Amy

She was not an accident; the story is this:
Junior members of the Winnetka Womens Club
Had to fly up to senior status at thirty-five.
So a lot of them had babies that year.

Amy was seven years younger than her sister
Had two brothers ten and twelve years older.
She was the family pet;
Nicknamed boo by her siblings.

She was too young for kindergarten;
We should have held her back.
And did for seventh grade.
In high school she blossomed as an actress
  and choreographer.

I taught her how to drive, cool and confident,
Sometimes driving boyfriends on dates.
Drama school in college was a mixed success,
Never quite achieving a stage personality.

She was a beautiful young woman,
Romanced by one suitor after another.
All she turned away, never seeming
To be able to commit to married life.

She lacked the fire in the belly that acting requires,
Drifting along as a waitress and paralegal.
When into her life came a newly minted M.D.
With issues of his own in relationships.

He damaged her psyche, but inspired a resolution
To become a doctor herself, a pediatrician.
Moving in with her sister; she took difficult pre-med courses
Until another episode derailed her plan.

Perhaps she couldn't face the reality of medical school.
A third mental episode ended her life.
There is no greater anguish than that suffered
By couples who lose an adult child; a life's promise is gone.

Do I regret that we ever had a fourth child?
Never, our lives were enriched by her presence.
Not a day goes by that I do not think about Amy,
And be glad that she was our daughter.

Ode To First Daughter

She was an adorable baby.
When her father came home from work,
He would scoop her up on his lap,
Bouncing, giggling, and squealing.

Early on, she realized that she was
Different from her two older brothers.
She could wear clothes that they didn't,
Especially her "nightgrown."

Memorable moments:  when she ran a
Very high fever while her mother was
Out with the two boys, and had
To be rushed to the doctor's office.

Then, when it was evident that her
Foot was rolling inward, she had
To be taken to the "piggy doctor"
For fitting a corrective shoe insert.

Keen competition from her brothers
In schoolwork brought out a
Methodical side to her nature that
Later became determined pursuit of her goals.

Exposed to good times with a privileged
Hippy element at summer camp, she fancied
Herself briefly as one of culture's rebels,
But that gave way to a common sense outlook.

From Scarsdale High to Wheaton College, Mass.,
She vowed never to marry a Harvard lawyer.
But of course, that's exactly what she did
While pursuing a retailing career at Macy's.

She excelled in the tasks of management there,
Which later found usefulness in raising a
Sterling group of three only children,
Inspiring them to be good, better, and best.

She is a paragon of a wife and mother
Amongst the baby boomer generation,
With years of service to her church.
(She escapes to the paradise of Cape Cod!)

Ode To First Daughter

She was an adorable baby.
When her father came home from work,
He would scoop her up on his lap,
Bouncing, giggling, and squealing.

Early on, she realized that she was
Different from her two older brothers.
She could wear clothes that they didn't,
Especially her "nightgrown."

Memorable moments:  when she ran a
Very high fever while her mother was
Out with the two boys, and had
To be rushed to the doctor's office.

Then, when it was evident that her
Foot was rolling inward, she had
To be taken to the "piggy doctor"
For fitting a corrective shoe insert.

Keen competition from her brothers
In schoolwork brought out a
Methodical side to her nature that
Later became determined pursuit of her goals.

Exposed to good times with a privileged
Hippy element at summer camp, she fancied
Herself briefly as one of culture's rebels,
But that gave way to a common sense outlook.

From Scarsdale High to Wheaton College, Mass.,
She vowed never to marry a Harvard lawyer.
But of course, that's exactly what she did
While pursuing a retailing career at Macy's.

She excelled in the tasks of management there,
Which later found usefulness in raising a
Sterling group of three only children,
Inspiring them to be good, better, and best.

She is a paragon of a wife and mother
Amongst the baby boomer generation,
With years of service to her church.
(She escapes to the paradise of Cape Cod!)

Ode to First Son

He was the baby who traveled, at six weeks,
From Fort Knox, KY to Bad Wildungen, Germany,
With stops in New Hartford, NY, and Brooklyn;
Harbingers of events in the future.

For three years, he had a nursemaid to care for him,
Gaining a brother in Frankfurt, Germany.
At Camp Pickett, VA, Santa Claus brought him
A pedal-driven jeep with B Company markings.

At age six, his parents made a binding decision
To enroll him in the public school,
Thereby cementing their determination
To leave Catholicism for the Episcopal Church.

Thereafter, they aimed at living
In towns with the best public schools.
So the better part of his education
Occurred in Winnetka, IL, and Scarsdale, NY.

Before his freshman year at New Trier High School,
He wanted to go out for football, but lacked
Twenty-five of the 150 pounds required.
So his mother found a local soccer team just forming.

That became a determining factor in his life.
He took to soccer as a natural talent.
Acquiring the nickname of Prancer for
The way he approached and kicked the ball.

His sports heros were international futbol stars.
So he went on to Hamilton College, NY,
To study economics and Spanish, which
Led him to a career in international finance.

Chance ... or the hand of God
Brought him to a Spanish language program
With a beautiful tutor from Brooklyn
Who became his wife and mother of two fine children!

Ode to Second Son

His mother, an only child, wanted a big family,
So he came along two years after the first son.
Born in the Army hospital in Frankfurt;
After delivery, she sobbed, "It's another boy!"

"That's all right, dear," said the father,
"We'll enjoy another boy!"
And they did, after they recognized the
Remarkable differences between the two sons.

As much as any child can be
Said to resemble either of the parents,
The second son took after his father's family
In looks as well as persuasion.

He developed a gift of imagination,
Talked a blue streak all the time,
Read voraciously, excelled in school,
Sowed a little wild oats along the way.

The other kids said he was their parents' favorite,
They said he just required the most attention.
He was so thin when he was little that you
Could see his heart beating behind the rib cage.

He sang treble in the church choir, and in an opera;
Pursued dramatic arts in high school, college, and after.
Spent a year at a prep school for difficult boys,
Was accepted and matriculated at Yale University.

Then he entered his tai chi and proletarian period,
Working a variety of menial jobs, until, as a paralegal,
He found out that he was smarter than the associates,
And was being paid one-third their salaries.

Living with a gentle creature, who later
Turned out to have a core of spring steel,
He went to California's best law school,
And served in a variety of legal occupations.

Now he is a staid attorney at law in group practice,
The father of two fascinating children,
The husband of a nutritional scientist,
Altogether a splendid family man.

He fulfils the best of the Kimball tradition,
Who were known as devoted to their families,
Devoid of overweening ambition, but
Serious and thorough in their performance at work.

Cape Cod Trails Conference

Life member of the Appalachian Mountain Club,
Founder of the Mohican Chapter of the ADK,
Scaler of 4000 footers all over the Northeast,
Veteran back pack and hike leader,

He retired to Cape Cod in 1993 at age 65.
Immediately looking for local hikes and hiking groups,
He found them both in the Eastham Hiking Club, and
The local chapter of AMC.

They showed him walks all over Cape Cod,
Using unmarked trails unknown to visitors and most residents.
When he asked them how others could follow their routes,
They showed some reluctance to share their treasures.

Sometime in 1995, when the world wide web became popular,
He had the idea to put descriptions of hikes on Cape Cod
On the internet, under the banner of an organization that
He called the Cape Cod Trails Conference.

Finding a pro bono host for the website on C4.net,
He scouted and posted thirty long walks of 8 to 10 miles.
He began bicycling with Nauset Newcomers in 1994,
Posting thirty bicycle routes on a nested page.

He copyrighted the Long Walks to protect them
From appropriation by commercial sites.
But the material on the website he gave to the public,
To download, print, and use in exploring Cape Cod.

He drew sketch maps for the Long Walks,
And later used a Magellan mapping GPS
To plot way points on topographical maps,
Accompanying detailed descriptions of each hike.

When open heart surgery forced him to stop
Leading the long walks, he began tailoring some
Into short walks of four to five miles,
Listing these in a separate nest of web pages.

Age and an irregular heartbeat finally forced him
To discontinue participating in group hikes,
No longer able to check the accuracy of his creations,
He began searching for a person or group to replace him.

Last Tuesday, March 15, 2011, he met with
Three stalwart members of Nauset Newcomers,
Who were each former leaders of the bicycle group.
They agreed to take over the Cape Cod Trails Conference.

One person has become the webmaster;
The others will be major contributors to the bicycle routes.
The hiking portion may be delegated to other persons,
And perhaps result in a separate website.

Pace University II

One by one, he developed new courses
And added them to the curriculum.
Production Management was a natural,
Later becoming Operations Management.

Social Responsibilities of Business was,
In effect, a course on business ethics,
But strictures on religious proselyting
Forbade overt moralizing.

Organizational Behavior and Management Science
Required hiring new professors in those specialties.
He taught the former long enough to introduce a more
Proactive course in Leadership, borrowed from West Point.

After a few years of growth, the Business Department
Was divided into separate business disciplines.
The Dean thought Marketing and Management should combine.
With a staff of four at the time, he held out for a separate department.

In time, that became the second largest in the university.
Asked to design the major, he divided it into six tracks
With overlapping courses at the core, and a few specialties.
This became popular, as offering flexibility in application.

But he also held out against pressure to institute
Career specific majors, such as hospitality or sports management,
And in so doing discovered a fundamental rule in
The principles of academic freedom.

As chairman of the management department, he and his colleagues
Had to be recognized as the authority in their discipline.
They could not be directed in what to teach or how to teach.
Changes could only suggested to them, as part of the larger whole.

When he was being considered for tenure, after six years,
The president let it be known that he must be approved,
There being no doctoral degree in his field,
And in recognition of his organizing abilities.

Looking at the familiar pattern of employment of graduates from Pace,
Of what was essentially a commuter school for local residents,
He originated a program for those in family or other small businesses,
With courses in entrepreneurship and small business management.

This was a hard sell to the powers that be, in overcoming
Objections that the courses were not sufficiently academic.
He formed a partnership with the Small Business Administration in
Using seniors in analysis and improvement of existing businesses.

He required both speaking and writing in each course, if feasible.
In advanced courses, he formed project teams of five each,
To examine existing business situations, and critique them,
Or to develop recommendations for wholly new strategies.

He had considered teaching to age 70, or perhaps 68.
But the trustees in their wisdom offered a retirement bonus,
So at 65, he consulted with his banker son, who said,
"Dad, take the first offer, they don't get any better."

They decided to relocate to Cape Cod, where
Their daughter and family had summered for years.
Sold the house in Mahopac and move to Brewster,
And lived happily there together for nine years.