Theodore M.
After I finished the report on the Gambia River basin, I worked with a firm
named Apogee Research on various projects for the Corps of Engineers and
EPA. I got involved with Apogee Research primarily through working for the
National Council of Public Works Improvement. I worked on a couple of their
projects, one of which was with Apogee.
But my wife had developed a brain tumor in 1985, and after it was removed,
I was spending a lot more time with her. We traveled as much as she was able
to in 1986, but the tumor continued to grow, and she is now terminally ill. It's
a question of time, and she is losing her ability to function, which is very
depressing for me.
Family Life
Q: Let's talk just for a few minutes if you will about the personal side of your life.
We've been talking about your professional career all this time.
I'd like you to talk about your wife a little bit, as you please, and also mention
your children and what they're doing and so forth.
A: I guess I probably married the only person in the world that would put up with
me. And this, interestingly enough, goes back to my love of maps. She loved
maps too, and was a map collector. That's how I got to know her. We
corresponded for years before we even lived in the same city. It was a very
voluminous correspondence for almost five years which led to our falling in
love. We were married in 1944. She's a very wonderful person. I guess
everybody says this about their wife. At least I thought she was a very
wonderful person, a very warm and friendly person. She was the librarian at
Judson College in Marion, Alabama. She got her library degree at Louisiana
State University, and then she worked in Seattle for the University of
Washington Library after I persuaded her to come out to Seattle when I lived
there. We had a lot in common, particularly our love of music and the theater
and literature and people.
When we lived in Seattle she began climbing some of the minor peaks with me.
She used to love climbing in the spring and early summer when you could slide
down or glissade on the snow. Sometimes you can do a sitting glissade, sitting
on a poncho and descending sometimes thousands of feet. It is really great fun
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