Changing of the Guard I

At the USLines office in Philadelphia circa 1960, the District Freight Manager was being kicked upstairs to New York. I guess he had done enough penance with a ten year sentence in an outport. His name was Fred K. - he was an Ivy Leaguer from Princeton and had served with an airborne division in Europe in WWII. The District Manager thought we should give him a sendoff with a dinner and the upper room at Old Original Bookbinders restaurant was reserved for the occasion and we invited fifty heavyweights from the shipping industry. Since the D.M. was more comfortable behind the scene he nominated me to handle the M.C. duties on the dais. As the departing exec was no longer my boss, I took certain liberties with my introduction. I said that Fred K. answered a want ad in the New York Times seeking a young, industrious, enterprising person promising an exciting future - applicant must be a Yale graduate or the equivalent. Fred answered the ad with "By the equivalent of a Yale graduate do you mean two Harvard men or a Princeton man working part time?" I said that Fred got the job and he's been working part time ever since. At the same gathering we introduced Fred's replacement which will save for a separate offering. Stay tuned and keep the party going.
tjs
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