1956

The following contribution to the 1956 class notes is from Gene White who recently moved to the Bay Area. He lives in Berkeley and works for a San Francisco firm which consults for industry and foreign governments on problems concerned with the development and control of water resources.

My career has followed a varied course since my Hanover days, but most of my work has been related to water and its use in the development of agriculture, power, and mineral resources. In 1962, I went to Pakistan as a Peace Corps Volunteer, serving as municipal engineer for the city of Peshawar, at the foot of the Khyber Pass. Five and a half years later, when I left Pakistan, I was involved in consultation and construction of large-scale water projects for the Pakistan Government. The most important project was a scheme to reclaim a million water-logged saline acres of land in the southern end of the Great Thai Desert. This involved the design and installation of water wells to lower the water table and drainage canals to carry away excess irrigation water. My wife Betsy (Smith '60) was with me during the stay in Pakistan, as Peace Corps Volunteer social worker and teacher during the first two years and later as housewife, mother and part-time teacher. Our oldest son Eric spent his first three years in Pakistan. By the age of three, he spoke Punjabi and Urdu as well as English and had travelled around the world. For my wife, the experience in Pakistan has given direction for much subsequent activity. She is presently teaching Indian History at San Francisco State University and expects to receive her Ph.D. in South Asian Studies this spring. Her dissertation on the effects of Muslim social restrictions on women's education and family planning involved a return to Pakistan last year for field research. Food shortage and expanding population are serious problems in Pakistan and much of the underdeveloped world. My work in reclaiming land and developing irrigation systems can help increase food production, but a reduction in birth rates, which depends upon social attitudes, is also vital to the economic survival of these areas. My wife's research interests, therefore, are related to the same basic problem that underlies the need for my water resource development work.

After our return from Pakistan, I spent five years in Colorado, working mostly on water supply systems for molydenum mining and other local projects. Though this worn was interesting, I missed the challenge of solving water problems for underdeveloped areas where the need is more acute. Last year, therefore, I joined a firm in San Francisco which is involved in projects all over the world. My first assignment was in Bangladesh, where I spent three months. Unfortunately, the food shortages in Bangladesh are so acute that most of the funds allocated for construction of vitally needed irrigation and flood control works have been expended on emergency famine relief.

While in Colorado, I occasionally met former Thayer school classmates Dick DeVoto and KenFortin who have specialized in mineral development and construction, respectively. In San Francisco I have run into Ran Bailey and FenSalter who work in power development and mechanical design for a competing firm.

My family which includes three children, Eric (10), Greg (6), and Laura (4) are happy in the Bay Area but we are looking forward to another overseas assignment. The children would benefit from living in another culture and learning different languages; I could continue in water resource development and Betsy could either teach or do research in almost any part of the world.

Throughout the past 19 years, we have pursued mountain climbing and skiing when possible and have made significant ascents in the Hindu Kush, Kashmir, the Alps, the Andes, the Rockies, and the mountains of East Africa. Recently we have become involved in competitive running. My wife and I run about eight miles a day and participate in races from one to 26 miles in length. We both qualified to run in the Boston Marathon by finishing a local marathon in less than three and a half hours, but we are not as fast as Bob French who ran last year's Boston marathon in about three hours. Running is a sport we can indulge in anywhere in the world, no matter what the climate or terrain, so it is ideally suited to my career.

Guest Secretary. 611 Colusa Avenue Berkeley, Calif. 94707

Head Agent, Eli Lilly International Corp. Box 32 Indianapolis, Ind. 46206