Stories from the Road
October 24, 14
From 30,000 feet

My neighborhood was quiet this morning at 4:00 AM, when I went downstairs to start the coffee pot. Our shuttle man was on time, and soon we were at the airport and then in the sky toward our destination of Washington, D.C., where we were going to attend the wedding of Krissy Frazao.

The bride is a newscaster in Washington D.C., and she is marrying a photojournalist, Andrew Smith. Both bride and groom are attractive, smart, sophisticated young people, and I am looking forward to seeing them and meeting their friends.

The Southwest plane is a new one, and it is comfortable. The flight attendants are friendly, and we are enjoying the ride thus far. Wednesday I played golf with Gary Vernon, Richard Trumbull, and Vicki. Richard lives much of the year in Mexico, where he paints and plays tennis and golf. He is a renaissance man, who is always learning new things. When in San Diego, he is a frequent golf partner. He and his wife Sylvia travel, and this spring they will journey from their home in Mexico to Southern France. I pointed out to him that he is one of the few people I know, who takes a vacation from his vacation.  Both Richard and Gary have infectious senses of humor, and it is fun to play golf with them.

Ben Bradlee, the former editor of the Washington Post, recently died at 93 years of age. Ben Bradlee and Katherine Graham, the publisher of the post, were largely responsible for uncovering the Watergate Story. Woodward and Bernstein were the foot soldiers, while Bradlee and Graham were the Generals.  The paper withstood tremendous pressure from the White House to back off the story. Ben Bradlee was larger than life within the context of being a complex person. He spoke French fluently, cursed incessantly, hated pretense, and enjoyed fine living. As a newsman in Paris in his youth he rented a large chateau with friends for almost no money and entertained every weekend. He had polio as a child and was laid up for a year. The illness didn’t stop his indomitable spirit and may have contributed to his life long joy of exposing bullies and arrogant people.