Meet my children

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Meet my children

 

 

Although I used to think that I was the "advisor in chief" to my children, it seems that advice is a two way street. As a matter of fact, the older I get the more advice I receive. It's important to mention that coming from my side or theirs, it is always given from love and thoughtfulness.

Let me introduce my children. Kathryn Rae (Kathy) is the oldest, but not by much. Our children came pretty close together. Karen Ann (Karen) was next in line, the middle child. Last, but not least came Raymond Kirby, (Kirby). So there you have it, Kathy, Karen and Kirby. Kathy was born in Miami, Florida, Karen and Kirby in Hartford Connecticut. I have to say that I cannot see where geography played any difference in their personality. I assumed that if one is raised in the South, or in the North, there would be notable differences. In their case, considering we moved frequently as a family, place of birth is really not much noticeable. I honestly believe that children who have to cope with moving from one place to another frequently develop certain skills that other children who live their entire childhood in one place, do not. I'm sure there will be some disagreement on theories such as this.

To get back to the subject, advice is the result of experiences and observations accumulated over the years. To give you a brief resume, I was born in Vancouver, Canada. I attended a private boarding school for boys, served in the Canadian Army 1944-45. I would say that I learned a great deal while growing up, going to school, and serving in the Army. The advice I would later pass on to my children is the importance of education and how important it is to follow regulations. After a few hours of peeling potatoes, washing dishes or serving guard duty in 20 below zero while getting basic training on the Canadian prairies, you learn to shape up fast. I was happy to take my discharge from the Army, in late 1945.

In 1946 I Joined United Airlines in San Francisco, California. I was hired as a reservations agent and sent to Chicago for training. United, at that time, was operating the Douglas DC-3 21 passenger aircraft. Not too many people were flying in those days. Later, as Douglas DC-4 aircraft came out of use by the Air Force and into commercial airline use, they were configured to carry 44 passengers. I can recall standing at the San Francisco airport with some other employees looking at what seemed to be a gigantic airplane and wondering where in the world we were ever going to find 44 people who wanted to go to the same place, at the same time. The advice I would give my children is to never under estimate technology. Keep up with the times and observe what is happening around you. Who would have thought aircraft would be flying with 500 passengers?

After almost two years with United Air Lines, I was loaned by them to Eastern Airlines, in Miami Florida. Back in those days, most travel by air was East to West or North to South. United was a "California to New York and points in between" airline. In the winter, flying between New York and California with stops enroute was subject to some pretty harsh weather conditions. I once took three days to fly from San Francisco to Chicago. Eastern Air Lines, on the other hand, flew a route that took people from the cold North to sunny Florida. United and Eastern worked out an agreement that when United was busy in the summertime, Eastern who was almost empty in the summer months (who wanted to go to Florida in summer?) would loan employees to United. In winter, when Eastern was flying with full aircraft, United loaned employees to Eastern. It was a great idea until one of the airlines was not always able to get their employees to come back home.

My advice to my children is to take advantage of opportunities, analyze them carefully, listen to their gut instincts and forge ahead. You never know where these opportunities will lead. They lead me to Miami.

 

 

 

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