A FAMILY SAGA

About the Book

This book is a record of one man's life across almost a century from the end of World War I until the end of the 20th Century. But it is also the story of a good marriage resulting in a fine family. The story runs from an Iowa of the agricultural age and culture on which America's Middle West was established to the global economy of today's major conglomerate businesses with its jet planes and satellite communications with a brief time out for the shock of World War II. Many of my generation will identify with the experiences and changes of which this history is made.

About the Author

This is a book about my life. I have lived through more than 90 years during which the culture and the way of life in these United States has changed faster and more dramatically than at any time during recorded history. I was born at the end of WWI to a couple who were the first generation off the farm. I have lived on an Iowa farm. I experienced as a teen ager the Great Depression. I was a Conant Scholar at Harvard College as part of an experiment in broadening the ethnic base of that venerable institution. WWII brought an experience in the U.S. Navy as an officer and navigator on a destroyer on duty in occupied Japan. As an industrial chemist I passed through all the chairs from night shift foreman to Executive Vice President of a major, international conglomerate. After retiring, we moved to Mattapoisett, a small town in Massachusetts, into a house built in 1843. I have been active in all of the elements of small town life from church deacon to the committee to refurbish and expand the 100 year old library building. My wife died three years ago after 66 years of marriage and I now split my time between the house in Mattapoisett and a Continuing Care community in Lexington, Massachusetts where I remain active serving on various committees and playing bassoon in the Lexington Bicentennial Band.