Lt. Col. Donald Marsh, US Air Force and . . .

                                                         

 
      Hartwick College Registrar was Don's title when I knew him four and a half decades ago. A remarkably good man he managed the registrar's office as one moving through a confetti storm of issues and problems at the core of an educational institution; class schedules, registration, class changes, disgruntled faculty, mid-term grades, final grades, disgruntled students, late grades, incompletes, summer courses. Almost always his face showed the contented smile of an innocent
and would occasionally dissolve into laughter when the swirling issues appeared most confounding.
     From afar I would witness and contribute to the flow of minutia and dilemmas wondering how Don handled it. How many times had he heard an anguished student or faculty member announce "I have a problem!" Even I approached Don at least once and uttered that trite phrase.
     "Listen John" he said grinning. "When you can see landing boats on the horizon filled with Japanese soldiers approaching your island intent upon killing you - that's a problem!"
     I understood and still try to never use those four words in that precise order.
     Paradise must certainly be divided into special interest zones. To find Don and wonderful wife Mimi, one would need to visit the US Air Force clouds where they would be found consorting with old comrades. He might also be discovered at a heavenly conference of educational administrators musing about the digital tools now available to manage mind numbing collections of data - but I think not. Don is much more likely to be found tinkering in the celestial auto machine region, an intergalactic space with a limitless but perfectly organized system of replacement parts, a steady, unrestricted supply of acetylene gas - restoring to glory an ancient automobile.