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GUY D’
As most of you know, I worked for the AT&T Company for a long time. During the last seven or eight years, my duties were with what was then called the Overseas Department. Basically this had to do with telecommunications outside of the United States. It was an assignment that brought a great personal satisfaction. …
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SAVERS OF STRING
I have given this essay the title which may recall some distant memories of the Bible by calling it “Savers of String” instead of “String Savers”. Now having settled that question, I would like to dedicate it to Thelma Dupont. This essay is so dedicated to Thelma because she comes from a family larger than…
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BODY AND SOUL
This is a philosophical essayette on the condition of mankind. A learned gentleman once remarked within my hearing that he would prefer to remain in control over his intellect in the final days before his body gave out. This assumes that the human condition is comprised of body and intellect. The learned gentleman to whom…
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MAYBE LILLIE WAS RIGHT ALL ALONG
The Lillie in the title of this essay is my mother, to whom you have been introduced before. Lillie was born in Pope County, Illinois on the banks of the Ohio River in a community called Lusk. It was not a town at all. It was simply a landing spot for the folks who traversed…
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DECISIONS
As we march through life, there are thousands of decisions that must be made. A high proportion of them are made by ourselves. At the same time, outside forces make many of the decisions for us. All things considered, I would like to have the decision-making made by myself but I know that is an…
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A THOUGHT OR TWO ABOUT TOM SCANDLYN
Somewhere in this batch of essays, there is one called “Old Age is a Disease.” That was a tribute to Hana Davis’s mother and to Howard Davis’s mother-in-law. As I noted at the end of that essay, I never had the opportunity to meet the author of those lines about old age being a disease. …
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GEORGIA
I am dictating these lines on the afternoon of February 14, which of course is St. Valentine’s Day. The object of this essay is to pay tribute to a lovely woman who has been my friend for perhaps 30 years. This essay has nothing to do with the state of Georgia in this country or…
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TWO TAXING QUESTIONS
Over the years, readers of these essays will recall my references to my friend in Sweden, whose name is Sven Lernevall. You will be surprised to know that one of Sven’s friends is a slightly younger person named Christer Flink. My understanding is that when Sven reached the age of retirement, he was succeeded in…
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DON’T FORGET YOUR CHANGE
In Missouri where I come from, we don’t like fanciful titles or road signs. The main highway leading from St. Louis to Clayton, Missouri, my home town, is called Clayton Road. It is so called because it goes to Clayton. Similarly, in the suburbs of St. Louis there was a road called North and South. …
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RETIRING RETROACTIVELY
The network news broadcasts and the politicians are attempting to determine what was meant by Mitt Romney’s saying that he had retired retroactively. I fancy myself a wordsmith but I am thoroughly baffled by the use of the term “retired retroactively.” The case in point involves Mr. Romney filing papers with the Securities and Exchange…