Frittered Away and Soon Forgotten

A Jamaican English colonialist (Edmund George Ford), is found to have not descended from inquisition-related Jewish Spanish royalty. Nor is a Virginian (John Stuart Gladwell) related to a famous American Civil War Confederate general. Each grew to earn, on their own, the great respect of their colleagues and acquaintances, beyond anything they could have foreseen. Theirs became one story when the Virginian met and married the Englishman's daughter. To their children neither left anything that could have been called a fortune. What they did leave was a good name that could not be easily frittered away and soon forgotten.

This is the story of the son of the Virginian. It is a story that is quite different from that of his Ford cousins. It is one that involves considerable education, progressively responsible positions throughout the USA and finally an important position with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organizations in Paris.

With the advent of World War II, the Virginian volunteers for active duty with the US Navy. But his physical examination reveals that he is suffering from a serious illness. In 1943, after a major session in two Veterans' Hospitals he dies, leaving behind a devastated widow and an 11-year old son. We then follow the son in his new environment in the Canal Zone and with his second family with his Uncle and Aunt.

Although he was still young and relatively inexperienced, following two years in the U.S. Army in Korea and Japan, the respect of the son's friends was important. His Texas A&M time of studies proved to be the perfect one for him to grow. Following graduation he moves to Alaska to work for the US Forest Service. On the way north he visitsVancouver, Canada, and meets the woman to whom he soon becomes engaged and marries a year later. Before the wedding he is offered and accepts a fellowship to work for an MS in civil engineering at Texas A and M.