Christmas
Letter
from the Neergaardss
December 1999
Well,
there's been a pause in the Baby Bombardment. After
the arrival of our first two grandchildren in 1996 and
the second two in 1998, a quietus has prevailed during 1999. Perhaps the Y2K will bring more than
just bugs.
I
will not
dwell on details of our cheerfully non-workaday lives, but
topics
are: our struggle, two steps
forward and two steps back, to develop our tennis game past the
beginner
stage; our dream-on attempts to make
a garden grow in the face of vindictive Nature (she resents my cheek,
aware
that I was brought up on the sidewalks of Manhattan);
ski runs (dashes?) down the 30-second slopes on our
local hill when there's snow; the
rare nuggets unearthed during genealogical forays, and strangled
Eureka's as I
attempt to master (hah!) construction of a family web-site. Lois, for her part, is getting
ever more creative with her quilting.
So.....
on
to the inevitable recount of travels. Our
two sojourns of several weeks each in Hilton Head,
in March, then in November, proved to be as pleasant as weÕd
hoped, providing
as well a nice little boost - alas all too temporary - in our ability
to hit a
ball over a net. The November interlude
was especially rewarding, since Peg and Todd Benton, and Louise and Bob
Messner, were able to join us - a revisit to that exciting period of
our lives
back in the sixties when we shared the thrill of starting up the
manufacturing
end of P&G's business in Germany,.
After
having gathered the last two Christmases at daughter Sue and Jan
Willem's house
in the Netherlands, the family decided that our No‘l reunion in
Õ99 ought to
take place when there was less pressure for time than during the actual
holidays. Then, once free in time,
we thought why not have it where it was nice and warm, and in a resort
offering
child care. We thus ended up on
Ibiza, an island near Majorca off the coast of Spain, in June. And a lovely ÒChristmasÓ it was
indeed!
....with tennis and water sports aplenty of course, but in no small
part
because the resort was French, assuring that both socialization and
cuisine
were outstanding.
As
itÕs
turned out, weÕll have two family gatherings this year, the
second occurring
this (actual) Christmas when everyone except Sue and Jan
WillemÕs branch will
be able to be in Cincinnati.
(S, JW & Co will
be making their pilgrimage across the Atlantic in February, to join us
first in
Hilton Head, then return with us to Cincinnati).
A
highlight
of the year was a trip Out West with Trig Treadaway during his October
visit
from Europe. It was just us
guys. We split a week wallowing in
those dens of iniquity, the delightfully laid-back New Orleans, then
Las Vegas
where appalling taste is so superbly executed. We
spent our second week cleansing away the dissolution
occasioned by these works of man by steeping ourselves in the glories
of nature
around the Four Corners area and Monument Valley, then driving through the Rockies to Denver.
Sue, her husband Jan Willem, and
their
sons, Willem and Nicholas:
Sue
and Jan
Willem have, thanks be, almost finished the ambitious renovation of the
ex-orphanage they moved into four years ago on the island of Tholen,
southwest
corner of Holland.
Sue,
having
left GE to bring up their two children, has found sheÕs traded a
full-time job
for an even fuller one. Willem,
terribly two and oh so intense, is in particular a handful. Example: on
boarding the plane to Ibiza he
spotted a red button by the door.... the Evacuate Airplane alarm. Of course he pushed it of course and,
wellÉ.. you can guess the rest.
Jan
Willem,
production manager for GEÕs Lexan in Europe, had not been shy in
expressing the
disdain for staff feather merchants that is so de rigeur for line
managers. Accordingly, GE thoughtfully
moved him into a staff position, responsible for safety in its European
plastics division.
Soon
adjudged to have been sufficiently reconstructed, he has now been
allowed back
into line, as plant manager of not one but two of GEÕs plastics
operations in
the Netherlands.
Arthur's
career - developing packaging machinery for P&G's Paper division -
is about
to shift focus. He will now be
charged with exploring new business
opportunities in
his field, rather than managing current projects.
Since the "current projects"
were global, he's been on extended international trips literally for
years. His new area of
responsibility will bring him back to headquarters here in Cincinnati,
and will
give him a chance, at long last, to stay home for a bit.
At
the
moment, though, he's still in Europe, whence, over Thanksgiving, he
managed a
couple of weeks' holiday that included diving in the Indian Ocean
amidst
hammerhead sharks, exploring the bazaars of Zanzibar, and, once, being
awakened
at 2AM by a hippo grazing next to his tent in the Selous game preserve
in
southern Tanzania.
Richard, his wife Ishraq, and
their two
children, Samer and Lila
Richard's company, Benckiser NV (Dutch), has just completed a merger
with a
larger firm, Reckitt and Coleman (British), also in the
consumer-products
business, to form Reckitt-Benckiser.
Richard had been Sr VP and Category Manager of Benckiser's
automatic
dishwasher business, which has the largest share of this global market. The merger occasioned a bit of
breath-holding, but when the dust settled, Richard remained employed, a
director of the merged company.
He's rewarded himself with a silver Boxter, about the steering
wheel
location of which he'll have to worry when they move to their new
headquarters
in London next Spring. Their
three-year old son Samer is already attending a British school in
Amsterdam,
and now calls Ishraq "Mummy".
Speaking of mummies, their one-year-old Lila, who never ceases
to smile,
has started to walk. "Just
like the bride of Frankenstein", Richard tells us, "arms
outstretched, wobbly, then a plop-down, followed by a big round of
self-applause".
Ishraq
remains on retainer to Benckiser, spending a few days a month in Tel
Aviv where
she continues to guide the development of Benckiser's Israeli business
in the
West Bank, a task at which she's been singularly successful.
They'll
be
here Christmas; then the babies
will stay with us while Richard and Ishraq proceed on to Hawaii, to
join
friends atop Diamond Head where, as the Y2K arrives, they'll be among
the last
in the world to toast the 20th century.
Peter and his wife Lisa
Peter's
company, Transarc, was in July fully assimilated by IBM, and Peter is
now of
the Big Blue, for whom he trains clients' IT officers in use of its
"E-business" product line.
He's on the road much of the time, which can be exciting for a
while
(London, Rio, etc), but has its drawbacks for newlyweds (they are).
Lisa
is now Compliance Officer at PNC
Bank for Foreign Exchange and Derivative Trading (wow!).
They've
just bought and moved into a new house (in their spare time), located
in a
suburb south of Pittsburgh. They
too will be here with us over Christmas, bless 'em.
May you have a
joyous holiday
season, and a new millennium that is both happy and prosperous.
Cordially,