|
January |
||
| Memorial for Marianne Sadly, the year began with a memorial service for our sister-in-law, Marianne, who passed away in December 2007. Family and friends gathered from around the world and from the nearby community to celebrate her life and contributions. In her quiet and constructive way, Marianne initiated area-wide recycling, started up the lymphodema society, supported political themes and raised a family. She is in our hearts always. |
|
|
 |
 |
 We all shared photos and memories while together, providing a sense of family and peace. We all miss Marianne. |
|
||
| During January we started the modifications to our Florida retirement home, changing a screened porch to a full-time sun room, and adding a dormer to the upstairs. Margy's sister stayed at our house for almost three months, to oversee the construction and send us progress photos to Chile so we could see all the changes that J.P. McClellan and his excellent crew accomplished while we were away. |  |
|
 From the foundation up, the rooms took shape. Framing was followed by electrical, insulation, dry-wall, and all the finishing touches to make this a wonderful lake-side home. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
By April, upon our return to the USA, the work was done and we organized ourselves for the move-in of all our stuff from Chile. The bulk of our items did not arrive till May 21st, so we used the time to lay-out paper cut outs of furnishings that soon would occupy the space. We enjoyed some visitors before and then after the house was furnished. |
 |
| Our first overnight visitors at the Florida home were Dennis and Cari. Then Margy's sister, Bibba, arrived and stayed on after we left to go back to Chile to prepare for our relocation process within Chile and to the USA. | ||
 |
 |
|
 |
From January through March, we arranged our moving items within Chile from Santiago to our beach house (left), in addition to our January visit to Florida (below) to accept some warehouse items that were stored in Texas for almost 9 years. | |
 |
February |
||
 |
 |
|
| Most of February was filled with relaxing times at Mirasol, playing games with friends, watching Agustín take his first steps, celebrating Margy's birthday and helping Mónica with fine-tuning renovations to a nearby house rehabilitation which she intends to rent-out during summer months for additional income, or to sell. | ||
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
Valentine's Day was celebrated with Warren and Nancy. |
Earlier, Max and Kristin also visited Chile. |
 |
 |
|
|
Kristin got roped into helping with the house renovations to ready it for rent or sale. Mónica enjoys the result. |
||
 |
 |
|
|
Later that day we celebrated Margy's birthday. There are 50 plus some more candles on the cake! |
||
 |
Mónica's architect son, Ale, shows her plans he designed for a potential future home to be built for Mónica near our own beach house in Mirasol. One step at a time: first sell the renovated house and then apply those funds to build the new place. Future dreams start with these visions. | |
 Back in Santiago, from our apartment terrace we viewed the eclipse, as well as the construction progress on a new hotel being built across from where we lived. At Mirasol, Margy worked at sorting papers and files for our move. |
 |
|
 |
||
March |
||
| March 2008 was particularly memorable, with several retirement and farewell events, visitors from the USA and packing the Chilean apartment for our move to the USA. |
| Retirement events: The first of several retirement events was a fun trip to the Pacific Coast, with a bus full of our Santiago Office employees, plus special guests including one retiree, one co-worker friend from Argentina and two friends from the USA. Steve (foreground right) represented the corporate office in Dallas, and his wife, Anna, joined us for this special occasion. We have known Steve and Anna from when we were in Florida nearly 30 years before. They extended their visit for vacation time with us afterwards. |
 |
 The party was held at a luxurious sea-side hotel where we enjoyed time together to chat, share stories and speeches. My replacement, Mario (top right) and Mauricio (right) were special fiends and key managers. The entire team below were outstanding supporters to nearly a decade of achievements and the foundation for a lifetime of fond memories and friendships. |
 |
|
 |
||
 |
||
 |
 |
|
| Later in the week, we enjoyed some vacation time with Steve and Anna, including a drive up into the Andes, a winery tour, and a stay in Mirasol enjoying walks on the beach, relaxing, and even a bike ride. |  |
|
| Mark, a consultant to our company who has become a good friend, made a special visit from Los Angeles, California. He graciously hosted our office personnel, Margy and me for a special evening of added memories. | ||
 |
 |
|
| In preparation for the final official retirement event near our manufacturing plant, Margy and I arrived early so we could make one last tour through the clean and safe Plant, seeing many friends along the way. | ||
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
| Visiting the control rooms, walking the plant streets, entering the giant salt warehouse, and touring the latest new expansions in the plant, we were so proud to see the improvements throughout the site and meet our special friends before we headed to the evening event. Francisco provided a special tour of the new process area. | ||
 |
|
|
|
|
||
|
Plant Manger, Manuel (right), gave Artie a hand-made gift from a former retired Plant Manager, Fernando. |
||
| The Plant retirement party was held at the prestigious Chilean Naval Officer's Club, overlooking the Bay of San Vicente. Plant employees and even the most recent retired Plant Manager (Carlos, 3rd from right below), attended the event. We enjoyed a delicious meal followed by speeches and beautiful gifts from the Company, Union officers, Safety and Environmental Committee, Maintenance Group and friends. All these momentos continue to provide special reminders of our time in Chile. | ||
|
Margy giggled at the little face on her plate. |
|
|
|
Human Resource Manager Miguel did his usual superb job of organizing this life-time event for us. |
||
 |
Back in Santiago, Mónica prepared more informal farewell dinners for us. Here, with her son Alejandro, we enjoyed a Pisco Sour toast to our new future. |
| Three generations of General Managers gathered when Charles visited Chile during March. Mario, the new GM at left, Charles, from the early 1990s, and outgoing Artie shared some stories of the many changes. The Company is in good hands with Mario. | Mid-month Tony and Carolyn stopped in to Santiago to say hi. Tony and Artie had worked together in Florida and then later in Texas during the past 28 years. Though brief, the visit was fun. | |
 |
 |
 |
In addition to our airport departure that was to come at month-end, Mónica's daughter, Coté (center) headed off during March to begin her own adventure and new life in Australia. Having completed her 5-year degree in physical therapy in Santiago, she plans to advance her career by learning from world renowned therapists in Australia. |
| Moving out! As the month came to a close, we transferred a few items to our beach house that would remain in Chile. All the rest was destined to be packed for the international shipment to the USA. |  |
|
Margy monitored each carton and logged it out of the apartment, while others were stacked for transit. |
||
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
 |
Finally, the contents of our apartment were boxed and packed in the overseas container. Then all that was left were the bare walls and rooms of the apartment we enjoyed for our final working years in Chile. | |
 |
 |
|
| After Margy double-checked the weight of our bags, we headed for the Santiago Airport to depart Chile for the USA. Mónica and Ale joined us for the farewell. |
 |
 |
|
| Ready for retirement! The look on Margy's face says it all: "We are ready!" | ||
|
||
