Recollections from 1989

Note: This still needs editing. These are answers written in response to a list of questions that Heather sent for a project in college. We will make corrections and add the questions shortly.

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"Age 12-16: family moved to suburbs of Plymouth Devon. The city of Devon was completely 'leveled' by German bombs in a space of three nights. We saw a major part of the rebuilding of Plymouth with a completely new steet plan unlike the old. I liked to ride my bicycle everywhere and enjoyed 20-mile hikes (by foot) with one or two school friends across Dartmore (desolate open spaces of tiny hills boglands and tiny lakes) - ancient burial grounds thousands of years old untouched by modern civilization."

(3) "With one sister 18 months younger than myself, until I was 8 years old then a second sister was born. My mother raised the family while my Dad was serving in the army - First during the invasion of Italy, and later in India until the war was over.

(4) "Up to the age of seven, my sister and I would play games together, + one or two friends from school. (We both attended the same private school.)" ... "My parents were very strict. I had very little free choice before I was a teenager." ... "My sister and I were taught (when young) "to be seen and not heard." - I think my daughter was raised differently?"

"The only grandparents I knew was my Dad's father "Oscar Drummond" and he visited us only two or three times, and passed on when I was 20 years old and already left home."

(5) "Middle-class professionals but not many people owned their own cars. Most people rode the busses or bicycles to work, and rode the train into London. Only the Principal of my High School and one other teacher owned their own car."

(?) TV was the first technological advance that surprised me. The Radio most affected my life because I always wanted to learn about electronics and communication circuits. I also enjoyed teaching others about things, and in my Elementary school I got the nickname "Professor Drummond."

(9) My Dad was a mechanical engineer, and his engineer drawings fascinated me at the ages of 8, 9, and 10 years and I inherited his accuracy and "attention to detail" that always got me high grades in school. I did not consciously choose my career in electrical engineering. It simply evolved out of my normal activities and interests.

My 'short-term' goal is to help "Hampshire Instruments" survive its 'start-up' period to become a successful company. My long-term goal is "spiritual growth" and my ongoing goals are to help others meet their needs.

Success is not a solitary process but something attained only by groups of people working together to a common cause. We are all "leaders" in our own special ways every time we help someone else solve a problem.

The standard of living for the majority of people has improved because of national prosperity. 60 years ago only the rich owned automobiles. Today the majority of middle Americans all own automobiles.

The pursuit of happiness is everyone's goal. I teach my Sunday School class the three 'H's: health, holiness, harmony, and without all three, one cannot be happy. With holiness and harmony, we have health. Holiness is gained by helping others. Harmony is gained by enjoying what we do through divine guidance and trust in God. Since Life is eternal, the future is the present and so I like to make the most of my moments before they become history. All my goals are for "today."

(11) Transportation

As already mentioned, I used \

• Bus transportation up to age 11
• Train travel for distances over 15 miles
• Bicycle transportation for over 10 years through rain and shine

The only vacation I had with my parents as a child was to the English Channel Islands ... - something I shall never forget. We saw some of the German hideouts and underground tunnels used during the war. I was in my 20s when we all went to France and stayed in Paris, and toured other cities of interest in my car. Other than that, we never had summer vacations. At Christmas time we would sometimes stay at a cousin's farm, a train-ride away. My sister and I spent a whole summer working on this farm, reaping the harvest (wheat fields) and bringing the cows from milking twice a day (when I was 10 years old).

As a teenager I had very little social life. At church we had the Christian Science youth farm (?) where we would meet once a week and plan different activities - I was 14 years old then and living in Plymouth. We would also go swimming on Plymouth Hoe - a very rocky beach with high 6-foot breakers we sometimes tried to swim through. - Surfboards were unknown at that time.

(12) ...

My religious views have only advanced through spiritual growth. "Love thy neighbor as thyself" becomes more meaningful over the years. That means also love doctors and medical nurses who are also doing what they believe is right and good.

(13) The affects of war mean we count our blessings and spend time feeling grateful for our blessings instead of wishing we also had more.