- A man who knew veterans of the Civil War, worked in San Francisco after the great earthquake, and ridden the rails around the country before settling in territorial Arizona.
- A former schoolteacher whose classes were so poor that many students were barefoot. She had to teach the kids to play baseball and she umpired their games.
- An American criminal investigator who'd worked on sensitive cases with the French and German police.
- A Russian scientist who been wounded by a German sniper, thrown into a mental asylum by the regime in order to squelch his dissent, and then exiled.
- A Tuskegee Airman who later created a successful business while working for civil rights.
- A former makeup artist who knew a variety of Hollywood stars. [He described Ronald Reagan as the nicest man he'd ever worked with.]
- A businessman with extensive dealings in Mexico whose Canadian grandfather was saved by Pancho Villa from execution.
- A former Air Corps navigator who flew bombing missions over Nazi Germany.
The list could go on. In retrospect, what stuns me is how little I asked them about their experiences.
We are surrounded by walking and talking graduate courses in history.
We are surrounded by walking and talking graduate courses in history.
2 comments:
We met one of the original crew of men who worked on Mount Rushmore this past summer when we visited Rapid City, SD. (He is 92 years old!) He even autographed a booklet that we bought for the girls. Very cool experience! :)
CincyCat,
I am envious!
Michael
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