Rosemary Decker - Silent Contactee

”So glad to learn that you and Dan Fry enjoyed the years of friendship. He and I met about 1955, when he was instigating the Understanding groups, and kept in touch almost to the end of his Earth sojourn. Dan was one of the very few people I ever felt free to tell of my own few direct encounters with Visitors from afar. All between, January 1958 and 1960: One very brief face-to-face, two phone calls, and three telepathic contacts… which were just as clear as the phone calls. (I do not publicise my encounters). During the last contact (by phone) it was suggested to me that some day conditions would make it possible for me to write a book on Mars… He had said, ”Under optimum conditions, it is possible to get a craft from Earth to Mars in 35 minutes… There´s the title for your book… remember that”.  He placed the emphasis on Earth to Mars , so I realised that he and his group are hoping some highly ethical and technologically advanced scientists will be able to pick up enough clues to build such a craft, sometime soon. Of course, it will involve gravity control.”
(Letter from Rosemary Decker to Gordon Cooper, August 23, 2000).

This very interesting letter from Rosemary Decker to astronaut Gordon Cooper I found among the 13,000 letters in the Wendelle Stevens extensive archive at AFU, which I am presently organizing, studying and scanning. In the collection I have found ten letters from Rosemary Decker. She was one of the real pioneers in the UFO and contactee movement, with unique inside knowledge and experiences of what happened in the 1950s and 60s. She passed away January 22, 2009 at the age of 92. Space and UFO research were her passion. Her studies of Mars culminated with the publication of 35 Minutes to Mars, in 2004.

Part of the Wendelle Stevens archive, 13,000 letters

What a pity that Rosemary never published her memoirs. What a treasure trove that would have been. She now and then wrote articles for various UFO magazines and lectured at UFO conferences. Even more tragic is that her archive was destroyed in a fire, as told by Bryan Dickeson in his article UFO Archives – An Underrated and Vanishing Resource: ”Californian bushfires destroyed all of Rosemary Decker’s UFO records, accumulated over six decades from the early Adamski era to the present. Rosemary was considered “a living treasure” and resource by MUFON and died several years ago.”

Rosemary Decker was a close friend of several of the classic 1950s contactees a.o. George Adamski and Daniel Fry. She had been at the Palomar Gardens home of George Adamski on that momentous day, November 20, 1952, when he and some friends returned from the first meeting with the ”Venusian” in the California Desert. Later she was able to interview, separately, five of the six witnesses to the encounter. During these years she also came to know several silent contactees, still unknown to the UFO research community:
”Sometimes, guests would report their own close encounters. Very few of them ever publicized their contacts, and so I learned early on that the vast majority of early contacts were nerver made public, as even today´s are not. Some of these people found ways to express appreciation and do something to benefit our troubled planet… This quiet, but profound,  movement is still going on, not only among those pioneers who still remain with us, but among close-encountered people today.”
(Rosemary Decker, 35 Minutes to Mars, p. 179).

In her book 35 Minutes to Mars she narrates a few personal UFO observations but that she also had personal contact with one of the alien visitors was not mentioned and she actually kept this a secret until 2003 in a letter published in Flying Saucer Review:
”I had intended to tell them (Gordon and Eve Creighton – HB) of my meeting (in 1959) with a tall, kindly E.T. whom I saw only briefly, and received two phone calls from. He said goodbye on Feb. 14, 1960, as he was returning to his home planet… The people on Mars seem to be genetic cousins of ours. The man I met was about 6 ft. 4-5 inches, and if dressed like us, would blend into people on our streets. There are also not-so-friendly E.T.s, but I have an impression that we receive some protection from them.”
(Letter from Rosemary Decker to Philip Creighton, Flying Saucer Review, vol 48, no. 3, Autumn 2003, p. 25).

The ten letters I have found in the Wendelle Stevens archive give further data on Rosemary´s contact experiences, which I now consider legitimate to publish, after her death. Here a few quotes:

”Now and then I submit an article to a UFO magazine (and recently to Atlantis Rising). Some are accepted. But I´ve put most of my spare time and energy the past few years into writing a book on Mars. As a science hobbyist rather than a scientist I would not attemp it – don´t feel really adequate. But way back in 1959, a friend and mentor who is very knowledgeable suggested, to my amazement, that ”some day” conditions would make it possible for me to write a book on Mars. He offered the title (!), a few clues towards broadened research – and left! I haven´t seen him since; but now and again I send a mental message that at last I have written the book. It was the break-throughs that began with the Viking photos, including the Cydonia monuments, and the immense water-spout, that got me going.”
(Letter from Rosemary Decker to Wendelle Stevens, April 23-24, 1999).

”Late yesterday a letter arrived from a friend presently living in Australia, who cherishes you, she included for you the enclosed pic, an enlargement from a postage-stamp size ´snap´. (It is probably needless to say it should not be reproduced again.)
(Letter from Rosemary Decker to Wendelle Stevens, August 13, 1988).

 ”… the Visitor whom I met only briefly, about 40 years ago) suggested that ”some day” conditions would make it possible for me to do – and he offered the title (!) and very little other data… Among your small photos one is the Visitor of 1959. Sent courtesy Millen about 5 or 6 years ago.”
(Letter from Rosemary Decker to Wendelle Stevens and Christine Stevens-Cox, December 4, 1999).

Rosemary Decker´s interplanetary friend

The photo referred to and included in the August 13, 1988 letter I have never seen before. According to Rosemary this is an actual photo of her interplanetary friend and mentor whom she met in the 1950s. I have been somewhat hesitant whether I should publish this photo as Rosemary did not endorse reproduction and our visitors from afar usually do not want to be photographed, for obvious reasons. But as this gentleman, according to Rosemary, left our planet in 1960 I hope this photo will not cause him or his group any trouble. Representatives of this benevolent alien group are still around, but keeping a very low profile, according to some of my correspondents.

There were several reasons why this alien group terminated their experiment with open contacts around 1960. One was the psychological effect the experiences had on many contactees, who could not handle this unique situation and sometimes went off the beam. Rosemary Decker makes several comments on this problem on personality changes after UFO experiences:

”By 1956 I was already a bit alarmed at personality changes in some of these people (especially those who thereby came into the public eye) as they displayed the signs of deliberately seeking recognition. There was a general tendency among them to ”balloon off” on ”ego-trips”, and establish personal followings, as self-styled ”Authorities” on a great subject on which in fact they knew little more than the vast majority of the public, the ”un-encountered”. ”
(Rosemary Decker, letter to Flying Saucer Review, vol 31, no 6, Oct 1986, p. 28).

”We all found Adamski to be genuinely kind and deeply concerned with the problems the human race has been creating, to its own danger and that of the planet itself. However when his visitants withdrew, and he lost all contact with them, he found it exceedingly difficult to accept the fact, although he had admitted it openly, early on. He soon began to claim further contacts. Unfortunately his Achilles Heel was an immense ego, which grew alarmingly as time went on and his fame spread. As friends who had visited him for years,  we became worried about his well-being… In all fairness it should be remembered that Adamski was not the only early space pioneer to undergo stresses greater than they could handle”
(Rosemary Decker, 35 Minutes to Mars, pp. 182-183).

I do not know whether Rosemary Decker was a student of or acquainted with the Esoteric Tradition but she does make an interesting comment in a letter 1988, referring to Desmond Leslie. If she was a connoisseur of the core Esoteric Tradition she would have noted that the worldview and philosophy presented by the, in my view, authentic contactees a.o. Angelucci, Adamski, Fry, Menger, Van Tassel, was generally in accordance with the Ancient Wisdom or science of the multiverse. A fact I have mentioned in several blog posts.

”The reason I´m particularly interested in the Venus (Omnec Onec, From Venus I Came – HB) book is because my own past experience and data gathered in the UFO field have led me to understand that many, perhaps most, of the E.T. cultures advanced beyond our own are not based in this chemical sector of the physical Universe, but in the ´other side´ - still physical substance, but less dense, more malleable, and mores stable. This concept has long been known to esoteric and metaphysical sources. Desmond Leslie suggested it many years ago, but unfortunately that only made him seem less credible in the eyes of other researchers, with rare exceptions. I am sure tht some of the Now-you-see-em-now-you-don´t effects of spacecraft must be due to shifts into, and out of, densification. Others, of course are due to the speeds possible to E.T. craft.”
(Letter from Rosemary Decker to Christine Stevens-Cox, February 14, 1988)

Desmond Leslie and George Adamski

Being one of the last pioneers alive, with inside knowledge of what really happened during the first years of the contactee era, Rosemary Decker must have felt more and more like a stranger in a strange land in the UFO movement of the 1980s and 90s. She tried to express some of these thoughts in a letter 1995:

”Yes, I´ll do my best to take care – it´s true ´there aren´t many of us left´. And the early era of open friendly contacts has been so debunked, or at best ignored, by later researchers/encountered people, too much precious data has been lost. (Early era is among my 3 favourite presentations when I speak at a conference). Some of the early alledged contacts were real, thanks be. (And most never publicized).
(Letter from Rosemary Decker to Wendelle Stevens and Christine Stevens-Cox, December 12, 1995).

Readers of my blog are aware of that I have advanced the theory that a core group of contactees was involved in a psychological and cultural influence test in the 1950s. An experiment implemented by a group of highly advanced, benevolent aliens, earth based or extraterrestrial, a group with access to “vimana” technology.  Some of the people contacted tried their best to implement the projects and ideas received by the visitors. Others couldn´t stand the psychological strain and social stigma of the experiences or invented fake stories when the real contacts ended. But the cultural impact of this experiment was awesome, inspiring millions of people, some in humanitarian projects, others into UFO research and or a personal spiritual quest. There is still much research left to get a clear picture of what happened during these years. Rosemary Decker is definitely an interesting and valuable source of information regarding first hand data from the pioneering decade of the contactee movement.

Sten Lindgren and the Enigmatic BEA

My first teacher or mentor in the strange and sometimes whacky underground world of the UFO movement was Swedish contactee Sten Lindgren. A gentle soul, mystic, esotericist and idealist who told of both physical and telepathic contacts with the space people.  Being a naive teenager I was immensely fascinated by his claims and in 1970 became a member of his group of eager students and activists, the Intergalactical Federation (IGF). But after a couple of years in this very special social milieu I began asking critical question which eventually led to the founding of AFU.

One of the first meetings with Sten Lindgren at my home January 2, 1971. From left Kjell Jonsson, Sten Lindgren, Bjarne Håkansson (IGF co-worker)

Still I was deeply intrigued by the many contact claims of Sten Lindgren and decided to gather as much data as possible to determine what was reality and fantasy in the world of Sweden´s most famous contactee. I kept on turning every stone and after several years had acquired quite an extensive file on IGF and its members. Years of research and investigation later made it clear that many of the observations and contact experiences that Sten Lindgren referred to had mundane explanations. I never found any concrete  evidence that Sten was in physical contact with an alien group. There were a few UFO observations with group members that are a bit puzzling, but not of great interest. Still I can to this day wonder whether Sten Lindgren was, in spite of all misinterpretations and wild stories, during his early years really involved in some hidden activity with a benevolent alien group? The reason I still keep an open mind on this issue is the story of the enigmatic woman referred to as BEA.

Sten Lindgren (right) at his home 1971. To the left Roland von Malmborg

In the annals of UFO history there are few issues that have created more debate, derision and enmity in the UFO community than the classic contactee cases of the 1950s. The situation is not very much different today. Few ufologists appear to be able to handle these and similar cases today with an open and investigating spirit. The believers believe too much and the skeptics often dismiss empirical data without investigation. Finding weak points in the claims of the true believer is usually not very difficult, but when dealing with complicated contactee cases it is equally important to be critical of the critic and skeptical of the skeptic.

In many interviews, lectures and his book Dialog med kosmisk kultur (Dialogue with A Cosmic Culture) Sten Lindgren narrates the story of his physical and telepathic contacts and cooperation with a group of alien visitors he refer to as CBH, the Cosmic Brotherhood. As a young man he was deeply puzzled by why he so often observed UFOs, cigar-shaped and bell-shaped craft: ”I began reflecting over my luck, having made seven or eight observations of different types of craft since 1957. I thought this was unusual and began wondering why this happened. Who was I?” (p. 18).

Sten Lindgren´s father was an amateur astronomer and because of their common astonomy interest Sten and his father met with ufologist Eric Nordquist, chairman of the Swedish Ifologiska sällskapet (Ifological Society) in the beginning of the 1960s. Sten Lindgren started reading UFO literature and joined the Ifological Society. In 1963-1964 he began receiving telepathic messages, sometimes before a UFO observation. Late one evening in 1964 Sten observe a cigar-shaped craft not far from his home outside Stockholm. There are illuminated windows on the craft which is hovering over some buildings: ”Suddenly I was aware of something. I heard a distinct male voice, perhaps of 30 years age, with a metallic, echoing voice in normal Swedish language say: ”Sten Lindgren, we will contact you in the future.” This communication I perceived as inside my head, hearing. It was a very powerful voice, like someone talking to me from one meters distance. Nothing more was said and the craft disappeared after the communication. Later I was briefed on the technique that had been used, especially for this transmission. They had used a device that with a sort of electrical beam modulated the auditory nerve.” (p. 20) Sten was later told that he had been under observation by the alien group for several years as a preparation for open contact.

Beginning in 1965 Sten Lindgren for the first time encounter the woman who he always referred to as BEA (not her real name). The first meeting was probably, according to Sten, at the Ifological Society in Stockholm: ”From the beginning I didn´t know who BEA was. I found that out eventually. The contact with BEA was intensified and I came to realize that she was in direct contact with an extraterrestrial group. I received a lot of information. She confirmed that the contactees George Adamski, Howard Menger and Daniel Fry were authentic and that they were in contact with the same group she represented.” (pp. 21, 23) Sten Lindgren´s contact with BEA lasted only a few years during the late 1960s and then she left the country and he never heard from her again.

Sten Lindgren visiting my home August 8, 1971

So who was this mysterious woman that Sten Lindgren claimed was either belonging to a group of alien visitors or in liaison with this group? I have spent many years trying to follow up every lead in this puzzle, interviewing all individuals who met BEA. She was not a figment of Sten´s imagination as several witnesses who met her can testify, but who was this enigmatic woman?  From my extensive files on this case I will present some relevant quotes that may shed some light on this enigma.

I have interviewed four people in Sweden who met and talked to BEA. Unfortunately I have not been able to interview Eva Jarring, daughter of former Swedish ambassador Gunnar Jarring. According to one of the four witnesses, Maj-Britt Gustavsson, Eva Jarring met BEA and received a jewellery from her in the form of a Saturn symbol with a golden chain. Maj-Britt has seen and held the jewellery in her hand. (Interview March 11, 1991). I have tried to contact Eva Jarring to get a confirmation of this statement but has received no answer.

Maj-Britt Gustavsson was for a while a member of Sten Lindgren´s group. Sten hade secretly photographed BEA and kept the photo in a metal box. According to Sten this photo mysteriously disappeared. The space people did not, for security reasons, wish to be photographed. Maj-Britt had seen the photo. She remember her as good-looking woman in her thirties. Blond, slender, nordic type. Probably singel. She had a car and foreign correspondence. BEA had a strange kind of watch that somehow was connected with her ”vibrations”. Maj-Britt regarded the messages from BEA to Sten as very much common sense viewpoints. Maj-Britt tried many times to get more information from Sten about BEA but he was very secretive regarding her identity and work. (Interview March 19, 1985).

Sten Lindgren at his home in Stockholm December 25, 1984

Another member of Sten Lindgren´s group who also met and talked to BEA was a good friend of mine who wish anonymity, partly because his involvement in some work for an unnamed Intelligence organization (no connection to his UFO interest). Sten used three alias for this man, Bertil, Roger and Besic. During his lectures Sten always referred to Bertil as a contactee, a liason man with CBH, which he vehemently denied to me and I have found no evidence indicating such a contact. In 2010 I published an interview with Bertil which may be of interest to Swedish readers. Bertil met BEA together with Sten once in Stockholm. It was a short meeting and not much was said. BEA had friendly brown eyes, slender and about 28-30 years old She spoke excellent Swedish. Dressed in ordinary clothes and carrying a brown attache case in her left hand. (Interviews January 2, 1987, April 27, 1990).

The third person to have met BEA is Christer Janson, who together with Sten Lindgren founded the Intergalactical Federation in 1965. He met BEA a couple of times and once fixed her car. Together with Sten he visited her apartment in Stockholm but Christer has very few memories of what transpired and is doubtful whether she was an alien visitor: ”Well, of course the girl in the dairy can also be a marsian, that´s possible. She was very kind and very pretty, but as for an extraterrestrial I must confess there are others more likely.” (Interview August 11, 1986).

The last person to have met BEA is Jan Sannerstam. He only remember her as a rather ordinary, reticent woman. (Interview January 31, 2012).

August 15, 1985. Sten Lindgren showing where he once observed a landed craft

To get an idea of Sten Lindgren´s claims regarding BEA here is a summary of a few quotes from the many interviews and phone conversations I have had with Sten.

Bea knew the American ambassador and did work connected with the American Embassy. She had a very unusual special electronic camera and took pictures of Sten but he was never allowed to study the camera.

BEA once demonstrated that she could bend her fingers as much forwards as backwards. This is a very unusual and specific statement which I have not found in the classic contactee literature. But it must have been mentioned in early contactee circles as this feat is described in Cosmic Top Secret, published 1991 by William Hamilton: ”The human-like, or Nordic, aliens bear specific differences from our own species. Several contactees have mentioned that Nordics have very symmetrical features; their skin is clear and almost translucent… their fingers are flexible in the backward as well as forward direction suggesting more pliable bone tissue…” (p. 38). This reminds me of a comment by American contactee Paul Vest when meeting and shaking hands with the alien visitor ”Bill” in 1953: ”We shook hands and I recall being aware of the peculiar feel of his hand-as though it were without any underlying bone structure... I recalled how odd his hand had felt in my grasp. Looking at his hands, I noticed that his fingers were long and tapering and so smooth that they seemed to be without joints or underlying bone structure.” (Paul Vest, Venusians Walk Our Streets, Mystic Magazine, August 1954, no. 5).

There is a UFO base used by the alien group about twenty Swedish miles from Stockholm. It is rather small and can harbour two or three craft.

Bea confirmed that George Adamski and Howard Menger were authentic contacts. She once browsed in Menger´s book From Outer Space to You and commented that there were two levels in the book. The Moon pictures were not authentic. Bea also once made underlinings of what was important in George Adamski´s Inside the Space Ships.

Sten Lindgren lecturing

Sten Lindgren is convinced that he in 1964, together with his friend Bertil, was taken aboard a bell-shaped craft and flown to a carrier ship. In the autumn of 1964 Sten Lindgren and Bertil went by car to a mine called Yxkullsgruvan in Västmanland, Sweden. The reason for this excursion was to find Lapis Lingua, sometimes called the psychic stone. The mine was closed and they didn´t find any Lapis Lingua but on their way home a cigarshaped mothership and several small bell-shaped craft appear over the car. One of the small craft makes a landing close to the road and Sten and Bertil are led aboard and are then taken to the mothership. Here they meet a group of five or six people, among them two women and a man dressed in a suit. The spacepeople ask Sten if they are allowed to erase his memory of this visit. He believes he was somehow programmed on this occasion. Sten and Bertil are then led back to the car and continue the trip to Stockholm. According to Sten there were several hours missing in their journey. They came home very late. This is corroborated by Bertil. but he has no memory of any UFO observation or contact. Sten was later put under hypnosis by an unknown physician and then became aware of what had happened during the missing hours.

Sten Lindgren interviewed in the Swedish daily Västmanlands Läns tidning March 17, 1994

Looking back today on my two years involvement with Sten Lindgren and the Intergalactical Federation I feel priviliged for this life experience. To have been a member of a very unique contactee group, sharing the members mindset and activities have been an invaluable asset in understanding contactee cases. It was also an excellent lesson in what esotericists would call discrimination or development of the critical faculty. What Sten told me in interviews and personal conversations was often different from what he claimed in his lectures, writings TV- and radio appearances. His activities and statements were sometimes fantastic and without foundation. In 1985 Sten told me during a private conversation that he felt disappointed, abandoned and used by the space people. After BEA had left Sweden he received no information and planned to end his UFO activity. 

So what was the real truth behind the enigmatic BEA? I have no definite answer. It was either a result of Sten´s ability to project fantasies on ordinary people and events or perhaps he really was involved in a psychological contact experiment initiated by a benevolent alien group? Sten Lindgren was, and is, a gentle soul, a mystic, idealist and a man of true goodwill. Even if his contact claims were fantasies his philosophy was a worthy mixture of contactee philosophy and esotericism. He was a deep inspiration for my contactee research and involvement in the UFO movement. Whatever the truth of his stories he was a positive catalyst in my life. In his own special way a guide and mentor that put me on a quest that still continue. For this I will be forever grateful.

UFO-Sweden Memories 1972

In April this year UFO-Sweden celebrates its 50 years anniversary. For the young ufologists of today the 1970s probably appear like a very distant world. No smartphones, no FaceBook, a pre-digital age when communication was by old type telephones and snail mail letters. And people gathered in national and local societies to listen to lectures on UFOs. UFO groups are today almost gone. UFO-Sweden now has three local groups. So follow me on a journey in time, sharing some UFO-Sweden memories from 1972, when the UFO movement had a very different agenda than today.

”To successfully present the UFO problem as an important issue within the political system of today the demand must come from a broad public opinion.” These were the words of Carl-Axel Jonzon in an editorial, UFO-Information no. 2, 1972, p. 2. This quote from UFO-Sweden founder and first chairman Carl-Axel Jonzon (CAJ) is a good summary of how the organization then planned to work. Information and lobbying became the keyword. The idea was to create a large peoples movement that would change the public´s view of the phenomenon. This movement would then be strong enough to demand that the authorities initiate UFO research.

Carl-Axel Jonzon 1971

Carl-Axel Jonzon (Karl Axel Jonzon) is today 91 years but still now and then writes about UFOs on his blog UFO med mera. He succeeded, after much hard work 1968-1969, in uniting the then six or seven UFO-groups and founding the national organization UFO-Sweden. He was UFO-Sweden chairman 1970-1975. The new organization changed the ufological landscape completely. Local UFO groups were formed at a phenomal pace in most Swedish towns. By the end of 1972 there were 50 registered local UFO-Sweden units.

My AFU colleague Anders Liljegren had founded Norrköpings UFO-förening in 1970 and I formed the local group UFO-Södertälje during the same year. By 1972 Anders was in charge of the UFO-Sweden reporting center and I head of the organizations´s information center. Large groups had developed in Sundsvall, Stockholm, Ludvika, Södertälje and several other cities.

Swedish newspaper Sundsvalls Tidning, April 8, 1972, presenting the local group UFO-Sundsvall 

During the pioneering years in the beginning of the 1970s UFO-Sweden´s ideology was a mixture of a  rather naive New Age, contactee philosophy and research-oriented field investigation. This became clearly evident during the annual conference in April 1972. Anders Liljegren lectured on UFO reports during 1971 but there was also a lecture by Raymond Andreasson who with a combination of mathematics and Bible studies tried to convince the audience that the Holy City was inside the Moon and The End Times were near.

Part of the audience at the UFO-Sweden annual conference April 1, 1972

Anders Liljegren lecturing during the UFO-Sweden annual conference April 1, 1972

Carl-Axel Jonzon with Raymond Andreasson, Motala Tidning, April 4, 1972

During the Autumn of 1972 I initiated a new form of meetings in the organization, planning conferences, with the idea to create a forum for a more open and informal discussions and planning of projects. The first meeting was arranged in Södertälje, August 26, 1972. Anders Liljegren here for the first time presented his research project on the 1946 Swedish Ghost Rockets.

Planning conference August 26, 1972. Anders Liljegren to the right.

Plannings conference August 26, 1972. Kent Johansson, chairman of local group UFO-Västerås

The UFO-Sweden magazine UFO-Information improved in both printing quality and content in 1972, resulting in many subscribers, also from public libraries. From 1970 organized field investigation and documentation of UFO observations had been started and were now published in the magazine. Qualified writers begun publishing articles in UFO-Information and there was a lively debate.

The new improved UFO-Information

In spite of these improvements the ideology and activites were very much influenced by the information and lobbying idea. Research was not generally regarded as of prime importance. During the second planning conference on November 25, 1972 in Södertälje, Anders Liljegren and I tried to initate a change in policy regarding research and also democracy in the organization. Unfortunately not with much success. This difference in ideology and policy eventually led to our forming of AFU on March 17, 1973.

But UFO-Sweden continued with many ups and downs during the next decades. New leaders emerged affecting great improvements in policy, field investigation etc. Today UFO-Sweden is a large and well functioning organization with around 600 members. Although there are not many local groups around today, activities and meetings are organized in several places, which also function as important social gatherings.

The 50 years anniversary will be celebrated on April 17-19 at Norrköping. It is a very special and fascinating experience to have been involved with an organization for fifty years. A life journey filled with much interesting work and study, resulting in cherished friendships and many unforgettable memories.