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.