Interview with Harold Rosen, October 31, 1990

Betty Abramson:

This is Betty Abramson. Tonight is October 31, 1990; Halloween night. I am going to conduct an interview with Mr. Harold Rossen of the Jewish Community Center Family History Project.

B.A.:

Mr. Rosen would you please give us your name, address, and if you wish, your telephone number?

Harold Rosen:

My name is Harold Rosen. I live at 5100 Brownsboro Rd., Louisville, Kentucky. My telephone number is 426-7777.

B.A.:

May I ask what...when your birthday is?

H.R.:

I was born September 20, 1915.

B.A.:

Where were you born?

H.R.:

I was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

B.A.:

In Canada?

H.R.:

Yes.

B.A.:

What were your parents name's, please?

H.R.:

My fathers name was Zalman George Rosen. My mothers name was Chanah Wasserman Rosen.

B.A.:

Were they born in Canada, also?

H.R.:

No, they were born in Romania. One in a town called Dorohoi and the other in a town called Botosani. Both of which are about 200 miles north of Bucharest, that's the capital; very close to the Russian border.

B.A.:

Were they... Harold, were they married in Romania?

H.R.:

Yes they were married in Romania. Sometime in the early 1890's.

B.A.:

How did they decide...Why did they decide to leave Romania; may I ask?

H.R.:

To the best of my knowledge, there was some kind of conscription going on in Romania. My father, at that time was about; close to thirty years old or a little over thirty with three children. My mother was pregnant, and they...he 2:00didn't want to have to go into the army because he had a family to support, so they decided to leave.

B.A.:

You know, even at that time with two adults and three little children, it must have been tough when going from Romania to Canada.

H.R.:

I'm sure it was, of course I don't have any details. I never did hear the story of how their financial status permitted them to do these things but obviously they had sufficient funds to make the trip.

B.A.:

Did they go directly from Romania to Canada, or did they stop along the way?

H.R.:

They went from Romania to England and were there for a short while and then came by ship from England to Quebec; and by the way, my...the fourth child was born on that ship and was named after that ship; by the way.

B.A.:

Which was?

H.R.:

Champlain. The name of the ship was the Late Champlain.

B.A.:

How very interesting.

H.R.:

It was a custom in those days to name a child born on ship, after the 3:00ship...with the name of the ship.

B.A.:

How very interesting.

H.R.:

We always kid him saying it's a good thing it wasn't Lusitania.

B.A.:

Let me ask you, was there any particular reason why they went to the place they went in Canada? Did they have any relatives living there?

H.R.:

Yes. They had...that is, my mother did. My father had no relatives at all in North America; never did all his life as a matter of fact, but my mother did have some siblings. I'm not sure, which ones were there in Quebec, and that's the reason they went there.

B.A.:

Did your father keep up with any of his family after he got to Quebec?

H.R.:

By correspondence, yes but he never saw them again.

B.A.:

He never did?

H.R.:

No.

B.A.:

At the time that you were in the neighborhood and in Quebec, were there other people in...like aunts and uncles in your household, or did they come from 4:00Romania to Canada to visit you and then go on about their business?

H.R.:

Well, first of all, I was never in Quebec. I was born in Montreal after they left Quebec. We...I did have one aunt, and her family who lived in Montreal. Nobody else lived with us in our home, no, but there were other siblings of my mother there at the time.

B.A.:

Could you give us a little...its just so interesting, a little idea of what life was like in Montreal when you were young? What was the neighborhood like?

H.R.:

Well, of course I can't remember all the way back, but I can remember starting school. I must explain this, Montreal at that time, and to this day some extent still has a pattern of being a very ethnic community in that there are three 5:00distinct groups; the French Catholics, the English Protestants, and the Jews, and they all sort of lived in their own neighborhoods where there was some mingling but generally they're very distinct. I naturally was brought up in the Jewish neighborhood. I went to the public schools because the Jewish people went to the Protestant schools. There were two sets of schools. Although they were public schools, they were still the Protestant ford of school commissioners. So, we went to those schools, but I also went to Hebrew school and everything was oriented to Judaism where we lived.

B.A.:

Within your own household, how did you celebrate the Sabbath? How did you celebrate the Jewish holidays? Did you celebrate them all?

H.R.:

Yes, my parents were very traditionally Orthodox and we observed Sabbath. We 6:00observed all the holidays to the fullest.

B.A.:

Did you keep kosher?

H.R.:

My mother kept kosher and all the necessary sets of dishes both for passover and regular.

B.A.:

Was it easy to get kosher meat, kosher foods at that time?

H.R.:

Oh yes, very because there were kosher butchers and everything all around the place.

B.A.:

Did you live within walking distance, I mean everything was close by? The school, the kosher butcher, so forth and so on.

H.R.:

You had to go to the school in your neighborhood because you were district so obviously it was very close; just a few blocks away. The Synagogues; they were a dime a dozen, they were all over the place; everywhere.

B.A.:

Were they broken down into Orthodox? Was there reform and was there conservative at the time?

H.R.:

At that time and until very recently, there was only one reform temple in 7:00Montreal; Temple Emmanuel and since that time I know that there have been...there are rather, some conservative synagogues but mostly Orthodox.

B.A.:

Harold, how did you get from Montreal, Canada to Louisville, Kentucky?

H.R.:

Well, I came by way of bus to Charleston, West Virginia; Washington, D.C.; and Dayton, Ohio. Well, go back to why I left. I graduated from high school in 1932 and at that time it was in the midst of the depression and there was no such thing as trying to work and go to school at the same...going to college at the same time. For one reason, the only University; McGill University only had day classes. Secondly, is you couldn't get a job. There were no jobs available. So after a year of floundering around I finally was able to get a job in Charleston. Left home, went there and at the same time was able to get some 8:00college work while I was working and that started me working in the United States and yeah.

B.A.:

How come you picked Charleston? You say you got a job in Charleston, why Charleston?

H.R.:

Well.

B.A.:

West Virginia; I assume.

H.R.:

Oh yes, Charleston, West Virginia. My youngest brother who is 10 years older than I am had left home many years prior to that and was able to get me this job in Charleston.

B.A.:

Can I back up a little bit? Your youngest brother who was ten years older than you; how many brothers and sisters do you have?

H.R.:

Well, I had four brothers and two sisters. One of them passed away; one brother passed away two years ago. There are six of us left today.

B.A.:

Okay.

H.R.:

And I'm the youngest of the six, but the oldest is 92.

B.A.:

I would say longevity runs in your family and may it continue. Okay, lets get back to Charleston. Charleston, West Virginia and what did you do there?

H.R.:

Well I went to work for what was then the Licket Drug Company, which is now extinct but was a very large national chain. I did display and advertising work for them. Window trimming and then later go into advertising and then I was...I went to...I worked for the company in Washington, D.C. after that and in Dayton, Ohio. Rather than accept the transfer back to Washington in 1937, I left Licket and started in the real estate business.

B.A.:

All right Harold, how did you get to Louisville, Kentucky?

H.R.:

Well, in 1940, you know they had that big lottery in the United States where every male between the ages of 21 and 35 had to register for the draft, and I 10:00was in that category. I registered, and I was also one of the lucky ones to dray a very low number, so I was on the second call for the draft and as a result I was drafted in February 1941; sent to Fort Thomas for induction and then to Fort Knox, where I got my basic training.

B.A.:

Basic training, so actually Fort Knox was your introductions to Louisville, Kentucky?

H.R.:

Yes it was. Obviously many of the so called civilian soldiers of Fort Knox came into Louisville weekends and met people here. Matter of fact we used to go to the church community center, the old YMHA at Second and York.

B.A.:

Can you tell me...we had some talk about that. Can you tell me what your feelings as a soldier who was at Fort Knox; how did you feel about coming into the old YMHA, as we called it, did you enjoy it?

H.R.:

Yes, I met some very nice people who were very kind to me. I was able to have semblance of a social life because of the people that I had met, and we looked forward to coming into Louisville and spending our weekends there.

B.A.:

Did you go to any of the dances at the HA or did you meet at any of the...I understand they have a breakfast for the soldiers.

H.R.:

Yes, but I went to the dances because dancing has always been one of my favorite hobbies and still is to this day. Luckily I married a girl who also like to dance, and we still do it today.

B.A.:

Oh you got married. Was she a Louisville native girl you married?

H.R.:

Very much so.

B.A.:

Did you meet her at the YMHA?

H.R.:

No I didn't actually, I met her on a blind date but that's another story.

B.A.:

We happen to be lucky enough tonight to have Selma Rosen with us, who was the 12:00blind date that Harold met and married. Selma can tell me a little bit about yourself? Are you a Louisville native?

Selma Rosen:

Yes, I am.

B.A.:

Were you born in Louisville?

S.R.:

Well, I'm a native; I had to be born here.

B.A.:

Were your parents native?

S.R.:

My parents were both born here. All my grandparents were married here.

B.A.:

Do you know where your grandparents came from?

S.R.:

Yes, I'm not actually sure who came from where, but some came from Germany, some came from Lithia or Lithuania. Which is as much I know.

B.A.:

Can I ask you another question? What was your name before it was Selma Rosen?

S.R.:

Selma Francis Snyder.

B.A.:

Selma Francis Snyder and you had always lived here?

S.R.:

Yes

B.A.:

And you and Harold got married and obviously he was still in service. Was there anything that you want to tell us about your background, as far as where you lived and what things were like when you were growing up in Louisville? Your involvement in the Jewish community.

S.R.:

Well growing up, other than going to Sunday school, I didn't have a lot of involvement with the Jewish community because we did not live in a Jewish neighborhood.

B.A.:

Where did you live?

S.R.:

We lived in the Parkland area.

B.A.:

And the Parkland area was where, Selma?

S.R.:

Was in 28th and Dumesnil, where my father and mother had an apartment.

B.A.:

Okay, Harold you and Selma met, and you dated, and I assume then you got married.

H.R.:

Yes, that's correct.

B.A.:

In Louisville?

H.R.:

Yes, in Louisville. 1942

B.A.:

And were you stationed at Fort Knox?

H.R.:

No, at that time I was stationed at Camp Hope, Louisiana but I was transferred back to Fort Knox the following year and stayed there for the rest of the war, and we lived in Louisville and then finally I...we moved out to Fort Knox, had a house there, and I was separated from the service in January of 1946.

B.A.:

And you decide to settle in Louisville?

H.R.:

Yes, since I had to start from scratch again, I decided that Louisville would be a good place since it was Selma's home, and she could be more comfortable here and...which was a very good thing on my part.

B.A.:

Were you comfortable in Louisville? You evidently liked it very much.

H.R.:

Yes, I started my business immediately and was able to move along, and I 15:00certainly liked the community. I liked the people I met, the people I did business with, the people I socialized with and Louisville became my home.

B.A.:

And you and Selma have children?

H.R.:

Yes, we have two children. A son Larry and a daughter Rubyanna; both of whom are married, and each of which has two children.

B.A.:

And their names?

H.R.:

Larry's children are Stacy and Shawn, and Rubyanna's are Jeffery and Lori.

B.A.:

Do they all live in Louisville?

H.R.:

No, Larry and his family live in Louisville. Except that his daughter lives in Philadelphia, she graduated from college a year ago and Shawn, his son, is a senior at Washington University. Rubbyanna and her family live in Indianapolis.

B.A.:

I know that you've been very involved in so many things in Louisville. Can you tell me some of the religious involvement you've had; and I know you've had many 16:00civic involvements.

H.R.:

Well I became active in our Temple, Temple Adath Isreal soon after I settled in Louisville and was elected to the board and went through all the chairs and finally became president; served as president on the Temple board.

B.A.:

When was that?

H.R.:

I was president in 1963 to 1965, and I've been liked there by the board ever since.

B.A.:

Very interesting and can I ask where did you live...where did you and Selma live when you first married? Where was your first home in Louisville?

H.R.:

We bought a house. Well actually we had a home in west end on Larchmont Avenue when I was still at Fort Knox but after I got out of the service, we bought a house on Deerwood in the Highlands and lived there for ten years and bought 17:00another house in the Rock Creek area. Lived there until we moved here in 1974 at the Grandview in Brownsboro.

B.A.:

How would you compare the house you lived in on Deerwood to where you live now? Were you convenient to a drug store, were you convenient to a grocery at the time?

H.R.:

Well, not as convenient as we are today at this location because, first of all we didn't have the shopping centers in 1946-56, that we have today; and secondly, we were away from Bardstown Road where most of the shopping was. So, it was convenient but not actually walking distance.

B.A.:

Did your children go to school in the Deerpark area?

H.R.:

Well yes, Deerwood which is right next to the park.

B.A.:

Deerwood.

H.R.:

Yes the schools were within walking distance. Both the elementary and the junior high.

B.A.:

Do you remember the names of the school?

H.R.:

Yes, one was Longfellow and the other was Allen Junior High.

B.A.:

And could they walk to school?

H.R.:

Oh yes.

B.A.:

Did they go to high school?

H.R.:

Yes they both went to high school but of course Atherton at that time was down on Morton Avenue, where Larry went, but they had sort of...we had sort of a carpool I believe most days and then by the time Rubyanna went to high school we had already moved to the Rock Creek area, and she had to be carpooled because that was too far away from where we lived.

B.A.:

Okay. Let's get into your civic activities, if you don't mind. I know you've been very involved in many, many activities. Could you tell us about some?

H.R.:

Yeah, well you asked about Jewish activities. I also served as a member of the board of Jewish hospitals for 17 years until last year. I was very active in the 19:00hospital activities. As far as other civic work is concerned, I've been involved in...I think in the resume that was given on me...I served as president, or a member of the board of some 28 organizations.

B.A.:

That's quite a few organizations. I'm sure along the way you've had your favorites.

H.R.:

Well, I...at the time that I worked at something was a favorite, otherwise I wouldn't have been working at it but yes, there were some to this day that I'm involved with are things that I enjoy doing and I did enjoy much of the work that I did before. I've always enjoyed community work because its been a philosophy of mine; if you want to call it that, that when you get something out 20:00of a community, you should always give something back to it. So, I felt that I, not just for that reason but it was an obligation that I had to the community to serve and do what I could.

B.A.:

It seems that your name connected to so many organizations. Were there any that you instigated that were not in effect until you found out about them and decided to bring them to Louisville?

H.R.:

Well, there were a number of activities that I was involved with where I, perhaps started some adjuncts to them. I'm thinking of the Chamber of Commerce as one instance. I'm a charter member by the way of the chamber, and we instituted a planning and zoning committee back in 1963, and I was the first chairman.

H.R.:

Speaking about instigating new activities, in 1946, right after I got out of the army, I met a young man who was very active in his church, a Presbyterian church. His name is Bill Harven. He and I became very good friends and with our wives, the four of us made a foursome and did a lot of things together and one night we were having a cookout at his home and one of us said, you know why couldn't we get our brotherhoods at our Temple and Church to do what we are doing. In other words, get together, and that was the beginning of something that went on for many years. We were the first to introduce the Temple and Church Joint Brotherhood Meetings. Each year, Brotherhood week, which was adopted by many churches and synagogues in the community and went on for many 22:00years. As a matter of fact Bill and I appeared on television in 1953, I think it was, the first similarly cast made the WHAS and WAVE to receive a nation reward for the work that we had done in starting this program.

B.A.:

That's very, very interesting. Tell me a little bit about some of the other organizations. You are in the real estate business at this time, I assume?

H.R.:

Well.

B.A.:

That's how you made your money.

H.R.:

Yes and no. I actually, ten years ago I decided that I was going to cut out my work and devote all of my time to civic community work. Which I've been doing all that time, the past two years that is; full time basis, in other words, I'm a full time volunteer, and I don't get paid for it but I work harder now; Selma would say, then I ever did in my life, but the point is, I do have a couple 23:00clients who won't let go, and I still handle some work for them.

H.R.:

In this ten year period that I told you about, since 1965, I immediately went into the Sister City program. First as vice president for about a year, and then as president for two years, and project director for another two years.

B.A.:

Will you please explain what you mean by Sister City's?

H.R.:

Louisville is part of the international Sister City program. We have four, we used to have five, but we now have four sister cites where we share a lot of things together and have exchange programs; students, social, business, all kinds of activities and during my time/involvement with it, I did introduce some new programs, even exchanging police officers.

B.A.:

What are our sister cites?

H.R.:

We have Mines, Germany; Mope Gay, France; Keto, Ecuador; and Tamale in Ghana, in Africa.

B.A.:

Have you ever been to any of these cities?

H.R.:

Three of them. One that no longer is a sister city. We've been to Mines sever times. We've been to Mope Gay a few times, and we went to Dublin once but Dublin is no longer a sister city.

B.A.:

Have you been to Keto.

H.R.:

Nope. Although we've had visitors from Keto and have some very good friends; as a matter of fact, the ambassador of Keto and his wife are friends of ours. They even stayed with us when they came to speak at a dinner that we were giving for...as a Keto project.

B.A.:

That sounds like its very interesting. Do you travel a lot?

H.R.:

Yes, we travel a lot. We just completed our 39th trip to Europe last week.

B.A.:

Your 39th trip to Europe. That's a lot of trips to Europe.

H.R.:

We enjoy it. We do a lot of traveling.

B.A.:

Evidently you enjoy Europe. Your background in Montreal; does that have anything to do with your speaking French fluently, maybe?

H.R.:

Well, I wouldn't say fluently but both of us can speak French well enough to communicate, be understood, and to understand, and to get along.

B.A.:

Other than Europe, do you travel any place else?

H.R.:

We've been to the Orient a number of times. We've been to South America and we take a lot of cruises.

B.A.:

You also said you love to dance. Do you continue doing this?

H.R.:

Any opportunity we have.

H.R.:

Right after I left the Sister City program, I was asked by the Attorney General to serve as a special assistant to market the Child Victims Trust Fund, which 26:00had just been enacted by the legislature the year before.

B.A.:

Are you talking about the attorney general of...[crosstalk 00:26:08]

H.R.:

Yes.

B.A.:

The state of Kentucky?

H.R.:

That's right. Who now is our county judge, Dave Armstrong, and as a matter of fact; I still am a special assistant to the present attorney general. Although I'm not doing as much today as I did initially to get the program started in the state and has been going over very well. That was the one thing and then also, right after that time while I had the idea in my mind for a few years, I could never sell it to anybody but what is today; Propower, was an idea that I had and that is to utilize the talents of retired professional people for the benefit of the community, for non-profit organizations and we just had our fourth anniversary in August. We have a very well staffed office now, and we have a lot 27:00of volunteers who are serving a lot of agencies.

B.A.:

Exactly...you say Propower is a non-profit for non-profit organizations. Would you explain that a little bit more?

H.R.:

I guess I should elaborate to this extent. There are many, many volunteers doing many types of work for the benefit of mankind, womankind, humankind; whatever you wish, but I felt there was one void and that was that while every volunteer group was serving a purpose, there was no one group actually utilizing the talents and expertise of professional and executives who have so much to offer 28:00and just because they had been retired they were being thrown on the dump heap and not doing anything.

H.R.:

My idea was to put these people to work as consultants and advisors for three categories of non-profit organizations; which are the human services agencies, like all the health related ones; cancer, heart, muscular dystrophy, diabetes, so on. Plus, the arts, which are considered...we serve the Kentucky Center for the Arts, Fun for the Arts, radio, library stations, the library itself. Plus, government agencies and departments is another entity, and the first category is education institutions. We now serve seven departments at the University of Louisville, Bellevue College, IUS, and when I say serve, we render consultant services to their various departments. In those are these, Pleasant chapter 29:00board of education, Catholic school board, and anything that is educational.

B.A.:

That sounds very involved. Do the volunteers come to you? Do you recruit the volunteers?

H.R.:

Both, we have a very good press relationship. With we I should say a radio, television, newspapers, magazines, and we do get a lot of publicity and of course any time I hear of anybody who is retired and wants to do something, I hand them a card right away and try to enlist them and put them to work. They come to us now. We are known well enough in the community, that we are constantly receiving calls. Propower is an acronym for professional power. It's a copyright word and the program is a copyright, and we are having discussions now about six mayors and governors who are interested in establishing prototypes 30:00in the communities or in their states. Matter of fact, I have a visitor coming in next week form another state and I am discussing...I'm talking on the phone this week with somebody in Jackson, Mississippi who wants to start one there.

B.A.:

In other words you consult. They call you, you consult with them and advise them as...

B.A.:

Types of questions would they come to you? The professional power, Propower; what types of questions would they ask you, that they need help with?

H.R.:

Well it depends on the organization. The people with expertise that we have, our 31:00volunteers...it's a very wide, well actually, 35 different areas that we list, and they'll include office management, even the Jewish hospital gift shop, the operation of the gift shop as we've done some other hospitals, and the museum, and the zoo but try to be specific is a little difficult to me at this time, but I will generalize by saying that we do have requests in many, many areas but primarily in the office management personnel operational point of view.

B.A.:

Would an organization call you and say, Mr. Rosen do you have any expert or anyone who's ever been involved in...you obviously said in managing a gift shop or in an office, but they call you with a problem that they have, and you say 32:00yes we will see if we can fill this with...we have someone who can help you. Is that the way that it works?

H.R.:

Oh yes. As a matter of fact, every agency must fill out both a questionnaire, and a job description of what they specifically need in a volunteer, that is in the expertise of the volunteer, so that we can match that with experiences of our volunteers.

H.R.:

I mentioned earlier that I was doing some work with the attorney generals office with the Child Victims Trust Fund, which is, of course designed to assist a child of sexual abuse and exploitation and how to prevent it and what to do in the communities to prevent it. Just a little over a year ago I was asked to serve and accepted the assignment of being a special assistant to the president 33:00of The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Washington and I operate...I perform that job from my local office and job consists of some general marketing nationally for this program. I should mention that the national center is the national clearing house for missing children. They've had a tremendous experience since they started, since they started in 1984, and we're very pleased and proud of the work that is being done. All this ties in with the type of work that I'm doing.

H.R.:

I think it would be of interest to tell you how the national center started. President Reagan established it in 1984, which was, I believe, a year after the Gotlib child was kidnapped. I believe I'm correct on those dates, but it was established...

B.A.:

The Gotlib child?

H.R.:

The Gotlib child here in Louisville. As a matter of fact, that probably 34:00triggered the idea of getting a organization started. They first...one of the co founders is Ernie Allen who today is president, as many of you would know that Ernie Allen was very prominent in local government affairs. He went...he took...he assumed the job of presidency a year ago. As a matter of fact, he is the one who got me into the job because I worked with Ernie for ten years but also, it has other Louisville ties.

B.A.:

May I ask you one other thing? We are always getting things in the mail with missing children. We see on television pictures of missing children. Is this the organization that you're referring to? Is this the base organization?

H.R.:

Yes, this is the one that is behind all of the public notices that you see or hear about; television or whatever but I was going to mention that, in addition 35:00to Ernie and myself, having Louisville ties to the national organization is the vice president, chief operational officer; a man bu the name of John Raven who was the sergeant of the local missing child unit that was very much involved in the Gotlib case when it started, and he did so much on that and he became so well recognized that they asked him to move to Washington.

B.A.:

You've talked about your civic organization work and my goodness, you have really done a lot. While you've been doing these things has there been any unusual, fun things that you might want to share with us?

H.R.:

Well, I guess there have been quite a few. I failed to mention that for a year I was chief of protocol at City Hall. That was right after my sister city involvement and such.

H.R.:

On a very short notice we received word that the mayor of Keto and his wife were coming to Louisville for derby and instead of two of them, five people descended upon us and we had to scurry around to get tickets for the derby and escorts for them, dinners and everything else. Which we managed, it was hectic but we did that.

B.A.:

Was it fun?

H.R.:

Yes, we enjoyed it. That was of course we participated in everything that was done.

H.R.:

I think one of the most interesting experiences that we had was; when I say we, I mean Selma shared all these with me. When I mentioned the ambassador from Ecuador to Washington, who; he and his wife were...became very good friends of ours and I was having a dinner to select a winner of a sweepstakes for a trip to Keto that we had more or less developed or engineered so to speak. This ambassador agreed to be the speaker at this dinner on a Sunday night.

H.R.:

He came to Louisville...he was going to come to Louisville on Friday night and stay here over the weekend and go back Monday and they stayed with us at our apartment but he called me Friday morning to tell me that he had to have a state dinner, he couldn't come til Saturday morning but in the meantime I had made arrangements. He liked horses, we were going to take him to some farms and we had a friend who owns one of the big farms, Harris Kentucky and we were going to visit those farms, breeding farm and everything else for the Saturday that they were here. The arrangements were made and dinners but when he called me and told me he couldn't arrive til Saturday, that killed our plan because by the time we went to Lexington and Paris and came back and time to clean up for dinner it wouldn't do. So fortunately I called the sergeant general, or excuse me the 38:00attorney general and he furnished us with a helicopter.

B.A.:

A helicopter?

H.R.:

Yes. We meet the ambassador and his wife at the airport, brought them to the apartment and at exactly 12 o'clock a helicopter landed across the street from our apartment in the temple lot. Picked us up, took us to Lexington and to Paris, came back over Frankfort, visited the farms and got us home before six o'clock that evening.

B.A.:

That sounds like quite an interesting experience.

H.R.:

It was interesting for us, for them, and really, of course everybody was awestruck when they saw the helicopter landing at the temple lot.

B.A.:

There's a lot of things that go on at the temple lot. I don't know if a helicopter has ever been there before.

H.R.:

Other activities; one instance, I believe it was when the mayor from Keto and 39:00his group were here we had police escorts that took us to the governments breakfast there in the morning. Took us to dinner, the three dinners that were planned for them and we had sirens and police escorts. We, I think we made it, after the derby ended Saturday up to our apartment here in about 7 or 8 minutes in police cars with sirens.

B.A.:

Well I know you were impressed, I'm impressed. Were the people you were escorting impressed?

H.R.:

Very much so, believe me.

B.A.:

I hope so. Thank you so much Harold. Thank you Selma for your time. I've appreciated this. I know the people who will hear it, will appreciate it. You've done so much for our Louisville. Even though you say you were not born in Louisville, Selma was. Thank you so much for coming to our community and to adding to our community in such a wonderful way.