Thursday, August 24, 2023
From Freddie Valois:
In September 1953 Jan’s and my paths crossed as we started our careers in science in Claude Villee’s lab at Harvard Medical School. We were both newly graduated from college and ready
to take on the world! What we did very well was to become friends for life and enjoy our times together throughout the years.
Our jobs had excellent bonding elements, working in a Harvard lab, spending summers at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole and being treated to four winter months and four summer months in a lab at the Swedish International Veterinary College in Stockholm.
We managed many escapades in Jan’s 1958 VW “bug” purchased at the start of that summer’s Swedish visit. In those days the VW “bugs” were a favorite conveyance for the masses and an easy car to manipulate---except for going into reverse. King Kong would have had trouble shifting the reverse gear backward or forward and so did Jan (and Freddy).
Our first sense of difficulty in this maneuver was at the dealer’s in Copenhagen. The manager was a necessary item for putting the gear in reverse so we could exit his business. On our way to the Swedish ferry, a gas stop also needed the attendant’s skill to coax the gear into reverse. Aboard the ferrywe managed to place ourselves in the wrong line for debarking and that problem was solved by 6 Swedes picking up the VW (with us in it) and putting us in the correct exit line. We were meeting many nice people! The crossing to Sweden was accompanied by our chanting “stay” to the left! We did and had no further incidents until we drove triumphantly into Stockholm the next day. A U-turn became necessary on a set of trolley tracks which was finally accomplished when the driver of the trolley (which we had made non-functionable by becoming stuck in the tracks) was able to shift gears into reverse! That evening the owner of the restaurant in which we ate (and which happened to overlook the trolley tracks) inquired if were we the ladies who were stuck in a VW that afternoon. Our fame was rapidly spreading.
And it was in fact. The grande finale of the summer for the Bug and us resulted in our parking in a lane for parking on the main avenue of Stockholm, but which on Saturday at noon turns into a highspeed lane out of the city. When we returned from a leisurely Saturday shopping venture, many people gave us a lesson in reading Swedish. This included the Police Chief who appeared at the lab on Monday and fortunately the lab
Prof. mollified his desire of letting us see the inside of the jail by promising we won’t drive any more and that we would leave not only Stockholm, but Sweden in three weeks!
We did not ignore other peoples of Europe. We decided a mini tour of Greece would be interesting and it was.
It was in Mykonos on a sidewalk café that a French movie company erected a set. Jan and I decided we’d understand more French than Greek so we hung around to watch the filming and action of the “Return to Greece”. Before the movie action started one of the big reflectors fell over and missed Jan by inches. Fortunately she survived without injury but she gained the attention of the Director who wined and dined her the rest of the day! About 15 to 20 years later she called me one evening and said that “Return to Greece” was playing on a Boston TV station! Alas, we never did.
