| 4/2010 Having retired recently after 39 years in the financial services industry I suddenly have more time to reflect on the past despite the scary realization that it is almost 50 years since my Kodai experience. How did I get to Kodai? In 1960, my father, then a professor of civil engineering at the University of Washington, received a one year assignment from the U.S. Government under the Agency for International Development (AID) at the Bengal Engineering College in Calcutta. I lived with my family on the campus initially and attended St. Xavier's College in Calcutta. Since the curriculum was modeled on the English system, I soon concluded that Kodai would be a better fit for me. Even though it was difficult for me to make two school changes in a foreign country in the space of one year, I have no regrets and I have fond memories of my classmates and activities at Kodai. I especially enjoyed the senior camping trip to the island off the shore from Mandapam(sp?). After graduation I went to the University of Notre Dame where I graduated with a degree in business. I was commissioned in the Navy and assigned to a ship home ported in San Diego. Upon completing my active duty I spent three months touring Europe and then returned to my hometown of Seattle, where I started a career in banking. I married Jackie from Hanover, Indiana and we had three children, John, Peter and Jennifer. As a retired person, I enjoy life's simple pleasures the most--leisurely coffee and newspaper in the morning and enjoying the grandchildren. But I also like going on trips, skiing, hiking, fishing, reading, home restoration, gardening and repair. I would like to visit India again but Jackie has a thing about snakes and it is hard to convince her otherwise. |
|