MEECHIE AND ME #43

Today is December 25^th 2010, and I hope you'll forgive me if I digress from "Advice for my Daughters", to record a current event. I would like to tell you about a very special Christmas gift that I received from my daughter Karen, who lives in Napa, California

Let me give you a little background. In 2000, we had a little girl come into our lives. Amelia and I adopted "Garbo", a beautiful white Schnauzer. We were living on Marathon, in the Florida Keys. Her parents lived on a boat tied up at Hawks Cay. She barked so much that they had to put her up for adoption through the Key West S.P.C.A. I happened to be friends with Dr Gwen, the director, and casually mentioned to her, to let me know if the shelter ever received a Schnauzer. Kathy, Karen, and Kirby had a Schnauzer earlier in life and I would like very much to have another one. To my great surprise, two weeks later the SPCA got Garbo, who we quickly adopted. Now you would think a small SPCA in Key West would hardly ever get two Schnauzers, but they did. It took a little longer, but two years later, Gretchen came into our lives. Gretchen had been found running around, chasing chickens in the streets of Key West. When we saw her for the first time, she looked like a street dog. Her fur was all chopped off in places where they had cut out the burrs and pulled out dozens of ticks; she looked like she had been living out of garbage cans for a long time. She was a salt & pepper Schnauzer. Our hesitation about adopting her disappeared when she jumped up in Amelia's lap and gave her a kiss.

We went from a no dog family to a two dog family. Garbo and Gretchen became great friends. It was surprising how beautiful Gretchen became after her hair grew back in and she became part of our family. We often wondered how she became a street dog in Key West. Someone lost her; she was too nice a dog for someone to just turn her out on the street. Perhaps some tourist lost her and had to leave without her. In any event, the SPCA had tried to find the owner without success.

In 2005 Garbo contracted cancer and in spite of Chemo and special care from our Veterinarian, she passed away in 2006. In 2007 Gretchen got cancer; Dr. Jutras, her Vet, tried every treatment possible, but she died in late 2008. I thought that we should try to find another dog. Amelia thought that we were getting too old to go through the trauma of losing another pet. I was 83 yet still felt that another dog would be good for us. I did have to agree with Amelia about the trauma and the costs when they got sick. We both loved and missed our dogs and found ourselves constantly reminding each other about little incidents from the many years we had with Garbo and Gretchen .After all, they had become our children.

On December 22^nd, I answered a knock on the door to find two young ladies standing there. They had a Schnauzer dog with them. I thought that they were probably going door to door to solicit donations for a Christmas fund. They asked if they could come in; I thought that was a little strange, so I asked them why they wanted to come in. I almost went into shock when they said they wanted to come in so they could give me the Dog. Just then Amelia came to the door and recognized the girls as being from the Highland Animal Hospital. I still couldn't believe they wanted to give the little Schnauzer to us. He was beautiful, full of energy; it was jumping up as if to say, "Here I am, I'm your new puppy". I'm not ashamed to say that I cried, and Amelia sobbed. It was like looking at Gretchen's puppy. I think the two girls were touched, too.

My daughter Karen and John, her husband knew that I missed our dogs because I was always talking about them. They decided that they wanted to send us a dog for Christmas. They knew what Gretchen looked like, so they decided to try to find a Salt and Pepper Schnauzer to send us. I understand that they consulted with Kathy and Kirby about sending us a dog. Kathy thought it would be great. Kirby was afraid that Amelia and I may not want another dog. However it was a two to one decision that it would be a great gift. They searched everywhere and finally found just what they wanted, on Craig's List. A young man in Miami had purchased Meechie and only had him a few months when his employment changed; the odd working hours made it impossible for him to keep Meechie. Karen and John contacted the man and made arrangements for him to drive Meechie from Miami to Sebastian, take him to the Highland Animal Hospital for Dr. Jutras to check out and deliver to us. Miami to Sebastian is a six hour trip!

It is now December 25^th and we have had Meechie for four days. Amelia and I argue over who's going to walk him, in spite of the chilly winter weather we are having in Sebastian this year. We have both fallen in love with Meechie and will love him for as long as nature lets us have him. We hope it will be for years and years.

WELCOME TO DETROIT #42

I'm afraid that our welcome to Detroit was not exactly what I expected. We had driven from Hartford to Detroit, arriving in the early evening; we checked into the down town Howard Johnson Motel. They didn't have any adjoining rooms available. In fact the only two rooms available were on the second floor, one room on one side of the motel, and the other on the far side. All the rooms faced outside, with a walkway all around. We put Kathy, Karen and Kirby in one room and we stayed in the other. This arrangement was to be just for one night as I had rented a 3 bed room apartment in Southfield, Michigan, on a month to month basis until I could find us a house; however it was not available until the next day.

We had been in the motel for about an hour or so, when I told Helen that I was going around to the other side to check on the kids. Leaving our room, I just pulled the door shut, but not enough to make it lock. I was only going to be gone for a couple of minutes, after all. The kid's room was all quiet and dark, so I returned to our room and pushed the door open. To my amazement, there was a strange man in the room. I quickly backed out, thinking that I had entered the wrong room. But, looking at the number on the door, and confirming it was our room, I entered again. I asked the man what the hell he was doing in our room. He said that he was looking for Mabel, or some such name, and when he called her name, she had said "come in". He was wearing a short jacket and his hands were in his pockets. I said that there was no one by that name here. I went over to the bathroom door and called out for Helen to be sure that she was alright. In the meantime, the man said: "I'm sorry. I must have misunderstood", and ran out of the room.

When Helen came out of the bathroom, she said: "Where's my purse. It was on the bed." When we looked for it, we found it under the bed; it was empty. The guy had stolen all her money and credit cards. She said, "I told you I didn't want to come to this G.D. place". There was a rather funny ending to the story. About a month or so later, Helen received an envelope addressed to the Connecticut address and forwarded to her in Detroit. Inside were her driver's license, credit cards, and a note that just said "I'm sorry". It had been mailed from Toronto, Canada. Just another aside; when I called down to the front desk of the motel and asked them to call the police because we had been robbed, the front desk clerk said I was nuts, people don't get robbed in our hotel. I had to go down to the front desk and yell at them to call the police. Of course it was too late for the police to do anything, as the guy was long gone. I guess the only thing I can say is "Welcome to Detroit".

The Detroit office was located down town in the Gateway Center Building. There was a staff of six, three outside sales reps, Don Barrows, Dean and Bob, and the inside staff were Betty Carl, Helen Mackey, and Joann. The office was on the third floor next to the Eastern Airlines Regional Office. I was happy to learn that their local Detroit manager was a man that I had known when I was with Eastern in Miami.

Ken Becker, the former KLM manager had already left for Los Angeles but was coming back in a few days to turn over the office to me. There were certain documents I had to sign for ticket stock, cash working funds, bank account, take over the company car etc. Becker had left everything in good shape. All the account records were up to date, so it was going to be an easy transition.

First priority was a staff meeting where I could evaluate what functions each were doing. Betty Carle had been Ken's secretary; he had referred her to me as being a good and efficient person, so I decided to leave her in that position. Helen Mackey and Joanne were ticket agents whose job was to take care of reservations and issue tickets. Don Barrows and Bob were Passenger Sales Reps; Dean's job was to handle cargo sales. From what Ken had told me, all the people were good and he would recommend that I keep them all on, which I did. The second priority was to get out and visit the top agents. To do this I scheduled two or three days on the road with each sales rep to meet the agents they were responsible for. Our territory covered the areas of South Michigan and Northern Ohio, and the other was North Michigan. Dean's job was bringing in freight business; he covered the whole state, as there were not too many commercial accounts shipping abroad at the time. I decided to handle the important Dutch Immigrant Society, in Grand Rapids and Holland, Michigan, by myself.

This was late February and the weather was still pretty cold. Helen's job was to find a place where we could buy a home that she would be happy with, and get the kids into school as soon as possible. I was not happy to leave the search all up to her, but I had to get busy handling the income side. Roger Ackley, the Midwest Regional Manager in Chicago, was already after me to come down to Chicago to meet with him. Since he was going to be my new boss, I didn't want to keep him waiting.

 

THE MOTOR CITY #41

It was a pretty frosty day when I arrived home on Friday, and not all the frost was outside. Without going into all our conversation pertaining to Helen's refusal to move to Detroit; I'll just say that she finally came around. I gave her all the details about the move, and told her that we didn't have to live in Detroit; we could look for a home in the suburbs.

We put the house up for sale in Hartford and hoped that it would sell quickly. I didn't have a firm date for the move, as I had commitments to finish the sales budgets for the Eastern Region. We had put the house on the market that first week of January, and Asjes said that I should take over Detroit by mid February, giving me time to sell the house. Also, Ken Becker, the current Detroit manager had to sell his house. Hopefully, all this would come together. Unfortunately, except for some weekends, I still had several weeks of travel ahead of me. To cap it all, my temporary boss Silton was in the hospital, which required me to take over some of his responsibilities.

By the end of January the house was sold; we had to be out by February 15^th, when the new owners wanted to take over occupancy of the house. I was able to get a few days at home to help out with the packing up and attending the house closing. During the first two weeks of February, I had meetings with Fritz Kielman and Luke Asjes on various subjects pertaining to both Hartford and Detroit. Asjes had a map of the USA on his office wall; attached to the map were pictures of each District Manager in the area they were responsible for. This could be a little intimidating.

Just before leaving the Eastern Region, I had an experience that I regretted greatly. Asjes asked me to go to Pittsburgh, do a thorough investigation of that office, and report back to him on the results. I called Gus Mize and told him I wanted to spend a couple of days with him to go over his top accounts. I had spent time with Gus several times and always found him to be a reliable manager. As I wrote previously, Gus was well liked by his travel agents and commercial accounts. He could be very funny and friendly to everyone. Not exactly a sharp dresser, with a physique that did not make it easy to look like a fashion model. But, really, is that so important? After all, he was working for the airlines, not for GQ magazine. On this particular visit, Gus invited me to his home for dinner. He had a lovely wife and daughter, and I enjoyed a nice dinner. I found everything in order and reported this to Asjes upon my return.

A week or so later, I encountered Gus coming out of Asjes office. I stuck out my hand in greeting, but before I could get a word out, he called me a S.O.B. and accused me of putting a knife in his back. I was flabbergasted. Gus turned his back to me, got into the elevator, and was gone. I later found out that Asjes had asked Gus to come into New York for a meeting. When Gus met with Asjes, Asjes fired him. He told him that he couldn't stand the way he looked and that he was not the kind of man that he wanted representing KLM. Apparently, Asjes had hoped that I would find some good reason to fire Gus. When I reported that Gus was doing a good job, he just called him in and fired him anyway. Since I had just been with Gus, Gus thought that I had caused his dismissal. I tried to call him several times, but he wouldn't talk to me.

He certainly didn't deserve the treatment he got. He did his job well, and that's the way I judged him. By the way, I understand that he found a job with L.O.T. the Polish airline.

February 15^th rolled around and we vacated the house. I had a moving company enroute to Detroit and our furniture was to go into storage until we found a house. Now the whole family, Helen, Kathy, Karen and Kirby were heading to a new adventure in Michigan, although I'm not sure Helen shared my enthusiasm. Now the first thing we had to do was find a place to live.

1966 STILL IN NEW YORK, BUT CHANGE WAS IN THE AIR.

Another year, and it was budget time again. It was hard to believe that I was still in that same job situation. What had started out at the end of 1964 as a temporary position, seemed to be developing into a permanent job. My home life had become stressful to say the least. I had become a part time father and husband, if I was lucky, I was home two days per week. When I got home, on Friday night or Saturday morning, I arrived with a suitcase full of dirty laundry. I would pick up a suitcase full of clean laundry on Sunday night, kiss the family goodbye, and leave for the week. It was getting pretty "iffy" in the Kitchener residence.

If I remember correctly, it was around the middle of January when I spoke to Luke Asjes, the Dutch General Sales Manager in charge of North America. I told him that if he wanted to keep me in my present position I was going to have to move to New York. He had told me, that the job was going to be temporary, until KLM had a District Managers job for me. I had come to the end of the road with my family. Over a year and a half had passed and I needed some resolution. Luke Asjes was very apologetic, telling me that the company never intended to leave me in that position for this long. He promised that he would have an answer for me by the end of the month. Asjes was an honorable man, well liked, but stern and dedicated to KLM. He was the one who had saved my job when I had the problem with the former Regional Manager. I had hung in for over a year, so what was another two or three weeks? I called Helen, and told her about the conversation with Luke Asjes. She didn't seem too happy, but at least she knew I was trying my best to get a solution. I know that she was still hoping we were going to Miami.

The next few weeks were very busy; I had promised Asjes that I would get the yearly budgets completed by the end of January. I had scheduled a two day visit to each district and told everyone that they had to complete their sales and costs budgets during those two days. We got it all done, and I felt good about it. Luke Asjes spoke to me at the end of January and told me that he and Fritz Kielman, the Vice President for North America, wanted to see me Monday morning, February 7, in Mr.Kielman's office. That weekend, I told the family about the meeting and I promised to call Helen at the conclusion.

Kielman and Asjes were very friendly; they told me how much they appreciated the work I had been doing and apologized because it had been much longer than anticipated. The plan they wanted to put into effect was for Jack Bussian to go from Miami to Los Angeles, and I was to take over Miami. However, Bussian turned down the move. The alternative plan that they now wanted to do, was to send Kenneth Becker, DSM in Detroit, to Los Angeles, and they wanted me to take over Detroit. They had considered sending me to Los Angeles, but Detroit was actually a much more important station for KLM due to the very large Dutch population in Grand Rapids, and in Holland Michigan. They wanted me in Detroit because they felt I would be more important to them there, rather than California. They were also working toward getting a permit to fly from Europe directly into Detroit. I had a suspicion that they were just trying to boost my ego, but I knew Asjes pretty well, and I didn't believe Kielman would say that to flatter anybody. They went over the new salary, moving expenses and resettlement allowance.

I was in the meeting for over two hours. After telling me the plans and getting my agreement, they wanted to discuss the areas I had been covering with Silton. They were interested in my opinion about certain individuals, they gave me some in depth thoughts about the Detroit office and the importance of Detroit in future company plans. As soon as the meeting was over, I called Helen to tell her the news. I was hardly prepared for the reaction.

Helen and her sister were born in Detroit, her father was a tool and die maker and had worked for the Rickenbacker Car Company. The family had left Detroit and moved to Little Falls, New York, where he worked for the Cherry Burl Company. Helen and her sister had both attended State Teachers College in New York. Helen and I visited Little Falls quite often but I had never heard any discussion about Detroit. Apparently, Helen hated Detroit. She had never expressed that to me, so her response to my telling her we were going to Detroit was explosive. I expected her to be disappointed over not going to Miami; I was too, but her reaction took me by surprise. She more or less told me what I could do with Detroit. She was never going to go to Detroit, and she hung up the phone. I didn't call her back until the next day. She reiterated her position about Detroit; my response was that we discuss it that weekend when I got home. I was not looking forward to the weekend.

 

1965, AN INTERESTING YEAR CONTINUES

Now it was budget time, and Peter wanted me to not only work with my assigned offices, but also to assist him with the budgets for Miami, Boston, Buffalo and Washington. Budgeting was often a guessing game. The revenue side was based on the history of the previous year with a prediction for the current year. The cost side was always "where can you cut costs" or "why do you anticipate a cost increase". A year or two earlier, KLM had a study done on the "Future of air travel" outside of the regular travel agency sales. One of their predictions was an increase in "Group Travel" from company employee clubs, University "Study groups" especially from language and history student, and also "religious groups" planning to visit the Holy Land. I was very successful in developing business from these sources. For instance, I was able to interest the University of Hartford in starting "French language study tours at the "Institute d'Etudes Francaises, at the University de Poitiers, in Tours, France. My contacts for these groups were Dr. Irving Starr, Dean of Admissions and John Balmer, Professor of Arts. These University of Hartford Study Groups were always sold out and KLM was always the preferred carrier. Even after I left Hartford for New York, I kept up my contacts with the University for over five years. I also developed some religious travel through a Polish lady and her Parish Priest for a yearly visit to Lourdes, France. These were large groups of up to fifty people each. I also developed several "Incentive Groups" for Chrysler Motors and the Auto Owners Insurance Company.

Because of my success in developing group business, Peter Silton and Luke Asjes wanted me to work with the district offices in their development of this business. So, when budget time rolled around, I was expected to encourage the local offices to budget for exploration of group travel. Some of the district offices did very well and I was often asked to accompany them to some local University or meet with a local religious leader. However, some of the managers were hard to convince. Once we got them to do this, it was amazing how much more revenue they were able to generate by getting out and "prospecting".

It was in October of '65 that I had a special surprise for the kids. We took a trip to Jamaica for a week, from Oct 29 to Sept. 4^th. . Both Kirby and Karen have their birthdays in September, so we decided to celebrate them at this beautiful island. Actually it was more for Karen as she was born on Sept. first, and Kirby was born on the 23^rd. . We arranged with the hotel to put on a special party for Karen. They decorated a dinner table with little flowers all around the edge plus lovely flowers in the center. The Hotel Chef baked a wonderful cake; it was truly a masterpiece. We had a wonderful birthday celebration.
I had to cut our visit short, because I received a phone call from Peter that I had to accompany an "agents' study tour" to Scandinavia. The agent who was to escort the tour fell ill and they wanted me to take his place.

As soon as we arrived back home on Saturday, it was time to leave again for New York, where I would be leaving for my tour to Scandinavia, with twenty five travel agents from all over the USA. This familiarization tour was organized by the Scandinavian Travel Agency in New York. The travel agency's manager met me at the Kennedy Airport, gave me $250.00 to cover any expenses not include in the tour. He called the agents together and said "This is Ray Kitchener from KLM, he's going to be your tour escort." That was my introduction to the group. The itinerary was great. We were to spend three nights in Amsterdam, two days in Bergen, Norway, two days in Stalheim, by overnight boat up a beautiful Fjord, two days in Flam, four days in Oslo, four nights in Rattivk, three nights in Stockholm, three days in Copenhagen, then back to Amsterdam for a couple of days, and then back to New York; a 23 day journey. I was a little tired, however I learned a lot about Scandinavia: Norway was impressive, with its beautiful Fiords and waterfalls. We visited the birth place of Grieg, the most famous Norwegian classical music composer (I actually sat at his piano!). Grieg and his wife are buried in Bergen, on the side of a mountain. Every day, that spot on the mountain, gets the final rays of the setting sun. Denmark was beautiful, with its lovely gardens and, of course, the Little Mermaid. Everyone loved Copenhagen; it is such a beautiful city.

The Agency that planned the trip did a great job. Practically everything was included: tour guides, hotels, meals etc. About all I had to do was to be sure everything went well and the agents were happy. I made many friends among the travel agents. Out of the $250.00 the Agency had given me, I gave a farewell dinner at one of Amsterdam's famous Indonesian restaurants. The group presented me with a beautiful crystal decanter that my daughter Kathy still has in her home.

Back in New York, I was ready for a day off, but duty called. Our manager in Buffalo had to go into the hospital and would be out for two weeks. I was asked to" Shuffle off to Buffalo" and cover for him for the two weeks. I often say, "Yes, I know Buffalo, I spent about a year there".That's how long those two weeks felt.

 

Time flies and so did I

When I accepted the Assistant Regional Manager's post, I was sure that it would be demanding. I enjoy working and I enjoy the challenges that sales targets, budgets, and developing a client base brings. Encouraging others to do their best and helping them reach their full potential has always been a personal goal.

The last couple of months in 1964 were a pretty good indication of what would fill my time while I waited for whatever my future would be. I usually left Hartford's Bradley Field on the 7:30 A.M Eastern Air lines flight to Newark N.J. I would then ride the limo into 42^nd street and after that, walked from 42^nd to KLM's offices, at 609 5^th Avenue. This got me there a little before 9: AM. I always planned my week during the previous week, so that when I arrived in New York I already knew what I was going to do. I would check in with Peter to see if he had any special instructions. He knew what my plans were, as I had given him a copy on the previous Friday. If everything was OK with Peter, I would ask Margaret to call the local managers in the cities I planned to visit in order to give them a heads up. Then, off I went to La Guardia, Kennedy or Newark airports. Back in those days, Kennedy was called Idlewild airport.

Depending on my schedule, a typical week would involve a flight to Pittsburgh to spend a couple of days with Gus Mize. We would have a few hours in his office, discussing his area and anything he was currently working on. We would then make some joint calls on a few of his travel agents, or perhaps I'd go with him on some prospecting calls for group business. Often, I would spend time with him going over his sales target. After a couple of days, Gus would drive me to the airport and I would head down to Atlanta to visit with Tom Hut, our Atlanta Manager. After a day or two with Tom, I would fly to Charlotte and spend time with John McAninley, or Johnny Mac, as everybody called him. John was a great salesman; everybody seemed to like him and he was very popular with his travel agents. While I was flying to the next city, I would write notes about my visit, what I had accomplished with the local manager etc., while flying back to New York at the end of the week, I would finish it as a report and give it to Margaret for typing. Eventually, my reports went into Peters file. Flying back to New York was also a good time to set up my agenda for the following week and give it to Peter. This was a typical week; only the cities would change. I used to keep a flight log in which I would list the flight, destination, and the miles flown for the week. It averaged out to be a little over 6,200 miles per month.

Just a note about all these travels: KLM supplied me with annual passes on about a dozen domestic airlines. As I mentioned previously, there was an agreement between the airlines to provide annual passes to other airline executive personnel who needed to travel. It really didn't cost them anything as the passes were on a "space available" basis. If there was a seat available at time of departure you were accommodated; if not, you had to wait for the next flight. Fortunately, I also had an annual pass on New York Airways helicopter service. As often happened, I would get out to Newark airport but the flight I wanted was full. I would jump on the helicopter and go over to Kennedy. If the Kennedy flight was full, I would try LaGuardia, and then perhaps back to Newark. If all failed,
it was the helicopter to the Pan AM building in the city, overnight at the Edison Hotel, and start over the next day. This back and forth between airports was mostly on a Friday night when I was trying to get home for the weekend.

It was sometime in January or February that, for a couple of weeks in a row, the morning flight that I took every Monday out of Bradley Field, was delayed due to weather. The result was that I didn't arrive in the New York office until 9:30 or 10:00 AM. Peter Silton didn't like the fact that I was late getting in. I told him that this was completely out of my control. Silton told me that he didn't care about flight delays; it was my responsibility to be in the office on time. Unfortunately, Silton could be pretty thoughtless at times. In any event, I didn't want to get into a fight with him. I told him if he would approve a Sunday night hotel in New York, I would fly down on Sunday night instead of Monday morning. It meant an extra night away from my family, which was a sacrifice for me and my family. I sure was not willing to give Silton any excuse for complaint. I was hoping KLM would solve my position soon and I wouldn't have to deal with Silton much longer. I could never have believed that this job would drag on for over a year.

In February 1965, I received a call from B. C. Packers, the company that employed my Dad. He had worked for them for more than fifty years. I spoke with the President of the Company, to the effect that they thought it was time for my father to retire. They thought very highly of Dad and believed it would be better if the idea of his retiring came from his family, rather than the Company. Dad was 84 years old and like the man he was, thought that he would be at B. C. Packers until he died. I agreed that it was time for him to retire, and decided to fly up to Vancouver to discuss the sensitive subject with him.

The following week I was in Vancouver. I had rented a car and drove up to the house that the Company provided my Dad. We drove together down to Stanley Park and parked at Prospect Point, a very beautiful location which looks out at the Lions Gate Bridge and Grouse Mountain. I told Dad that it was time to give up the job and come to live with us in Connecticut. After lots of conversation, he agreed that he was getting older and he would like to come and live with us. Then, he wanted me to drive to the cemetery where his parents were buried, I waited in the car while he kneeled by the graves and said his goodbyes. To see my Dad kneeling next to his parents' grave, no doubt telling them that he was going away to live in another country with his son, is a moment in life that I will never forget. I drove him back to his house where we arranged for him to fly down to Hartford in the next week or two. It was about two weeks later that I picked up Dad at Bradley Field and took him to his new home.

LIFE IS LIKE A BOX OF CHOCOLATES, YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT YOURE GOING TO GET UNTIL YOU BITE INTO IT.

Sorry to take a quotation from Forest Gump, but he was right. Life is uncertain and roads in life can take many detours. It seems that since I joined KLM, my progress had been a little rocky and was about to take another detour.

After several months of waiting for the transfer to Miami, I was asked to come into New York for a meeting with Luke Asjes. I was informed that Jack Bussian, the Miami Manager, had refused the transfer to Los Angles. He and the company could not come to an agreement over transfer benefits. I knew Jack pretty well; we had attended many company meetings and had participated in training session and outings together. He was a great guy and I know KLM considered him a valuable employee. The proof of this is that they kept him on as Miami Manager.

So, what was my future at this point? KLM was uncertain as to who was now going where? In my case they decided that I would become "Assistant Regional Manager for the Eastern Region that was comprised of the following areas, Hartford, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Charlotte and Atlanta. Each office covered the whole state or more. The Eastern Regional Manager was Peter Silton. I would have to work out of the New York office at 609 5^th Ave. Mr. Asjes was very apologetic and told me that this was just a temporary position until they got everything sorted out, and it was still possible that I would be sent to Miami as District Manager. He went on to say, they considered me an excellent manager and despite these problems, I had a good future with the Company. I was happy to learn that.

After the meeting with Luke Asjes, I went to the Regional office to speak with Peter Silton. During the conversation he asked how quickly I could find a place to live and move the family. I referred to my conversation with Luke Asjes that this was just a temporary position and therefore, I had no intention of moving the family to New York. This didn't sit too well with Peter Silton, I suggested that we go back up to Mr. Asjes office and come to some understanding as to exactly what my position entailed. Luke Asjes agreed with me that I would not have to move. I could come to New York on Monday and the company would accommodate me at the Edison Hotel, where KLM had a contract for accommodating crew members. Peter had indicated that he wanted me to undertake the supervision of those stations under the Regional office, and that this was going to require me to visit those stations and assist them with sales. Asjes agreed that as an executive of KLM I would be entitled to "Annual Passes" on domestic airlines. (There was an agreement between airlines to provide "space available" annual passes to management staff that had to travel on airline business.). After everything was agreed to, including expenses etc. I was driving back to Hartford dreading exactly how my wife was going to accept this new news?

Helen took the news pretty well. She didn't like the fact that I would be away from home all week, leaving her with 3 children to take care of, all by herself, and how long this "temporary" position was going to take. She was hoping it would still be Miami.

I had to wait until someone was appointed to take over the Hartford District. In about a week, I was informed that George Emory would be coming from Philadelphia as my replacement. When I closed the ticket office in Hartford I had rented a small two room office downtown on Asylum Ave. One room was my office and the other room was for storage of brochures and other promotional material. When George arrived, I turned over the office keys and turned over the company car. (All salesmen and District Managers were provided with a company car) George Emory was a good person; I had also known him from company events prior to this appointment. He was very competent and I felt good about the Company choice.

It was October, 1994 when I reported to Peter Silton. The Regional office was very large and in addition to Peter, his, soon to be our, secretary had a desk and a desk for me. We were on the fourth floor of the KLM building at 609 5^th Ave. The main floor was a beautiful ticket office staffed with uniformed staff in KLM royal blue. The 5^th floor was the reservations office where the staff sat in front of computers, headsets on, taking flight reservations from all over the USA. The Charter Department was also on this floor where all the charter flights were handled by a staff of six. Both the Reservations Manager and the Charter Sales Manager had private offices here as well. The accounting dept. was also on this floor. The 6^th and 7^th floor was rented by Martinair, another Dutch air carrier. The 8^th floor was rented out to The Netherlands Tourist office. The 9^th floor was our Executive offices and their staffs. The top floor was a large room that was used for company parties, large meetings etc.

Peter was a man of few words. His instructions to me were to visit our assigned districts on a very frequent basis, provide assistance to the local managers, work with them on their annual budgets, review and approve their expense accounts. Join them in visiting their local travel agents and commercial accounts. I was also to do an annual review on each manager, review it with them and submit it to him for their files. As far as he was concerned he would like to see me every Monday morning and a weekly report to him on Friday afternoons. Peter did not like to travel, and as I found out later, the local managers were happy with this.

Little did I know how long I would be in this job and how many other things I was going to be asked to do?

 

 

 

THE CHANGING MARKET

In 1963 the international airline industry was booming. All the big international airlines such as KLM, Swissair, BOAC, Lufthansa, Air France, etc. all operated under Civil Aviation Rules and Regulations. Actually, their rules included all airlines. In regard to the International carriers, they operated under reciprocal agreements between governments. The Netherlands had an open sky's policy which meant that any certificated airline was welcome to land and discharge or board passengers in Amsterdam. Most others bartered landing rights. In other words, if Air France wanted to fly into New York, they would offer the U.S. landing rights in Paris to Pan American Airways, and so on. Once they started flying into the U.S. they came under American Civil Aviation Rules. All air lines operating outside the U.S. also had to conform to I.A.T.A. Rules, which are the "International" rules governing air line operations. One of these rules was that an airline was forbidden to give away its service in order to obtain business. This did not preclude the payment of set commissions to Travel Agents, which were set at 10% of sales.

While all the airlines swore that they observed these rules, none that I know of, did. For instance, a Travel Agent would have a large group that wanted to fly and tour Europe. The agent was free to choose the international airline of his choice. He would contact his Sales Rep. for airline "A" and offer to book his group with them but wanted more commission than the 10%. If airline "A" refused, he would approach airline "B". As an example, he may eventually obtain an additional $25 per head plus a free seat or two for his tour leader. What would happen after the business materialized, an employee (most probably an especially faithful accounting person) would meet with the local manager and Travel Agent and pay him in cash for the business received. Some Travel Agents, especially the ones that had a very high number of ethnic travelers, such as Polish, Jewish, Greek, etc. could make many thousands of dollars under the table. The practice of airlines paying under the table money or free seats became so bad that the airlines Presidents convened a meeting that took place in Dublin, Ireland. They all came to an agreement to stop the illegal practice and pledged to enforce the rules with their world wide offices. This became known as the "Dublin Agreement". I'm writing this background information because of something that happened to me, and is an example to my children of what can happen in life that you don't expect.

As Manger of the Hartford office, the salesmen and I were approached many times by Agents and others for override payments and often complied to obtain the business. After the Dublin agreement I had a staff meeting and advised the salesmen that we could not participate in any more such practices. It was not very much later that I received a phone call from an Agent offering to book a very large group with me but wanted an override commission. I explained the Dublin agreement and offered to book his group however; I could not pay him any more than the standard commission. He said no and hung up. A few days later I received a phone call from my Regional Manager in New York. The Agent had gone over my head and spoken to him. He had agreed to the override. I asked him about the Dublin agreement and he told me that he had special permission to take the group and to go ahead with the booking. It was for a group that would be departing several months later.

The months passed, and the group departed and returned. The Agent called me and wanted to know when he could expect his override commission which was going to be a couple of thousand dollars. I contacted the Regional Manager who told me he would take care of it. A few more weeks passed and no payment. It was just about that time that I received a phone call from Margret, the regional managers' secretary. She would not tell me anything except that I was going to get a call from the new company V.P. and that I should tell him the truth and that this was very important. She would say no more and hung up. A couple of days later I received the phone call from Luke Asjes, the new Dutch head of sales for the U.S. operation. He informed me that a two day meeting was to be held in New York the following Tuesday morning for all management staff in the U.S.A. Since I would be attending the meeting he wanted to see me in his office on Tuesday morning prior to the meeting. Needless to say I was bewildered about what was going on.

Flying down to New York on Monday night, I was at the meeting with Asjes at 8am. Mr. Asjes asked me if I was aware of the Dublin Accords. I said that I was. He produced a company memo that was addressed to me and asked me if I had received the memo. I said that I had never seen it. He asked me to read it. It was a memo from my regional manager, in it he said that I had been warned about the Dublin Accords and that I had deliberately taken a group against his orders and he was holding me personally responsible. I told Luke Asjes that I had never seen the memo and that in fact I had taken the group on the orders of the Regional Manager. He told me that he believed me, that I should proceed out to JFK airport Hotel; attend the meeting that was to start at 11:30 with a luncheon. He cautioned me not to speak with my regional manager. Actually, The Regional Manager was not at the meeting. Although my room phone rang several times, I never answered it. The meeting went on for two days; it was an introduction of Luke Asjes as the new Sales Manager of KLM in the USA and plans for the future of the Company.

At the conclusion of the meeting, I found out what had happened in New York after I had left Luke Asjes office. I learned that his secretary, Margret, had typed up the memo and was instructed to destroy the original and place the copy in my file. He was then going to use this memo to fire me. I don't know why Margret turned that memo over to Luke Asjes. I really didn't know Margret other than to say hello to her when I visited the Regional office. When I found out, I thanked her profusely for saving my job. She would only say that she did not like dishonesty and couldn't work for someone who would do such an underhanded thing. I understand that after I left Mr. Asjes office, he sent for the regional manager and confronted him with the memo. He confessed what he had done and was escorted from the building by security and as a Dutch employee, sent home to Holland. I found out that Luke Asjes was not a man to tolerate lies. Incidentally, the agent got his payment. And there were no more breaking the Dublin Accords.

This is a very long blog but I don't think my children ever knew this event in my life and I don't know what the moral of this event is, perhaps, "if the company has a rule, don't break it, even if your manger tells you to" or perhaps it's "you are a very lucky person if you have a guardian angel you didn't know you had". It may also be a good idea to be friendly to everybody. You never know when you may need a friend. Incidentally, sometime later I received a letter of apology from Holland. He was no longer with KLM and asked for my forgiveness. I never replied.

 

KLM IN HARTFORD

Getting back to work after such a great family vacation in Europe was a very busy time. As I mentioned in the last chapter, I was now the District Sales Manager (DSM) for our Hartford office. I had to make many trips to the home office in New York, for budgeting, planning and meeting the top brass, along with and getting to know my Regional Manager, John Wold and the USA Sales Manager George Lambert, along with meeting the Vice President and General Manager for the USA Mr. D. J. Koeleman. Dealing with my own District was pretty easy as it was much the same area I had covered for Eastern Airlines. The major difference of course was that the revenue sources such as Travel Agents and Commercial Accounts were directed to Europe rather than the USA. I spent a great deal of time getting to know those Agents who had a lot of foreign travel, especially those who had a great deal of ethnic business such as Polish, Dutch, German, and other nationalities.

During my introduction to Mr. Koeleman the Vice President and Chief Executive, we were speaking about my time with Eastern Air Lines in Western Massachusetts. He asked if I was still living in Springfield, which I was. He informed me that as a DSM in Connecticut, I would have to move back to the Hartford area. In his rather thick Dutch accent, he said, our local managers have to live in the same State as their area of management. I was not a very happy camper to have to return home and tell my wife we had to move back to Connecticut. She was not exactly a happy camper either, but we packed up and moved on. This time I found a big English style home in West Hartford. It had a nice stream called Trout Creek that ran through the back yard. My son Kirby loved this as he could go fishing in the creek. Again, it was an old house with three floors, but it had a great location and looked very good. Of course, we painted, papered, repaired and restored. This was now our sixth home.

When we were in Holland on our family vacation I purchased authentic Dutch costumes for both Kathy and Karen. When the Hartford Times newspaper held their annual Travel Show, I got the girls to dress up in their costumes (wooden shoes and all) and distribute brochures in downtown Hartford. They were quite a hit and even ended up with their picture in the paper and a TV interview on a local station.

At this particular show, KLM was featuring my good friend Arthur Frommer, author of "Europe on five dollars a day". I had a great picture of the girls sitting on Arthurs lap and looking over his new book. Arthur Frommer is a great guy. He got the idea for the "Five Dollars A Day Books". While serving in Europe during WW ll. When he returned home he was sure that a guide book showing how inexpensive it was to travel in Europe resulted in a whole series of books on each country such as "Holland on Five Dollars A Day" France on Five Dollars A Day and so on. On one of my trips to Europe I took along his book and found that it was very accurate and I was able to find some very nice accommodations for that price. Of course that was in the good old days of the early fifties and sixties. I suppose today the book would be "Europe on $300 a day ".

I had a very interesting experience when I found that the 6^th World Sport Parachuting Championship Competition was going to be held on August 11^th to September 3^rd in Orange Massachusetts. I contacted the organization and found that participants would be coming from Russia, Poland, Holland, Germany etc. as well as the USA and Canada. I was able to speak with the organizer and talk to him about letting KLM set up a Charter flight out of Europe to bring in the participants. He agreed that it might work out and asked me to prepare a proposal. To make a long story short, we ended up with a Round trip charter flight out of Vienna to Boston. I had picked Vienna since the participants could fly from their home country into Vienna; board the DC-8 jet Charter which would already have the Dutch participants on board. This worked out fine and the organization bought the program. It was very interesting as I flew to Amsterdam and was on hand with the Dutch group in Vienna to welcome the other groups. The interesting part was that the Russians had to be the last to board the charter and insisted that they stand by the cargo door and watch their parachutes loaded and the door locked so no one could touch their chutes. I didn't fly with them to Boston but flew back to Amsterdam and then on to New York, pick up my car and drive home. A few days later I drove up to Orange and watched some of the competition. I was very interested in the Russian group and thought it would be nice to invite them to visit my home and see a little bit of Connecticut. At first they said it was forbidden for them to travel in the USA. I somehow got their leader (probably a KGB man) to agree to a one day trip and that he must go along as interpreter.

I had a good friend at the Travelers Insurance Company in Hartford. Their building had a tower that gave a good view of Hartford. He agreed to host the group for lunch and a visit to their tower. I rented an 8 seater van and picked up the group in Orange for the day trip. Travelers Insurance was a very good host and served a nice luncheon in their commissary. After lunch I drove them around Hartford and ended up at our home. The group came inside and toured the house. They had lots of questions and thought the garbage disposal was something they had never seen. Helen offered coffee and soft drinks and we were soon on our way back to Orange. I felt that I had done my best at international relations.

A NEW PROMOTION AND THE FAMILY GOES TO EUROPE

KLM's Hartford office was brand new, and located in the also brand new, Statler Hilton hotel. KLM had spared no expense in creating the office. Plate glass windows looked out over the park and the Governor's mansion, which at that time was occupied by Governor Ribicoff. The back of the office opened into the hotel lobby The Managers office was glass enclosed and the ticket office staff sat at four desks, I shared the Managers office. Jan Van Eckeren, the DSM had a large desk and a smaller version for me. This was fine, as most of my time was spent outside the office. Just as with Eastern, I covered Western Massachusetts and most of Connecticut. I was familiar with all the travel agents and most of the large commercial accounts. In effect, I was pretty much calling on the same accounts as I did with Eastern, but with a different hat.

1960 soon became 1961 and with the New Year, came a change I had not expected. The Company announced that they were promoting me to District Sales Manager of the Hartford District. I felt very sad for Jan as I thought he was doing well. I was doubly surprised when he asked the Company if he could stay in Hartford as my Sales Representative. That was fine with KLM, if I agreed? Which I did, Jan was a good man and we always got along well. About this time KLM suggested that I hire an additional salesman to cover freight sales. After interviewing a number of people, I decided on John Lenahan, John worked out of the New York office but lived in lower Connecticut and wanted to be working closer to home. So now I had two Sales Reps and three ticket agents, one of whom also acted as my secretary.

In the summer of 1961 I decided that I would like to take the family on vacation in Europe. We would all fly to Amsterdam, spend a few days there and then fly on to Rome, for two days, and then on to Greece, where we would have a couple days in Athens. We would then fly to the Greek Island of Rhodes, where we would spend the remaining days of our vacation. In the summer of 1961, Kathy was nine, Karen was seven and Kirby was six.

In Amsterdam, we stayed at the Krasnipolsky Hotel; it's a great, old world hotel. The dining room had large baskets of ferns hanging from the ceiling that gave it a garden effect. It was in the center of downtown, and sat on Freedom Square with its large cenotaph in the center, dedicated to the Dutch dock workers, who went on strike against the German occupation. The Germans rounded them up and shot them all in that square during WW2. Also on the Square, is the big Dutch Department Store that they called the Beehive? I remember it well, Kirby got up early one day and decided he would go visit the store. When I went to get him for breakfast he was nowhere to be found. A front desk clerk remembered him going out the door and heading toward the store. I rushed to the store and found him in the executive offices where they were giving him Dutch chocolate, and trying to find out who he was. On another day, we went out to Amstelveen and visited the famous tulip fields and flower gardens that the Dutch are so famous for. After two days of visiting Amsterdam's beautiful city, we were off to Rome.

There are so many things to see, the two days in Rome Italy was just a snapshot in time. But, we did get to see St. Peters, a bit of Vatican City and threw our coins into Trevi Fountain. We had dinner in an historic outdoor restaurant, as I was paying the bill on the way out; I noticed an item on the bill for a napkin. When I questioned it, they told me Kirby had stolen a napkin from the table. When I assured them my son was not a thief, the owner returned with me to the table, we found the napkin under the table where it had slipped from Kirby's lap. Amid profound apologies, they deducted the cost of the napkin. As the many times I traveled to Rome, I never dined there again.

I thought it would be educational to take the kids to see the Catacombs, just outside Rome on the Apian Way, where in times past they buried the persecuted Christians, this was in the second to fifth century. Kathy decided she didn't want to get out of the bus. I can't blame her; it was just passageways under the ground with body sized holes on both sides where the bodies had lain; of course nothing was left of the bodies. I found it interesting, but can understand that it wouldn't be for a little girl.

Flying into Athens I had high hopes that we would all enjoy our visit to Greece. I have a good Greek friend in Springfield Massachusetts, when he found out that I was planning a trip to Greece, he gave me such a wonderful description of the Greek Island of Rhodes, where he was born and many of his family live, that I had to plan time there. I had the phone number of his family and promised to visit with them. But first, there was the beautiful city of Athens where I had planned a two day stay. We visited the Acropolis, visited two museums and had dinner in a rooftop restaurant where you view the magnificent sight of the Acropolis all lit up with lights. They tell a story of a young Greek man who, when Athens fell to the Nazi's, wrapped himself in the Greek flag and jumped to his death from the Acropolis. There was so much history to see in Athens, We enjoyed every minute of it, but the kids wanted to get on to Rhodes. The following morning we flew off to a new adventure.

Arriving on Rhodes, we checked into our hotel, where the children couldn't wait to put on their swim suits and head for the pool. The hotel was a large sprawling structure sitting on several acres overlooking the Adriatic Sea. We found the hotel to be full of German tourists. Rhodes was an inexpensive place to visit. They had a saying in Europe, "find out where the Germans go to vacation, as they know where to find the best prices". This was certainly correct in 1961, as we found out.

I was able to contact the family of my Greek friend and we were all invited to their farm for the afternoon. We had a great time; they had a large farm where they grew olives and large orchards of fig trees. One of the highlights of our trip was to ride donkeys down into a valley where we picked and ate some figs. Karen especially liked the donkeys. The following day we visited the ancient City of Rhodes, where the giant figure of The "Colossus of Rhodes" once stood. The homes on the island are all brilliant white and narrow winding streets are lined with little shops. Small tables sit in shady parks interspersed between the shops and open air restaurants, where you can rest and enjoy a cool drink or a dark coffee. We enjoyed our time on Rhodes, it's a lovely Island and I was very happy that we had the opportunity to visit there. The Children enjoyed Rhodes because they could go swimming and ride donkeys down the hill to pick figs. But, all good things come to an end and it was soon time to leave our travels and return home.

When we reached Athens, on the way home, the KLM flight to Amsterdam, where we would change flights back to New York was full. Since we were all travelling on passes, we would have to wait overnight in Athens to see if we could get on the next flight. All the big hotels were full-up. Fortunately, we were able to find a small pension that had a room available where the Children could sleep. We spent the night on two chairs in the lobby. And, lucky us, we were able to get the last five seats on the next day's flight. Flying on passes can be an iffy thing at times. But then all life is iffy isn't it?

As my children read this blog, I hope they will remember that first trip to Europe that we were able to take together, and forgive me for mentioning the funny incidents that occur when you travel with your children, I guess as a father, I wanted my children to not only enjoy the vacation, but to also learn about this vast globe that we call the earth and the many varied people who live on it. I recall that as a child I couldn't wait to travel the world, fortunately, as you will see as this blog continues, I was able to do so, and even today, would give almost anything to be able to travel more.

 

GETTING TO KNOW THE INTERNATIONAL MARKET

One would think that airlines, other than their routes, would be run in pretty much the same way. Not so in KLM's case. This company took great interest in their employees. KLM spared no dollars when it came to investing in training and supporting their people, which is what I found out as time went on.

Just a little background: KLM is the oldest commercial airline in the world, still operating under its original name. It was founded by Albert Plessman in1919 and commenced operation officially out of Amsterdam, on May 17, 1920.

During World War Two, Holland was occupied by the Germans. However, they had kept aircraft in Curacao, as they had service between Amsterdam and the Dutch Islands. They tried to operate some routes in neutral countries. In December 1941, KLM had a DC-3 destroyed on the ground by Japanese fighter planes in Sumatra, Dutch East Indies All passengers and crew members perished. They had another DC-3 shot down after it left Lisbon, on June 1^st 1943, by eight German fighter planes. The thirteen passengers and four crew members were killed. I didn't mean to give you so much history, other than to emphasize the difficulty it was to carry on during the war. Many of the KLM Dutch employees, who had lived through the war in Holland, had stories about their undercover activities that would make heart stopping movies.

Jan Van Eckeren, my local manager in Hartford, was a very nice guy. We spent many days together on the road, when I introduced him to the travel agents and commercial accounts in our sales area. The inside sales staff were very helpful in getting me acquainted with some of the company regulations.

I had joined KLM on February 15, 1960. Time seemed to pass very fast and at the end of September, KLM informed me that I was to attend a twelve day sales course in the Netherlands. The course would be from October 24 to November 5. in The Hague, Holland.

Participants would be housed at the American Hotel in Scheveningen which is the Dutch vacation beach area near The Hague. There would be fourteen sales trainee participants from all over the world. This particular class had members from Teheran, Glasgow, Cologne, Sidney, Rotterdam, Cairo, Buenos Aires, Calgary, Valparaiso, Beverly Hills, Detroit, Schiphol, Tegucigalpa and myself, from Hartford. I still have all the class material in my files. I could write a dozen pages on what I learned from my classmates, the Dutch instructors, and more.

One of the amazing experiences of this training course was my introduction to Europe. When KLM found out that this was my first trip to Europe, they invited me to visit some other cities and countries after the class was over. Of course I accepted the opportunity. After classes, on Nov. 5^th I was driven to Schiphol Airport to board my KLM flight to Rome, for a three night stay. On the 8^th, it was Switzerland, Zurich for one night, on the 9^th, I was in Davos, on the 10^th, in Kitzbuhel, and then on to Austria and Vienna. The highlight of the trip was the final two days in London. My mother and father were born in England, so I had always wanted to visit their homeland.

This was my real introduction to KLM and just the beginning of my future travel in the years ahead. It was certainly a change from Eastern; I was now convinced my job change was right.

KONINKLIJKE LUCHTVAART MAATSCHAPPIJ

The literal translation for the above Dutch words is "Royal Aviation Company" or, as it is better known, "KLM, Royal Dutch Airlines". This is the Company that I had decided to join. As you will recall from the previous blog, Dolf Bulterman, my friend from KLM, had suggested that I apply for a position with his Company as it was opening a sales office in Hartford. I did apply, and had to take a barrage of tests to ensure my ability to fill the Sale Manager Job, which I was applying for. I took the tests in New York, and returned home to Hartford, to wait for a call from KLM regarding the test results. It was an anxious time…

I had been back at work in my Eastern job for almost a week, when I received a call from KLM telling me that the results of my test were favorable and that they had an opening for me in Hartford. It seems that the Sales Manager's position had been filled, however they expected other management openings. In the meantime, would I accept a temporary Sales Representative position, right there, in Hartford? The salary KLM had offered me would remain the same. They asked me to let them know my answer by the following Monday. Helen's position was that I stay with Eastern Air Lines. I decided that in spite of her objections, I would have much better opportunities with a larger international airline.

The next day I called KLM and told them that I would accept the position. I told them that I wanted to give Eastern a two week notice of resignation, to which they agreed. On the following day I presented my resignation to Eastern. Holt Shipman, my Eastern boss, was not very happy, and it did not take long before the Regional Manager was on the phone asking me to reconsider. In many ways it became a difficult task to explain why I was doing this: I had a very happy relationship with my superiors and 13 years of seniority. I felt that after that length of time, with a growing company, I should have progressed further up the ladder. In any event, as much as I liked my bosses, and the Company, I was moving on. I must confess that, at that moment, even I was not one hundred percent sure I had made the right move. It's a little frightening when you're married with three young children, especially when your wife thinks you're crazy.

Two weeks later, at the new KLM office in the Statler Hilton Hotel, I met John Wold, my KLM Regional Manager, and my new District Manager, Jan Van Eckeren. There was a staff of four people working in the ticket office. John Wold had driven up from New York to welcome me. I filled out the required paper work and he was going to take back to New York to put it in my file. Wold, Van Eckeren, and I had lunch, and they spent a couple of hours telling me some of the background of KLM's operations in the USA. Van Eckren was a new District Manager. He had been a Sales Rep. in the New York Regional. Since he was new to the Connecticut area and I had been working the Hartford area for several years, he asked that I help him get acquainted. By the end of the day I felt very much at home. John Wold seemed like a very nice person. Since it was late afternoon he invited me to join him at the hotel bar where we could have some private conversation.

John had brought with him the report on my tests, which he wanted me to read. He could not give it to me to keep as it would go into my file in the Personnel Dept. in New York. It was about three or four pages long and covered a wide range of opinions as to my abilities and future possibilities. From what I remember, it was very positive and implied that I would
make an excellent Manager. John told me that they don't normally let their employees read their test results. He asked that I keep it confidential. I was very happy that he had done so as I was much surer I had made the right decision in coming to work for this KLM.

LIFE IS FULL OF CHALLENGES!

Perhaps the title of this blog should be "ANOTHER CHANGE", but then, isn't any change a challenge? One never knows if change is going to be good or bad. Every time anyone comes to a crossroad in life, one can only try to make a calculated guess as to where it will lead. Perhaps you decide that you're not going to make a change and instead just continue straight on. All your life you're going to wonder what if? Nothing in life comes with a guarantee. You can try to avoid change; however, change is not always up to you.

1960 became a year of decision. If you've been reading my blogs, you'll recall that I spoke about Dolf Bulterman, the District Sales Manager from KLM. I learned that Dolf had a couple of brothers. They were born in Holland and their mother was a secretary to Albert Plessman, the founder of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. Dolf's brother Charles was an executive with KLM in New York.

One day, around November of 1960, I ran into Dolf, in Springfield. He had come down from Boston and wanted to speak with me. There was a Friendly's coffee shop nearby, where we had a cup of coffee. Dolf told me that KLM was expanding and was planning on opening a District Sales Office in Hartford. He asked me if I would be interesting in applying for the job of District Manager. He had spoken about me to the KLM U.S. Sales Manager in New York and had recommended me. Now KLM wanted to interview me in New York. I told him I had no experience in the European Market. Dolf said that I had lots of airline experience and I could learn the foreign market. I said that I would like to think it over and would contact him the next day.

Going home that night I spoke to Helen about the conversation with Dolf Bulterman and that I thought I should try for the interview. Helen was very much opposed to the idea. She mentioned the 13 years I had invested with Eastern and didn't want me to throw it all away. I told her that Eastern had an opening for a District Manager in New Jersey that I had applied for. I told her I had gotten the interview, but was told by Eastern that they thought I was too young for the job. That was in 1957 and I was 31 years old. I knew the man who got that job; he was about 50, but I believe I was better qualified than he was. I sure didn't want to wait another 20 years to get another opportunity. Helen was still opposed. Her father was a tool maker who had been in the same job for thirty years. He came from the old school where you work 9 to 5 and, if you lived long enough, got a gold watch. I told her I had to see where this new opportunity might lead. I promised her that I would not make a firm commitment without talking to her. The following day I called Dolf and asked him to make an appointment for me.

A few days later I found myself in the KLM building, in New York. The interview went very well. However, I was told that the Company never employed anyone without extensive testing and that as of that moment they would like to offer me the position, subject to the testing results. The salary they offered me was substantially more than I was making at Eastern. The testing was going to be over a two day period, with an outside private company that specialized in determining the suitability of prospective employees. KLM paid the cost involved and would provide overnight accommodations in New York. I thanked them, and said that I would call them to let them know the date when I could return for the test.

Frankly, I was concerned over the testing. It had been years since I had taken any tests and the thought of two days of it was already giving me a headache. When I got back to Springfield, I told Helen about the interview, the salary offered, and the need to pass their tests. Helen once again protested the whole idea. She thought that if I failed the tests, it would somehow get back to Eastern etc. I had to make a decision. Go against my wife's objections, take tests that I might fail, or should I just remain a Sales Rep for Eastern and maybe, someday, get a promotion. I had been very impressed with how I had been received by KLM, their modern offices, and the KLM building on Fifth Ave. Something told me not to pass up this opportunity.

WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS

Western Massachusetts was a beautiful area of the state. The city of Springfield was not as big as Hartford, but it had a number of well known companies and many travel agents. Eastern decided to open a Springfield ticket office in the Sheridan Hotel. This way I now had my own office as well as two tickets agents, who could give me some backup office help.

Just before my official takeover of the Western Massachusetts area, Helen gave birth to a son on September 23^rd 1955. It was nice to have a son. It's not that girls aren't very special, because they are. I love my daughters very much and would never change them for anything. I guess it's just that every father would like to have a son. So, here was our son. What to name this new arrival? Helen decided upon Raymond Kirby Kitchener, to be called Kirby. So now we had three little "Ks" Kathy, Karen and Kirby. Kirby was just as fair haired and blue eyed as his sisters. The girls loved him and he became the center of attention in the household.

I enjoyed working out of Springfield. There were some very good travel agents in the city, and sales were progressing nicely. I was able to get ATP card sales to many top companies, including Massachusetts Mutual Insurance Co., Stanley Home Products and the Breck Corporation. It was a rather long commute every day from Windsor Locks to Springfield, so it was decided in 1958 that we sell the Connecticut house and buy one in Springfield. Helen was in charge of finding a home for us. She fell in love with a very old three story house on Magnolia Terrace, in Springfield. The house was located about a block from a beautiful public park and only a few blocks from the elementary school. I remember that about that time, Hip Lloyd gave Kathy a black cat that she named "Tinkle". She became the family pet and Kathy used to drag it with her wherever she went.

It was late November 1958. In December, Eastern Airlines pilots went on strike. Captain Eddy Rickenbacker said that all management personnel would be kept on the payroll for an unspecified time, subject to the strike being settled. No one thought that the strike would last long. I thought that it would be nice to have a Christmas party for the twenty or so Hartford and Springfield office employees who were not working. Most of them came, and it was a nice party. In January, I joined their ranks. As the strike dragged on, I decided to get a job in the men's department of the local department store.

When we purchased the Springfield house, I had the heating oil tank for the furnace filled. It took 500 gallons to fill it. In early January, I had to fill it again. The very old steam furnace in the cellar, consumed oil almost as fast as I could fill the tank. I learned a lesson: big old houses may look great from the outside, but you better have deep pockets to keep them going. The one positive thing about the house was that the three little Ks liked it. In the spring, Kathy learned to ride a bike, Karen learned how to make mud pies (which she called mushy gushy), and Kirby, who was only three liked to play catch with the girls.

The strike had been settled in late January and I was back at work, but I decided to continue to work part time at the department store in order to keep the furnace fed. By midsummer, we had been able to sell the beautiful old house on Magnolia Terrace, and purchased a Cape Cod style house on Short Street, in Westfield. Air travel continued to grow and I was finding more airline sales representatives calling on "my" travel agents and commercial accounts. Many of these sales people were representing foreign airlines. One particular sales manager I kept running into was Dolf Bulterman. Dolf was District Manager for K.L.M. Royal Dutch Airlines, in Boston. He was a nice guy: we would frequently have lunch together when we met up on the road. Since we were not competitors, we would often share information on what was going on with various travel agents.

I remember the winter of '59 very well: we had so much snow that on many occasions I couldn't get to work, as the snow was so deep on Short Street that not even the snow plows get through for a couple of days. To this day, I am reminded by my children how I fell off the roof into a snow bank, while trying to get the snow off the roof. During the following that summer I built a large rabbit hutch in the back yard. I bought several large rabbits for the children and gave them the task to feed them and keep them clean, a responsibility that they handled well.

One of my monthly sales trips was to go north from Springfield, Massachusetts on route 91, to Northampton, where I would visit agents and make a call on Smith College. From there I would continue north to Greenfield, where I had an agent; then I would pick up the Mohawk Trail west to North Adams, where I had two agents and a couple of commercial accounts. Next I would head south to Pittsfield, in the Berkshire Mountains. In winter or summer, this was a beautiful scenic trip. At one time my father came for a visit with us and I took him on this day trip. He enjoyed it so very much; I will always remember that day in 1959.

THE NEW DISTRICT GROWS

Eastern Airlines was growing as more individuals and corporations found the speed and convenience of air travel for vacations and business. The commercial side of business travel grew the fastest, as salesmen, executives and meeting planners could set up or attend meetings in a much shorter time. Salesmen could now expand their travel to include more cities and still get home for the weekend. The Hartford office expanded to cover the Northern area of Connecticut and all of Western Massachusetts. This area included about one hundred travel agents and hundreds of commercial accounts.

It was a daunting task to cover all this territory. I spent many weeks making an inventory of all the travel agents in the district. Many hours were spent on the phone, calling agents for details on ownership, employees, etc. These were all placed on IBM cards. It was important to make a call pattern so that the travel agents got a personal visit. Fortunately, the A.R.C. (Airline Reporting Corporation), could supply us with ticket sales figures, per agency. This information was also noted on the IBM cards so I knew the highest producers for our area.

On the commercial side, I had to determine what large corporations and manufacturers were in my sales area. This was very important as airlines were trying to gain control of business travel by offering credit through their use of a credit card issued by a specific airline. The card was called an ATP Account or "Air Travel Plan" account. Although the card was good for charging travel on any airline, it gave the issuing airline the ability to know on which airline the passenger was purchasing tickets, and where they were traveling. This was very important information as now the District Sales Representative whose airline had the ATP account knew how much travel was being done and what airline was being used.

In order to obtain an ATP account a company or other organization had to place a deposit with the issuing airline, in the amount of $425.00. For a company that was doing a lot of travel, they could have an individual card issued for all their executive staff and traveling sales people, giving them control over their travel expenses, such as first class or coach travel. Fortunately I was very good at sales and often had the highest ATP sales of all the District offices.

Developing a good rapport with the large travel agencies was very important as a travel agent was often able to direct their client's air travel to any airline serving their client's destination. Some of the large agents would direct their staff to steer their clients to a certain airline. It was about that time that group travel started. A good sales representative began calling on large corporations and talking to employee groups and organizations about organizing a group of fellow employees or organization members to travel to Florida, or other popular destinations for their vacations. We could offer a free ticket to the organizer if they reached a group of fifteen people or more. (Giving a free ticket to anybody or even to a group of fifteen people had to be approved by the C.A.B.)

The Civil Aviation Board controlled all aviation. Airline routes were awarded by the C.A.B., the routes were based on public need, and were subsidized by the government for carrying the mail. All routes were airmail routes and flight numbers were based on those routes. The first digit in the flight number indicated if the aircraft was traveling from North to South, or from South to North, from East to West, or from West to East. The second digit indicated the direction in which the aircraft was traveling. For instance, Eastern Airlines flight 602 was airmail route #6 and 02 indicated it was a northbound flight. Flight 603 would be the same airmail route only southbound.

The C.A.B. controlled all air fares. Airlines could not charge just any fare they wanted, nor could they pay any commission they wanted. It all had to be approved by the CAB. Unfortunately, many airlines bent the rules or ignored them completely. The C.A.B. would assess heavy fines if they were caught, but later on it got completely out of control which led to the Dublin Accords, which I will mention later. During President Carter's administration airlines were deregulated, however all regulation pertaining to safety, maintenance, pilot training, etc. still remains in force today through the F.A.A. (The Federal Aviation Administration).

Getting back to the Hartford office, because of the size of the sales area, it was almost impossible to give it the coverage it deserved. In consultation with the Regional Office, we decided that we needed an additional salesman. We interviewed a number of applicants and decided on Chris Mayhall, who came to us from our Alabama office. He was a great guy, whom all of us got to admire greatly. We decided that I would cover the Western Massachusetts area, and Chris would cover Northern Connecticut.

ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL NEW ARRIVAL

As it always has, fortunately winter was followed by spring and summer. Spring in Connecticut is a wonderful time. Trees are showing new growth and flowers are peeking out of the ground, almost like saying "is it safe to come out and bloom", and when they do, it's a riot of color and aroma.

Hartford was a nice city. Our District Sales office was located there in the Bond Hotel. Our District Manager, Holt Shipman, reported to the Boston regional office. We usually had one or two meetings a year in Boston. I was enjoying working at Bradley Field Airport, and Hip Lloyd was certainly a good boss to work for, but I couldn't see myself as a ticket or operations' agent for the rest of my life. For now, it was fine, and with a new baby on the way, I was looking forward to staying put for some time. Eastern was growing and we were adding extra flights. It was a busy time… And time was flying.

It was on September 1^st. 1954, that we had our new arrival when Helen brought forth a second beautiful baby girl, Karen Ann Kitchener. We now had Kathy and Karen. I was amazed that both girls were always so content. They rarely cried or were sick; they were just the best babies anyone could have. Karen was blue eyed and very blond like her mother, she was not quite as big as Kathy was, and it was apparent that she was going to be a tall young lady. Kathy was almost two years old and took great interest in Karen. She was happy to have a baby sister and was looking forward to play with her when they got older. Kathy even at that age was a very caring child.

It was at that time that District Manager Holt Shipman asked me to come down to his office in Hartford for a meeting. Holt told me that they were going to expand the District Office and were planning to add an Outside Sales Representative. Holt wanted to know if I would be interested in applying for the position. The job would entail calling on all the travel agents in the district and all the major commercial establishments in an effort to get them to use Eastern Airlines when they travelled. Holt told me that he had already spoken to Hip Lloyd and Hip was in accord with offering me the interview.

I had had a little bit of experience in outside sales while in Miami. I spent a few days with the outside representatives calling on agents and hotel concierges. The airlines didn't have many outside sales people in those days. The only one that I knew in Connecticut was a man worked for United Air Lines. In any event, I was ready to learn more and told Holt that I would welcome the opportunity to interview for the job.

A few weeks later Al Terrell, the Regional Manager from Boston came down to Hartford to interview me. I had met Al in Boston during our regional meetings.I believe it made the interview a little easier. I spent about an hour or so talking with Al and answering his questions. It helped that I had the Management Training experience in Miami, as well as having worked in all the different departments. I will always remember the ending of the interview when Al said: "Ray, you've got the job. Congratulations" As I got up to leave, Al said: Let me get your hat. I said thank you, but I didn't have one. I was told that when I left the office I was to buy a hat and never go out without it. (I don't think many people wear a hat today. Jack Kennedy changed the style when he went hatless.). In any event I bought a hat and became a District Sales Representative, working out of the Hartford office. Hip Lloyd offered his congratulations and told me that he would always be available for assistance if needed. In Many ways, the Connecticut Eastern Air Line employees were very much a family.

It was about that time that Helen told me the good news that Kathy and Karen were going to get a new baby sister or brother.

 

Hartford, Connecticut

Eastern Air Lines served two cities in Connecticut, New Haven and Hartford. The Hartford's airport was Bradley Field, located at Windsor Locks, which was midway between Hartford and Springfield, Massachusetts. Several other airlines also served Bradley Field. Eastern's Airport Manager was Hip Lloyd. During my interview with him I found that he needed someone who could handle flight operations as well as the ticket counter and the reservation office. I had considerable experience in all these functions and could fill the post very well. We set an approximate date for my transfer and I was on my way back to Miami to give Helen the good news. The "approximate" date was due to the fact that I had to sell the house in Miami, plus the fact that I would stay in Miami until the busy season was over. Mr. Lloyd was happy to be getting someone with so much experience and he was alright with the wait.

Helen seemed happy that we were going to be in Connecticut. Her family's home was in Little Falls, New York, which was about a day's drive from Hartford. She had graduated from the State Teachers College in Syracuse and still had a sister in the area. In the mean time I had to sell the house in Miami. I also had to sell the convertible we had purchased, and get a more suitable car for the north. My mother came for a visit and so did my Dad, fortunately not at the same time. It was a hectic time, especially with a new baby. Fortunately, again, Kathy was an easy baby to care for. She was always happy and loved to be held and played with.

The house sold and we had to rent a place for a couple of months. I wasn't so lucky with the car, so I decided to just keep it and trade it in once we were up North. We didn't have a large amount furniture and belongings, therefore I decided to rent a "U-haul" I had a trailer hitch installed and we were just about ready to roll.

Transfer date arrived. Thanks to some Eastern "Sky Caps" who helped me load the furniture in the trailer and we were on our way. I picked the most direct route without thinking about the trailer I was towing. The most direct route took us through the Appalachian Mountains. Going up the mountains was pretty slow going, the trailer was very heavy. Unfortunately, what goes up must come down, and it was much faster than I wanted to go. The trailer was swaying and I was praying, by the time we reached the bottom, I had burned out the brakes, and Helen, holding Kathy was not a happy camper with my route choice. Neither was I. We found a hotel and stayed overnight while they put in new brake pads. It was two days later when my wife started speaking to me again.

The plan was to drive to Fairfield, New York, which is just outside Little Falls, where Helen and Kathy would stay with Helen's father and mother. I would leave the trailer there, drive to Windsor Locks, find a place to live, and then bring Helen and Kathy to their new home. Sounded good, but things don't always work that smoothly. When I got to Bradley Field, Hip Lloyd wanted me to start work immediately. I found a room that I could rent near the airport and started work the very next day.

It was great to be back at work; however, I just could not find a suitable rental house or apartment. I found an area of new homes that were being built very close to the airport. After consultation with Helen, I decided that the best thing to do was buy one of the newly built homes. I was pretty sure that I would be stationed in Connecticut for a long time to come. We purchased a home on Darien Drive, in Windsor Locks. Over my weekend days off, I drove up to Fairfield and picked up Helen, Kathy, and the furniture and we drove to the new house. At last the family could settle in.

Connecticut is a very nice state, especially the Northern part. From where we lived it was only about a 30 minute drive to either South, to Hartford or North, to Springfield. We arrived in the late spring and it was nice not to have to endure the summer heat of south Florida. When not at work, I was working around the house. I seeded the new lawn, built a rail fence around the property, and did all the chores of a new home owner. Kathy was growing very fast and the summer was going fast too. We celebrated Punky's first birthday on November 11, 1953. It was shortly after the New Year, that I received the good news that Kathy was going to have a new brother or sister.

Winter had arrived and so did the snow. Winter flight operations work was alright in the office, but standing out in the snow directing aircraft to the loading area or climbing up on a special scaffold to spray glycol on the wings and tail so ice wouldn't form, were jobs that the operations staff often tossed a coin to see who got that nasty winter task.

This was also the first time that I had to shovel snow from the drive way. Now I knew why all those people came to Florida in the winter. I kind of missed those whispering palms.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A NEW ARRIVAL ON THE SCENE

Winter 1951/52 was very busy. Helen and I purchased a home in the Southwest Miami area. It was a nice 2 bedroom home sitting on a double lot, at 1625 S.W. 28^th St. In those days this was mostly a farm area. The owner of the large farm across the street would often come by with corn and other produce he was growing. We purchased the home from the builder for $12,000. Would you believe this?

It was a hectic time at Eastern. Flights were full and often oversold. We had a special individual in reservations whose job it was to study the average number of no-shows on past flights and calculate how many seats we could sell, over capacity, in order to make up for the no-shows we had on every flight. In those days, there was no penalty for being a no-show; therefore, he would authorize the sale of additional seats over capacity. This was done for every flight. Often, even with over-sales, we would still have seats for stand-by passengers. On the other hand, when everyone showed up, we had very angry people ready to kill. All we could do was put them on a priority standby list or refund their ticket.

We counted tickets at the departure gate and when the tickets equaled seats, we stopped passengers from boarding. However, miscounts often resulted in having to go onboard the airplane and remove passengers who had no confirmed seat. You can imagine the problem and anger we encountered when trying to get someone to deplane. Only a few of us were authorized to handle these problems. It was up to management staff such as the Reservations Manager, District Sales Manager, etc to handle the tricky situation. It was not an easy task. The passenger would often refuse to get off or sit down in the middle of the aisle; some would even try to swing a punch at you. Our Reservations Manager had a good solution; he would hide in the men's room. When the season was over, he came to work one day and found a new Manager sitting at his desk.

It was good when the winter of 1951/52 was over. Then, in an effort to develop summer travel to Florida, Eastern came up with a special summer promotion called "Happy Holidays". We were able to convince a number of hotels on Miami Beach to remain open over the summer and we would promote special tours, using those hotels who would give it a try. We came up with a special $19.00 per person, plus airfare, for a 6 night vacation on Miami Beach. If you combined this with a roundtrip $88.00 per person coach air fare, a couple could spend the week on Miami Beach for only $214.00. This promotion was highly successful. Miami was on its way to becoming a year round destination. Miami was so appreciative of the Eastern Air Lines effort to increase tourism that they named a new causeway to Key Biscayne, the "Rickenbacker Causeway".

But something much more special was about to happen. On November 11, 1952, Helen presented me with a beautiful baby daughter, Kathryn Rae Kitchener. She was a very happy and healthy baby. Since Helen was going to continue work, we hired Mrs. Feeger, an English lady to take her for walks in her carriage and to take care of her every day. She just loved Kathy. We could not have had a better baby. I can hardly remember her ever crying. She sure was the joy of our life. She became "Punky", a nick name she still has today.

Unfortunately, Helen was having a very difficult time with the Florida heat. Our house was not air-conditioned; very few homes were in those days. The Eastern Airlines department where she worked was not air-conditioned either. After a number of visits to the Doctor and various medications that didn't work, he recommended that we find a cooler place to live. I approached the company to see if it was possible to obtain a transfer up North. Eastern was very accommodating and found that the Hartford Connecticut airport office was looking for someone who could handle flight operations and reservations. I soon found myself on a plane to Bradley Field, Connecticut for an interview with the station manager, Hip Loyd. I understood from those who knew him, that he was a very good manager and well liked. I hoped that he would like me.

IN THE GOOD OLD SUMMER TIME

Summer in Florida could honestly be called tropic. Although it did cool down somewhat during the evening and night, heat and humidity made the days rather uncomfortable. It was easy to understand why there was very little tourism from June through October. Although the few hotels that remained open were air conditioned, most places were not. Florida had not yet embraced the comforts of air conditioning. It was far too expensive to purchase and run. Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, President of Eastern Air Lines, did not believe in a/c, and told us all that it was unhealthy. Frankly, Capt Eddy was a tightwad and could not bring himself to spend the money. He did, however, have a supply of salt tablets by every drinking fountain.

On my first summer in Florida, I was introduced to hurricanes. All I knew about Hurricanes was from an old Bogart film called "Key Largo". The one that hit us that summer was a close relative to the one in the movie. When Eastern knew it was coming, they evacuated our aircraft to the North. They informed us that all the married men and home owners could go home to board up their homes and be with their wives and families. They asked for a few volunteers to stay at the airport for security reasons and to answer phone calls from people trying to leave Miami. The main terminal building was new, but on either side there were wooden fingers where the gates for incoming and departing flights were located. Fred and I volunteered to stay along with four or five others.

I had taken my old Ford and pulled it under the roof of one of the fingers, where I hoped it would be safe. When the storm hit, it was wind and rain with such force that the wooden fingers began to come apart. The wind was howling so badly in the terminal that we felt sure it was going to collapse. I remember looking out at the runway and it looked like an ocean with waves coming in and crashing against the building. As the eye of the storm passed overhead, it became very quiet and still. You could look up and see the moon in the sky.

We all went outside to look around. Just down the street, about four or five blocks away, was a little coffee shop with the lights on. I decided that I would see if it was open and get some coffee for all of us. It was open, so I got several cups of coffee which the owner put into a box for me to carry. I had walked back about two blocks when the eye of the storm disappeared and the winds returned in full force. I grabbed hold of a telephone pole as the wind almost blew me down. The box of coffee disappeared into the wind and I was about as scared as I had ever been. I managed to get back to the terminal, mostly on my hand and knees, soaking wet, with a lesson learned: never go out in the eye of a hurricane.

The old Ford survived (unfortunately). It had a few extra dents and scratches along with a cracked windshield, but it was running. Fred and I decided to drive into Miami and look at the damage. I recall Burdines store windows had broken open, with clothing and manikins laying in the street. Some streets were impassable because of the debris. Miami was like a ghost town. No people, no police, just a lot of destruction where ever you looked. We decided to just get out of there and drive back to Miami Springs. When the airport reopened, the employees were full of stories about roofs gone, trees down, flooded houses, broken windows and children crying of fright. Hardly anyone had storm shutters or even hurricane insurance in those days. It was quite an introduction to the fury of Mother Nature.

Summer passed into fall and the tourists started to return. I had been dating Helen Oliver for more than six months and I asked her to marry me. Helen was a divorcee; she had been married to a man who was an American seismologist, working for the Venezuelan Government, searching for oil in Venezuela. She had worked for the American Embassy, in Caracas. When the marriage broke up, she came to Miami where she got her divorce. She then obtained a job at Eastern Airlines where we met. We were married in February, 1951.

It was a very busy winter; Eastern was now flying the Super Constellation, the L1011, with 64 passengers. They started "Economy Coach Service" with flights flying out of New York and Miami around midnight and arriving in Miami or New York at 7 AM in the morning. The fare was only forty four dollars one way. Flights were crowded and we had to have a midnight to 8 AM shift and a 3:30 PM to midnight shift to handle the new schedules. The daytime flights were sold out as well. We often had as many as 1000 people on our standby lists trying to get on a flight home.

Life with Eastern was good and I was happy that I had decided to remain there rather than returning to United. It certainly was giving me a great deal of airline experience and I was looking forward to the future.