What Attracted You to Her?

When a daughter was here last, she asked me what attracted me to Carola, my wife of now 62 years.  I didn't have a ready answer for her and thought about it.  Remembering that we first met in December of 1954, and keeping it in the perspective of that time and until 1961 when we got married, it took me a while to formulate a good answer.  So here it is, as well as I can recall.

It is a multi-part answer.  She was/is pretty.  She was fun to be around.  She wanted to play (participate) and not be just a spectator.  She was smart and realistic.  Not necessarily a dreamer but she bought into my dreams for a life together. She was always her own person.  She is/was independent, yet subordinate.  And her family accepted me.  Bert, her father, gave me good advice but only when I asked.   And above all, she didn't express high hopes for anything from me.

My instincts about her turned out to be right.  She arranged our wedding, set up our households, moved several times on her own because I went ahead for the job.  She assured the schooling of our three children, from elementary through high school.  Worked and participated at the schools to make sure they got the right teachers.  She saw to their success much more so than I.  

When the children were pretty much grown, she went to work, peddling baskets; and ran a franchise office for a group in Hampton, VA.  She opened it, ran it, took over the bookkeeping, and then closed it for them when the franchisor backed out on them.  Even finessed the clients from claiming ongoing support for the product.  Later, in our own franchised business, we were partners.  When we disagreed, we were able to work it out.  Often, she was right.  

She willingly went wherever we needed to be, whether it was to live or visit.  In France, she made sure we saw Europe, all of France, Germany, Italy, and England by arranging trips for us.  She always found a group of women with whom to associate.

She was an astute politician and, in her sorority, grew personally because of it.  She overcame her reluctance to be in the spotlight, because her participation in that group required her to be there.  A major contributor to her success was when she took the Dale Carnegie course.  She wouldn't let me come with her at first, then after session 5, she invited me to come.

There's a lot more to her than people think.  Reflecting, I think we led our two different lives, together. 

Character Sketch for Santa in Murder on 34th Street

The origins of Santa’s image and person go back to the 4^th Century.  But as the years passed, Santa Claus has evolved into a large, heavyset person.  One of the first artists to define Santa Claus's modern image was Thomas Nast, an American cartoonist of the 19th century who immortalized Santa Claus, dressed in an American Flag. That changed to a wintery red suit, trimmed with white fur and a matching hat.  In the Nast drawing, Santa is also in a sleigh pulled by reindeer.  This image remained and was reinforced by the poem The Night Before Christmas.

Every year, as winds become increasingly cold in Indian Summer, and a night-time rain settles in Central Park, as from a Nor’easter, until almost dawn, it leaves a dense fog.  It is out of this fog that we appear, Santa, that’s me, my wife, Merrie, and our associates, Eve, Holly, Noel, Nicholas.  At first, we wander, willy nilly, as we find our bearings and eventually head unerringly to the headquarters of Santa Inc, located in the metropolis of New York City.

We are a figment of imagination, that of thousands, nay millions, of little ones who think life is filled with joy, the kind experienced from receiving toys and gifts. 

We’ve been doing this now for more than 100 years.  We haven’t realized we are doing the same thing, over and over, never aging, never getting any wiser, just coming in, doing Christmas, and leaving again for another year.

Our timing for the big one is Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in the City.  I make my first personal appearance of the year at that parade to the joy and excitement of little ones everywhere.

Santa Inc is run by Merrie, my capable wife, and a supporting staff.  I am the front man; it is my image that children everywhere expect to see.  The rest of the staff, including Merrie, work with me to maintain that image.

As for me, I am the stereotypical Santa Claus, jolly, rotund, kind, and generous.  I have not been assertive in the organization of Santa Inc because Merrie is fully capable of running the show.  It isn't that I don't feel I could, I prefer to have someone else do it.

It has become apparent that there is growing unrest among us.  Changes in business operations, mainly digital technology, have given rise to thoughts of “the real world,” of which we are not a part.  Also, romance is blooming between two of our staff.  I am surprised the unrest hadn’t started long before now.  I fear that one of us will take precipitous action to cause change. 

Operating Manual (Haiku)

 

Short, fast, and least work

This we all seek, endlessly

Not even aware

At times successful

At other times, try again

But always seeking

Do it, try again

It is all trial and error

Until perfected

And not just humans

All animals' and insects'

Operating rules

Another example of brevity in the explanation of life and living.

Hijacked!

 

In the office of my eye doctor, in 2003, I was looking at magazines while I waited.  Being in the business, I noticed two things: #1 the magazines were from the year 2000; and #2 not one of the ads contained an internet address.  This indicated the flux in which we were.  It was interesting to me, and I made mental note of it.

An hour later, while waiting in the lobby for the Rotary Club meeting and lunch to commence in the Archibald Room of the Galt House, I told a visiting Rotarian from Bowling Green of my experience.  A short time later we were, by chance, sitting at the same table among the 350 members present, it was a very large club.  This same guy was sitting across from me at a table for eight.

Much to my surprise and chagrin, he related that while he was waiting for his eye appointment, he noticed the absence of internet addresses in the ads in the magazines which were from about the year 2000!  I was astounded.  

He hijacked my experience. Decorum kept me from calling him out.  Now 20 years later, I still feel a little resentment towards him, even though I don't even remember what he looked like.  He may be related to Joe Biden. 

Character Sketch of Joseph Thorn, MD for The Haunting at Blackwood Hall

Joseph Thorn was born on December 24, 1839, in Savannah GA, to John and Elizabeth Thorn.  His father was a prominent attorney, and his mother was a society personality, famous for dinners and parties at their home in Savanah.  The house was on Barnard Street, facing Telfair Square, now part of the Historic District of Savannah.

Joseph grew up in Savannah, attended private schools in Savannah for elementary and secondary school, attended the University of Georgia in Athens for pre-med and Harvard medical school for his MD.  He did his internship at Candler Hospital in Savannah.  It was at Harvard that he developed his non-southern accent.

He established his practice in Savannah and, with the influence of his parents, soon had as many patients as needed to provide for more than an adequate income for a surgeon in Savannah at the time.

During the Civil War, he was exposed to the horrors of it as injuries from the field were brought to him for treatment.  It was his witnessing of these horrors that caused him to become a bigoted, conceited and an utterly detestable human being.  It was a justifiably defensive attitude; he would otherwise have withdrawn from society and medicine.

Savannah, although not destroyed by the Union army and General Sherman, suffered a horrific fire that destroyed many homes and buildings, including that of young Dr. Joseph Thorn.  He had only begun his practice at the time, so he was able to recover and rebuild with the help of his parents.  By the year 1875, he had a thriving practice.

He met Gwendolyn Kathcart after hearing of her through rumor and met her initially to offer his medical expertise.  He became infatuated with her and intrigued by her extremely old age and perhaps hoped to uncover the secret to extreme longevity.  He is a control freak.

She was involved in the occult, and he became interested in it as well.  It was far-afield from medicine but the allure “Gwennie,” and her extreme old age, were enough to trap him.  She recognized the value of his presence but treated him with disdain.  She did not disrespect him openly or publicly.  She didn’t want to lose the attention he gave to her.

By the year 1899, she was failing in health from mysterious circumstances.  He concocted a repulsive brew, to which he referred as tea, for her treatment.  It was questionable at best.  By this time, Joseph had taken up residence at Blackwood Hall.  His rooms were adjacent to those of Gwendolyn so he could attend to her needs.  The casual observer would not be able to fathom their relationship. 

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That's What's Great About...

 

Ollie Shinn was new to Newport News Shipbuilding.  He'd been hired by Tenneco, Inc, who owned the shipyard, to direct the operation of the Tenneco centralized computing facility located at the shipyard.  It was one of three in the country.  He was born in Missouri and spent his life in computers and sales, mostly in the Midwest.  He'd not been around ships except what he'd seen in movies.  He was acquainting himself with us and the company on one of the first of his many visits to Newport News. 

I suggested that he come with me to the waterfront to see the guided missile frigate CGN Virginia in drydock, it had been launched recently.  It was a great example of what everyone thinks of as a naval vessel.  It is 500 feet long and has a beam of 65 feet, this allows for a top speed of about 30 knots.  

We went aboard and stood on main deck at the bridge to get a good view of the flared main deck forward as it formed the bow.  One could get a feel for the speed of this ship just by standing there.  It is a work of art.

As we finished our little tour, we came to the gangway.  There, at the exit off the ship, was a rough cardboard sign, "Fuck Tenneco, I'm going back to North Carolina!" scrawled in chalk.  I was apologetic and embarrassed.  I pulled down the sign, folded it and we went back up into the main office building.

There, in the big conference room, we found the VP of Production Control, the General Manager of Operations, and the VP of Human Resources in a meeting.  I barged in and said, "Look what we found." They looked at the sign with interest.

The VP of Production Control said it was a sad commentary on the attitude of some of the workers.  The GM of Operations said we had no way of finding the culprit.  The VP of HR said, "This is what makes America great."  

And you know, he was right.

Character Sketch John Seldon (1819 – 1904)/ Starkeeper/ Carousel, the Musical.

He was born to Elizabeth and James Seldon on Christmas Eve 1819, in a small snow-bound house in the New England coastal village, Mount Desert Island. Even though a doctor couldn’t get there, mother and baby did fine.

Today, the village has become one of America’s most loved treasures. And rightly so. But a 30-minute ferry ride from Bar Harbor brings you to this fishing village gem along the Schoodic Peninsula. The six-mile Loop Road around the peninsula to Schoodic Point bestows breathtaking sea views that have brought artists here for years.  In 1873, the time of our story, there were fewer than 500 people living in the village and it was only accessible by boat.

John Seldon went to the one room schoolhouse in the village.  He went through all the grades and graduated from high school in 1837.  He was recommended to Dartmouth College and graduated from there, pre-med. 

He continued his medical education at Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth.  It is the graduate medical school of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. The fourth oldest medical school in the United States, it was founded in 1797 by New England physician Nathan Smith. It is one of the seven Ivy League medical schools.

Upon finishing his internship, he returned to Mount Desert Island and became the village doctor in 1852.  He continued to practice medicine there, caring for the people in the village and surrounding area, until he retired at the age of 71 in 1891.  He remained in the village until his death in February 1904.

During the time of his practice, he assisted in the birth of every child born during his career.  Most of them were village babies and he tended to their needs as they matured to adulthood. 

There were few major medical issues involving the community.  Those that did occur were quickly handled by him and his connections to Geisel. There were few major medical issues involving the community.  Those that did occur were quickly handled by him and his connections to Geisel.

In addition to his medical practice, he was active in the politics of the community.  He never, however, sought or was elected to any office.  The local government was about as transparent as possible since the village was so small.

He married Hermione Smith on June 14, 1892.   They had three children, all of whom went on to careers after graduating from University.  Their children produced six grandchildren, none of them lived in the local area.  The family became scattered in different New England states but always made their way back to Mount Desert Island during the holidays, weatherwise the worst time of the year.

During the Civil War, Maine contributed an inordinately high number of volunteer soldiers to the Union cause.  Dr. Seldon was among the physicians that screened volunteers to determine their fitness to serve. 

The 20^th Maine fought in the battle of Gettysburg suffering many casualties.  It was he who saw to the continuing care of those that returned from the war with injuries that required attention for years. 

He was considered the most popular, best loved man in the town.