1969

Christmas, 1969

SEASON'S GREETINGS!

It's this time again! It is our wish that this Christmas may be filled with hope, peace and love as you contemplate and celebrate Christ's birth.

We have had an eventful busy year and one which we will always remember. At this time last year we mentioned that we had not gone on the Holy Land Tour (which was a year ago November) but we were still planning on "a trip." Now that trip is history.

Early in the year we made application to World Brotherhood Exchange (WBE), an organization which places volunteer workers in areas of need, to find if there was a need somewhere for a dentist. WBE told us that Anguilla had no dentist and put us in contact with Dr. Tom Nicholson, a dentist in Puerto Rico who represents the Christian Dentists Society; this Society brings together places of need and volunteer dentists throughout the Caribbean area. Through him and through the British Government, arrangements were made for us to go to Anquilla. To us greenhorns who hadn't traveled much, making our plans, getting the shots, the passports, the place tickets, all was very exciting. We drove to Miami leaving Decorah the morning of June 3. It was such fun to visit the Schulkes (he is a college buddy of Vince's) in Orlando and the Barbers in Miami. Pastor Barber serves the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in North Miami. Helene was Parish Worker at Decorah Lutheran when I was secretary at First Lutheran. We had a good visit. We really appreciated their help-they kept our car, took us to the airport and saw that we got on the right flight. And in just a little over two hours we were landing in San Juan, P.R. There Dr. Nicholson met us - you should have seen the look on his face when he saw our 10 pieces of luggage - he had rented a Falcon to haul us to the motel. The next day we flew to St. Thomas and then to Anguilla - just a week after leaving Decorah. For nine weeks we were guests of the Anguillans, Vince doing as much dentistry as he could. Some of the mouths were in an unbelievable state of decay and disease. But not hav[ing] any dentist for so long, and then when in 1968 the Christian Dentists Society started putting volunteer dentists there, it would only be for short term - 10 days or 2 weeks - the amount of work to be done outdistanced the time that anyone person could spend.

Anguilla is a very small island, the northernmost of the Leeward Islands. It has been a very neglected island, though Britain is trying to rectify that now, and so the majority of the people live without running water or electricity. It was a different kind of life than we have known and very good for us. We were very fortunate - the hotel where we stayed had running water (once in a while even hot), indoor bathrooms, and electricity for a couple hours every evening. The children, all 4 of them, really enjoyed the swimming and since that was about all there was for them to do, we tried to go to the Sea every day. Mark kept count - we missed 7 days out of the 63. The water is crystal clear and the sandy beaches so fine and white and clean. The people were very kind, helpful and friendly - they didn't seem to mind at all that we were white.

We arrived back in Miami the 9th of August and spent some time sightseeing on the way back to Decorah. We not only saw both the Barbers and Schulkes again but also visited with Vince's cousins - Doc and Myrtle Svendsen in Sanford. We stopped at Canton, Ohio, too and visited with Dr. Frank Mitchell and his family. We hadn't seen them since Air Force days together in Texas - and such a chattering time we had.

Decorah looked real good to us when we arrived back on August 20. School started the 27th, so the kids were right back into the swing of things. Dawn is in 7th grade, and my, don't they grow up in a hurry when they get to Junior High? She is doing fine - keeping up her flute and her piano, Girl Scouts, Church Choir, Confirmation Instruction. Mark is in 6th grade and keeping just as busy. He takes piano and is also learning to play the trombone; and will go from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts this March. Arik started kindergarten and loves every minute of it. Jené goes to Wednesday Church School (of which her mommy is principal). Vince teaches Sr. High School Bible Dept. again this year, is on some committee for the District Dental Society. He has showed our slides on Anguilla several places and we have more scheduled in January, February, April and even next September. And so the days get pretty well filled with things to do and places to go.

Jené went through the Urology Dept. of the Mayo Clinic in October to check out a recurring kidney infection. It was found she has a congenital abnormal left kidney, divided into two sections. She was put on medicine hoping to control the infection without having to go through surgery. When she was back for a 6-week check just before Thanksgiving, her doctor was real satisfied and very hopeful that she will outgrow her difficulty. We will have her checked again in 3 months. She had a growth removed (a plugged-up gland) from near her eye last spring; but other than that we have been well.

So much for the Williams' year

Sincerely,

Vince, Verla, Dawn, Mark, Arik and Jené