Henry Kissinger Dies at 100.

          

 

 

   Henry Kissinger, who was US Secretary of State for two US administrations, under both Nixon and Ford, has died at age 100.   Kissinger who was considered an intellectual was both embraced and reviled depending upon the subject about which he was talking.

              However, for our discussion here on this blog, Kissinger was the man who was approached by Americans for Simas, including my father Lawrence, and who spoke with Richard Nixon and made the release of Simas Kudirka not only a priority, but aided in it becoming a reality.

               On the occasion of Kissinger's death, I thank him for this victory.

Kissinger is said to have died at home in Connecticut.   I sent condolences to Mr. Kissinger's family and his adult children.

 

 

 

 

Memories of 2008

 

                I know that before Dad's passing he didn't want me to remember him as he appeared then, but as he was when he and I were younger.  The really funny thing about that is that when Dad passed, even in his eighties, he still had the broad shoulders and muscular arms he's always had.  He also still had the mind like a steel trap.  From the ICU he wrote and signed four checks he said would need to be paid in the month after his passing, before a death certificate would be issued.  He was exactly right.  No other bills came due.

                  Even in those stressful and sad last days, he was always the person he had been before.  I know he wanted me to forget those moments, but I won't. I will remember that he was the strong, intelligent, capable and sometimes funny person he had always been. He could also type faster than anyone I knew, but then, he could think faster than many of us also.

                 I think of you often Dad, anytime I am near the sea. I also think a lot about what you and Matthew and Daniel do there when you see one another.  In a sense, I am lucky that my two sons who are gone from Earth have my father there to guide them.

 

 

 

The Apple May Not Have Fallen Too Far From the Tree

               

                      In this picture, Matthew has Dad's expression when he is listening.

 

 

 

       When LD, known at my home as Papa Lawrence by the grandchildren, visited, everyone had a grand time. He brought books and photographs, and told stories of his adventures, and they asked questions and told him of their own adventures and things they had done and would like to do.  In retrospect, we had no way of knowing that Dad would depart in 2008, and that grandson Daniel, 12, would die thirty days later, the presumed result of a sudden arrhythmic death syndrome.  Fifteen years later, the loss of grandson Matthew at 32, following an influenza vaccine is equally shocking.

                  I never thought that any of my children (the five) looked like my Dad. Our children don't come from us, but through us, and they are likely to have characteristics of grandparents, great grands, aunts, uncles, as well as having talents and physical looks that might just be uniquely themselves.

                 In the process of making online memorials for both the boys I have had to look through a great many pictures. I don't know why I didn't notice it before,  but in some pictures Matthew looks very much like my father.  I would imagine that Daniel might have had similarities too.  I suppose this comes from the fact that I knew my father as an adult and then as an older man. Since I never saw him as a child or teen, I just might not have noticed the similarities.

                   The above is a picture of Matthew at 32.  I look at it and I see so much of my father LD.

I am consoled only by the fact that Dad, Daniel and Matthew are together now, likely laughing, sharing stories, and possibly laughing about some of the things that I and other family members did.

      

 

 

Imagined As A Picture from Heaven

 

     Lawrence DeWolfe Kelsey Jr., his grandson Matthew, and grandson Daniel who all occupy Heaven now.

                        Some theologians tell us that once in Heaven, we receive new bodies. This will be a relief to so many of us who need everything from better teeth to a back that is less sore. I must admit that I take great comfort in this thought from time to time. 

                 Some faiths tell us that in Heaven, many of us look as we did in our thirties. The painting above shows my father at the far left at about thirty. It shows my son Matthew in his early thirties, as he was when he passed. It shows my son Daniel,  before he died before 13.  I will admit that it is hard to imagine Daniel as being an adult now.

                 It does help sometimes to imagine the three of them working together, laughing and recalling times they spent together. It helps to make my own time here with Matthew and Daniel's siblings and their Dad, and their nephews and niece, just a little bit easier. 

 

 

 

The Passing of Bob Dodson, a Dear Friend

               

 

                    Robert "Bob" H.T. Dodson

 

        One of the sorrowful things about having lost my son Matthew in late November of last year, is that I haven't really been very functional until about this week.  I learned today that one of  Lawrence's  (Dad's) most longstanding and dearest friends had passed in December, 2022.

                  Robert H.T. Dodson, known to most of the world as Bob Dodson, and Dad first became acquainted on the Finn Ronne Antarctic Expedition in 1947-1948. They maintained a friendship and had occasional lunches together throughout their lifetimes, regardless of where each of them were living, from then on. Dad and I also thought very highly of Gertrude "Robbie" Dodson, Bob's wife, who was gracious, educated and capable.

                  After Dad passed, Bob Dodson visited us here in Virginia a couple of times. It was a joy to talk to him and hear of the Antarctic days and of his discussions with Dad since then. Our kids were especially fond of Bob, although he never did have the chance to meet Daniel.

                   When I was cleaning Matthew's room this month, I found an amazing calendar of the Antarctic that Bob had autographed for Matthew and had written a paragraph. Matthew had kept it with his treasured possessions.  

                    Bob also read  my book Lawrence D Kelsey: The Life of the Explorer before it was published. I was particularly lucky to get his input and approval on the chapters which concerned the Finn Ronne Antarctic Expedition.

                    The world likely knows Robert H.T. Dodson as an educated man, a geologist, a world traveler, and as many other things, as well as a husband and father.  We were lucky to know him as a beloved friend of Dad's and also as a friend who cared enough to look out for his dear friend's daughter and her family after his passing.  I hope Dad, Bob, "Robbie" and Daniel and Matthew spend some time together now.  We certainly miss all of them.

                    These are interesting links on Robert H.T. "Bob" Dodson, a truly fine man. 

 We send condolences, love and best wishes to Bob and Robbie's sons who remain here on Earth, their grandchildren and their great grandchildren.

More entries concerning Bob Dodson:

https://ubique.americangeo.org/society-news/remembering-geographer-bob-dodson/

 

 https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/vnews/name/robert-dodson-obituary?id=38399486

 

https://kb.osu.edu/bitstream/handle/1811/6066/Dodson_Robert_transcript.pdf?sequence=1

 

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodson_Peninsula

 

The Loss of a Grandson of Lawrence DeWolfe Kelsey

               

 

          It is with great sorrow that we announce the passing of Lawrence's grandson Matthew.

Matthew passed in late November in his sleep just 38-39 hours following an influenza vaccine that was not supposed to have been of mRNA origin. Matthew had not been given the COVID vaccine series, and had no known ongoing medical issues.   I have waited to post this news here because we have still been waiting for a final cause of death and for a full report from the Chief Medical Examiner.  So far, we know that Matthew passed peacefully in his sleep, and that he was quite well the night before. His toxicology was completely negative, and that his passing is felt to have been due to a sudden heart rhythm disturbance of unknown origin.

                 This is the second grandson of Lawrence's to have passed following Lawrence's own passing.  Matthew's brother Daniel, aged 12 1/2, died just thirty days after Dad in 2008. Dad would be very proud of the man Matthew became, and what he achieved since Dad's passing.

                 I am comforted only in that Dad, Daniel and Matthew are together, and would have much to discuss and to explore together.

 

https://www.forevermissed.com/matthew-d-krehbiel/about

 

 

Simas Kudirka Has Passed

           

         This is Simas Kudirka with Giedre Zickyte, who produced the award winning documentary about Kudirka called, "The Jump"

 

 It is with sorrow that I relate that Dad's friend, and my own friend, Simas Kudirka, 92, has passed.   I should have called him again, but I have been distracted by the sudden death of my 32 year old son and settling his estate recently.   Kudirka was a brave and kind man who loved freedom and wasn't afraid to say so.

            I am sad this evening, and so I will add more here at a later date.

https://baltics.news/2023/02/12/the-sailor-simas-kudirka-immortalized-in-the-movie-jump-has-died/?unapproved=129&moderation-hash=63cea06a0b9cbe90eba714175055ce5c#comment-129

 

 

 

An Additional Perspective

                                                   

       This was taken during the period mentioned in the book by Paul S. Jones.

 

        One of the best things about having written a particular book about a genuine person, is that once in a while someone contacts you with a letter or an e-mail, with an additional perspective or additional information.  This week I was most fortunate to have received an e-mail from a gentleman named Mike Parwana.

                  Mr. Parwana had read a book called "Afghanistan Venture: The Life, Contacts and Adventures of an American Civil Engineer During His Two Year Sojourn in the Kingdom of Afghanistan", by Paul S. Jones.   In the book, he mentions Lawrence Kelsey, a number of times.  Passages from his book helps to provide an additional voice, information and perspective in addition to the chapters relating to Afghanistan in my own book.   I also can't help but think that since Dad's father, grandfather and great grandfather had all been Civil Engineers, that Dad may have enjoyed a kinship with Mr. Jones who was also a Civil Engineer. Certainly, the varied, unusual and sometimes rocky terrain of Afghanistan would have been a challenging place to which to provide roads and bridges. Interestingly, the original publisher of Mr. Jones book was the University of California which coincidentally is the institution that granted Dad's father and forefathers their Civil Engineering degrees.  I can't help but wonder if Mr. Jones himself had also studied there.

                So I am happy to include the excerpts sent to me of Paul S. Jones book, and also to provide information on it, should anyone like to obtain either an electronic copy, a hardcover version or perhaps even a first edition signed copy, which I noticed is for sale. I also plan to buy one as soon as I can.

 

   These pages can also be enlarged by clicking on them.

 

 

 

 

  

 

              Although there were no copies of "Afghanistan Venture" for sale on Amazon, this is the Bibliographic information:

One should be able to get a copy by googling the title, from other used book sources.  I hope you enjoy these excerpts and windows into Afghanistan in that day, as much as I did. 

               Many thanks to Mike Parwana for this information.

  

  Title: Afghanistan Adventure: Discovering the Afghan People:

            The Life, Contacts and Adventures of an American Civil Engineer During His Two Year Sojourn in the Kingdom of Afghanistan.

By:   Paul S. Jones

Publisher: Naylor Company, 1956

Originally from: The University of California

Digitized: October 10, 2007

Length:  454 pages.