Bracker

I want you to know what an incredible impact last February's issue of Purdue Agriculture Connections had on me, and how many people from my past it brought out of the woodwork.

Some came from as far back as my graduate student days in the early 1960s. Some people found me through two or three connections. One person got the paper, then passed it on to another, who then passed it on to somebody from my past. We wound up having guests from Denmark who used to be on the faculty at Purdue. They found out about me that way. We had a dinner party for them and old friends who are still around.

Everybody is retired now, and we had all lost track of each other. We had all been close friends, our kids had played together 35 years ago, and Connections is how they learned that my wife had died in 2001.

I could list so many other examples of similar stories, too. It really is incredible. That newspaper's name is so remarkably well chosen. I can hardly believe it. The name really meant nothing to me until you did that story about me and the orchids. Now I am a true believer.

Charles Bracker

bracker@purdue.edu