I might as well begin at the beginning. After graduating from Union Springs Central School – Union Springs being on the eastern side of Cayuga Lake, forty miles north of Cornell, five miles north of Wells College, and ashore from Frontenac Island, the only island in the Finger Lakes
I came to Syracuse University to study Electrical Engineering. Alec Davis, also from Union Springs, introduced me to the Acacia fraternity, and I also joined.
In my junior year (1961!), I had the opportunity to take a new course in something called computer programming, taught in those days by the Mathematics Department. Our first program was written in machine language, we then learned the much easier assembly language, and then the ultimate: FORTRAN! So I was in at the beginning of the practical part of the computer age; in fact I bought my first personal computer – anyone remember CP/M? – before IBM had even thought of the term.
After graduating in 1962, I received a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering in 1963 from Michigan State, and then joined the Martin Company in Baltimore. (For an expanded version of how this came about, see "My Career Was All A Mistake!") Martin's Electronics System Divisions soon merged with TRW's computer division to form the Bunker-Ramo Corporation. (Bunker was the CEO of Martin, and Ramo of course was the R in TRW.)
The remainder of my account would be very different if I had been offered a position with the contingent that went west to Canoga Park, California, because the slide show given by managers who had visited looked very attractive and I would probably have gone. (For one thing, Bunker-Ramo ceased to exist when they were bought by Allied Signal in 1982). However my group moved to Silver Spring, a northern suburb of Washington, D.C.
However, after having punched a time clock in a windowless bay with a hundred other engineers (Martin) or in a windowless room with six others (Bunker Ramo), I was quick to note the advantages of the MITRE Corporation when I interviewed there six months later. A think tank, similar to RAND, that only works for government agencies, it was located across the Potomac, first in Arlington, eventually in McLean. One reason McLean may sound familiar is that it's also home to the CIA.
I began in defense work, moved to ground transportation research five years later, and into FAA projects ten years after that. MITRE turned out to be a fortunate choice – they had enough work from a wide range of government customers to be able to weather the ever-changing political winds. As a result I was able to have three careers in the same company, and in an environment where technical capability was recognized as being as valuable as managerial expertise. I also lucked out in joining an organization that had a 403(b) [the academic and non-profit organization's version of the 401(k)] which liberally added to our contributions, and that I was invested in equities – the boring kinds, not the techs and dot-coms – during the '90s run-up. Actually, I will take credit for that choice.
In 1966 I married Betty Lou Takacs, a high school English teacher in Arlington. In 1971 she was awarded a sabbatical and fellowship to earn a Masters degree in Reading at, of all places, Syracuse University, so back we came for a year. We had a good time – Alec and Maggie Davis took in Betty Lou when she first arrived and Sharon Fulmer found me a job as an enumerator with the Census Bureau for a few months. By that time I had first-hand knowledge about the subject of our survey for the Labor Department: the extent of the unemployment situation. I learned a lot about human nature in that and my next job, as a computer programmer for the Onondaga County Sheriff's Department. And the fact that we could afford to bring a half gallon of wine to parties made us popular among the graduate students.
After my return to MITRE, I frequently presented papers at ground transportation conferences and I persuaded Betty Lou to do the same at English and Reading conferences. (When I first experienced the lavish receptions sponsored by the big book companies I was astounded. There is big money involved in the choice of a line for an entire school system, and the competition is fierce. Any receptions at my conferences paled in comparison.) Her presentations in the U.S. and abroad (the large banners in Dublin welcoming the 1982 International Reading Association [IRA] must have caused a few double takes) didn't hurt in her selection as 1984 Virginia Reading Teacher of the Year; the first secondary teacher so honored. We were DINKs; however several cats have owned us, the last of whom died in Germany at nearly 20. The segue ...
Some of you may remember that in high school I was a foreign exchange student to Luxembourg. I guess the travel bug bit me because we've been back to foreign climes many times. Although my Luxembourg experience showed me that my French wasn't that great (it might have helped if my Alabama-born high-school French teacher had any inkling of correct pronunciation) I found that the French could understand me, and, after a fashion, vice-versa. Then, in 1989 MITRE's Frankfurt site, which worked for the German equivalent of the FAA, had an opening and we moved there. We loved it – we'd have stayed there a lot longer if Arlington County had allowed Betty Lou more than two years' leave.
And what a time to be there! The Wall came down, we were in Budapest when they had their first free elections in over fifty years, and Prague was just awakening when we visited – we found our gradually improving German to be quite useful in Eastern Europe. There were regular business trips to Stockholm, jaunts across the French border to Michelin three-star restaurants, to Munich for Oktoberfest, to the Canary Islands at New Years, and a Greek sojourn in Skopelos, in a house purchased by a German colleague for his retirement. And it still isn't enough!
You can read more about our life in Germany as well as more recent travels and adventures – e.g., as an extra in National Treasure 2 with Nicolas Cage (which also includes a picture of Betty Lou and me), viewing a recent spectacular display of cherry blossoms, or beating the rap of a frame-up – on my website.
Then, the year after I returned I had a heart attack! They couldn't believe it at the hospital – the only risk factors I had were being over 45 and male. They dissolved the clot and performed angioplasty – no stents required – and the problem artery is back to normal, at least according to annual stress tests. As a regular runner for over 25 years, I had never experienced any symptoms even though the left anterior descending artery (colloquially called "the widow-maker") had blockages of 90% and 95%!
Perhaps the running is also what saved me – the only explanation for why there was minimal damage to the heart muscle is that collateral circulation had built up over time as the blockage increased. Even the symptoms at the time were mild: a cold sweat, a little taste of acid indigestion, and a slight ache in the right shoulder blade. I'm sure there are people who feel worse than that all the time, but it wasn't normal for me. After examination, first our company nurse, then the rescue squad, reassured me that they didn't think it was anything serious. However, since they couldn't tell me what they thought it was, I continued to escalate the process until the hospital detected the surprising reason.
An update: Annual stress tests since then have revealed no further problems. And, contrary to accepted wisdom that heart muscle doesn't regenerate, recent EKGs and echocardiograms are indistinguishable from normal
One big difference since we've retired has been that we can travel when we want, not just when the rest of the world is also on vacation. Also, now that Betty Lou doesn't have to begin her twenty-two minute "lunch" at 10:12, we often enjoy leisurely late lunches, although we have found that other local retirees have the same idea. We have considered moving elsewhere – it would be less expensive, usually much less so, to live almost anywhere else, but I guess we've become too immersed in the cultural, artistic, dining – even political – scene to be able to tear ourselves away.
In the early days, we saw quite a few of the military guys who passed through the Washington D.C. area: Dave Lovett, Dave Cahn, and Don Hennig come to mind. In fact, one weekend Dave Lovett drove us to visit Ray Bourdeau on his hilltop home in West Virginia. Although I didn't know Jon Fichthorn that well at school, we became good friends when he lived here for several years, and now that he's back in the area we often get together. And we occasionally see the Davises when they're in town.
Give us a call if you're in the area: 703-533-1235. Or get in touch via email: jludwick@ieee.org.