One of the perks of being elementary principal in Addison was a “shall” provision of my contract. It said that I “shall” attend State and National conferences each year. It wasn’t may or might but “shall”. I had to go. When I landed in Britton, my contract didn’t say “shall”, but I received the ok for several trips.
All of the trips provided insight into what was going on in school districts around the country. We were ahead of some places and behind others. I gleaned best practices that I thought would work for us back home and implemented several.
Ruth wasn’t working when my travels began, so she went with me. For the first couple of years my parents came to stay with the kids. As my parents got older, and the kids were in school, I recruited some of my staff to spend the evening with the three when we went to Traverse City. They took them back and forth to school as well, and I knew we could get back within three and a half hours if needed.
The fall State conference was held in Traverse City at the Grand Traverse Resort. Ruth loved going there and took advantage of the trip by going shopping while I attended workshops. It was a win-win. I was already driving there and had a room paid for by the district, so the only expense was for food. We were invited out for dinner by several vendors so that was minimal.
Attending a national conference was a bit different. I flew to those, so we had the expense of a plane ticket for Ruth. Our first such conference was in Dallas. Of all of the trips we took over the years, Dallas was my least favorite. National conferences were rotated by geography. Dallas was considered central United States. Our second trip was east to Washington D.C. and our third was to San Fransisco on the west side of the country.
Over the years we traveled west to San Fransisco, San Diego and Las Vegas several times. We learned to love San Diego, wished San Fransisco would have fared better over the years, but enjoyed ourselves each time we visited. Our favorite central city was New Orleans, but we passed on Chicago. Ruth liked New York more than me, while I favored Miami. We went to a dog track there one evening and we both enjoyed the experience. Orlando was our favorite east coast location because we took the kids with us so they could experience Disney. We also took them when we drove to Atlanta.
The State conference was always held in late September, so one of the perks of a trip to Traverse City was the opportunity to see the beginning of the fall colors. They were spectacular. National conferences were held in March, so a couple of our trips to New Orleans caught the tail end of Mardi Gras.
Our stay in Washington D.C. in March of 1979 ranks high on my list of memories. We stayed in a room at the Washington Hilton. It was the grandest room we’d ever shared. Forty-five years later, our time in Washington is among my favorites.
In spite of its grandeur, its historical significance is locked in my brain. The first night we were there, I thought they were having a hearing aid convention. The lobby of the hotel was very large and held a balcony that circled it. We were looking down at what appeared to be a hundred men dressed in dark suits with hearing aids. Ruth and I were talking about that when we saw Menachem Begin, Moshe Dayan, and Secretary of State, Cyrus Vance, enter the lobby. It wasn’t a hearing aid convention at all. We were surrounded by dozens of Secret Servicemen.
If I had kept up on current events, I would have known that Begin and Anwar Sadat were in town to sign the historic Camp David Accords that has been negotiated in September of 1978. We were witnessing an historic event. Two countries whose major point of contention was based upon religion, signed a treaty that has remained until now. Two years later, Anwar Sadat was assassinated on October 6, 1981, by the Egyptian Islamic Jihad who opposed the signing of the treaty.
One of the things that’s stuck with me all these years is Ruth and my breakfast the morning after watching Begin, Dayan, and Vance invade the hearing aid convention. We had to wait in line to be seated for breakfast. We were talking about our sighting the prior evening when Menachem Begin, Moshe Dayan, and three or four Israeli hearing aid guys joined the line behind us. I may not have noticed if it weren’t for the eyepatch Dayan wore. We could have held a pre-breakfast conversation if I wasn’t so intimidated by the Israeli Mossad agents.
We sat in the same room and ate the same food while witnessing history being made. And unless one of the Mossad agents is still alive, I’m the only one left to tell the tale of our breakfast club.
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, left, U.S. President Jimmy Carter, center, and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin clasp hands on the North lawn of the White House as they completed signing of the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel in Washington on March 26, 1979.