On Sunday, June 30, 2013, Matt Best came from New York City to Willow Valley to have dinner with us.

He was very enthusiastic about one of his new job possibilities. His present job as Program Manager for Capital Project Development under the Deputy Mayor for Economic Development in the Bloomberg administration expires at the end of 2013. He is considering teaching secondary science and math in the Peace Corps for two years. He has always been interested in an international experience, and this could be a step in that direction. We are delighted that he is excited about his new opportunities.

We went back to our apartment and had a delightful several hours talking about many things.

Last week I found a box in our storage room that Al had brought back from his office at Sperry New Holland in December 1981 when he retired after almost 40 years with the company. In it was information about his year as president of the American Society of Agricultural Engineers in 1979-1980, especially his trip with fifteen ag engineers to China in August and September 1979. Al had a good time explaining to Matt about the experience, and I enjoyed watching Matt learn about this high point of Al’s engineering career.

Matt had visited with Nancy and Gary Bennett earlier in the morning, and left us to go to Allentown to see Anna and Mike Himes’ family. We are so glad that he takes time from his busy life to give us an opportunity to be a part of it.