Friday, August 24, 2012

Alex W-H, Brother Thomas Frey, C.S.C. & James Kulleck June 2009

For many years I have been telling anybody and everybody how my education at St. Edward’s High School in Austin in the mid 50 gave me an edge that might have contributed to my moderate success as a photographer and writer here in Vancouver. I am proud of having been there and I look back on all my teachers there (mostly Brothers of Holy Cross) in which I cannot find one who was not an excellent teacher and mentor. I now make it a point to visit St. Edward’s (The high school is long gone. It is now a most reputable small Roman Catholic university) and linger in conversation and meditation with the last of my teachers, Brother Edwin Reggio, C.S.C. and a few other brothers there at St. Joseph Hall who are literate, practical, intelligent, gentle and I could go on…

This is why I like to write about how they and the liberal Roman Catholic education that I received there (I have no idea why so many of my classmates are now gun-toting rednecks from my Canadian viewpoint) are an inspiration every day of my existence. Recently I wrote about my former classmate Howard Houston. I am sure that his four years at St.Ed’s made him the dashing pilot he became.

It is now that I would like to proudly mention another from our class of 1961 who until this June (he has retired) worked for NASA. I fondly remember watching James Kulleck in a NASA website featuring a video camera inside the premises where they put together all the Mars Rovers, including the latest Curiosity,  in ghostly whites including hood and gloves, tinkering here and there! Recently when I emailed him to enquire about his contribution to the latest NASA success in Mars he wrote:

Quite a few things have transpired since our last communication. First of all, thank you for your acknowledgement regarding the Mars Science Lab landing. I made various small contributions to that effort verifying material properties and the electrical integrity for portions of the descent stage and on the rover itself. Some single point failures are present in that system but they obviously functioned properly in spite of the lift-off and thermal stresses associated with the flight and landing. The rover is quite complex and I expect that some failures will occur but there is a reasonable amount of redundancy designed into the system to minimize those problems.

Since June, I have been trying to sort through and eliminate 20 years of accumulated paperwork and repair a house that has seen more than its fair share of neglect. Right now I'm trying to get the old galvanized piping replaced. Then there are the bureaucracies related to retirement and the medical side of getting older which are consuming much more time than I anticipated. Most of that has to do with correcting problems that are generated by those systems.

 

Rebecca Stewart & Mars image at the Vancouver Planetarium, August 2012

I just got back from an extended stay in Arizona with my son's family. I went there to celebrate my grandson's second birthday. My son's stepdaughter is about the same age as Rebecca. You sent a photo of her quite a few years ago so while I was scanning your blog, I noticed the announcement of her return to your photo gallery. I concur with your lament regarding the proclivity of young ladies of that age. They seem intent on hiding their inherently youthful charm.

Thanks for the contact.
Jim