Fione did not like her father. She was rebellious and I don’t know if there was physical violence involved; she feared him and did not respect him at the same time. To me he had all of the characteristics of the salesman of Sears, which he was of course.

I did not know Fione well during high school. We often sat together in high school because our last names were the same. We both attended Delta College. We started seeing each other in 1962. We did not live together while we stayed in Saginaw but saw each other regularly. However, my parents did not even know who she was until a few months before we decided to get married. Prior to Fione, I had a couple of dates but nothing interesting.

Before I was involved with Fione she was involved with a Turkish guy. He was older, heavy set but a friendly guy. She broke up with him for reasons that I do not know. He was a student at the school. I think he was an engineering student. He was very distinctive because of the blood birthmark on his face.

I was not running away from my family or Michigan but to be perfectly honest I was running away from being a lawyer. I think it was more that I did not want to be what my father wanted me to be. I had a strong interest in History and the international. Though a part of me was ready to go to graduate school the moment I graduated from Michigan. [Bad idea].

The day before we left I was trying to pack everything and well we packed our big foot locker (a trunk from Liebermans), I guess it was over Christmas. We left New Years Eve from Saginaw and I think my parents had a little reception sometime that week between Christmas and New Years. I guess about 12 and 14 people. We flew from Saginaw to Detroit to New York. I think Fione was excited. My relative lack of emotions, both on the eve of this trip and in Uganda, were probably better suited for Africa than Fione’s emotional reactions to it. Relative may be a stretch. Perhaps I should drop the word. I think they allowed me to have a life time involvement with the continent.