spent their vacation time. Before they could move there, I saw in the news that in a local uprising many of the island residents were murdered.  I sincerely hope they found a safer place to retire.

His big love besides his wife and daughter was bowling, which is how we made his acquaintance. We were invited to join a rather elite bowling league consisting of sixteen residents whom he chose. The biggest thing in his life was having his own team come in first. When his team came in second, their trophies were larger than the winners because he had bought and paid for them himself.

Winning was so important that when he was in Africa, he met a young bush pilot. He offered the man a job piloting the company plane as well as a position on his bowling team. He really was a nice young man and everyone like him but he wasn’t a great bowler. We moved shortly after the bowling banquet.

He was a brilliant man with many accomplishments who also had an enormous collection of heavy silver.