At 97 years old, it is now or never. Until recently, the answer was ÒneverÓ - who cares? I donÕt have any children or grandchildren, the common excuse for old people to write their memoirs. We think they should know what went on before their time. But most young people do not really want to know. For them the past is past, and they donÕt believe our generation has any reason to be proud.
It is at the urging of my new friends that I write this memoir. They are obviously a whole generation younger than I. I met them in Maui where we enjoy the same things, and I feel closer to them than anyone since my childhood. To a large extent I am writing this memoir to point out and compare how much has changed in the almost hundred years that I have been a participant and observer. It is less an account of my own life. I shall try to describe the way things were, or at least the way I remember them.