At the onset, let us clarify that there are two XDX (Keith's registered d/b/a="doing business as") contracts as well as Keith's termination intermixed with his AU work. In the first contract dated May 18, 1992, XDX bought all Xerox Sigma and related computer equipment and contracts, as "available", from Andrews University for $30,001. It was clear the deal included everything in storage and the computer room except certain maintenance equipment (PC, scope, logic analyzer), the data switch, and the BeloBox disk subsystem which would be arranged for later. The second contract dated June 1/2, 1992 has Keith Calkins/Andrews University selling some Xerox computer equipment to Stanley Ritland for $8,000, with delivery by Feb. 1, 1993. As we closed the last chapter, the "powers that be" were downsizing the Computing Center by terminating those with the most seniority and talent. In Keith's case, prior promises of 12 months warning and 18 months pay were forgotten.
Last school-year, the Berrien County Mathematics and Science Center, one of seven in the state, was in its second year and had students in grades 9 and 10. The first year of the program there were three County sites, but last year and this year there are only two. The other site is at Lakeshore and is part of their high-school. The program hosted at Andrews is unique as the students have access to University personnel and resources. The students spend one half of their school-day here taking three credits--1 math, 1 science (biology, chemistry, physics), and 1 technology (computers, computers, elective). The juniors and seniors are able to take a college class as an elective for high school credit, and also for college credit (for a small fee). Keith kept tabs on the program since its inception and wanted to be involved last year, but his classes at Notre Dame conflicted. In February he started an aggressive bid to teach a class or two, interviewing with the Program Director Sally Adkin. It was clear the current mathematics program needed an overhaul, but the apparently laissez faire attitude of AU Math; the County's contract with Andrews; and the Director's sense of fairness prevented swift action. Keith was interested and liked the attitude of the Director--although her dreams of turning the program "around" seemed rather grandiose considering the situation. Lacking both certification and experience at the high-school level, Keith plowed ahead. We also made two gallons of maple syrup.
Just that week they discovered that the June '92, $4,000 deposit for computer equipment XDX was selling to Ritland had been made out to Andrews University. Ritland was apparently protecting his position, since XDX does not have title until XDX takes delivery. The check was endorsed "Keith G.\ Calkins for XDX" and deposited in the Credit Union business account. Wines implied Keith embezzled and tried to brow-beat and harangue him to accept a voiding of the first contract (thereby eliminating the Ritland contract). Keith quickly assessed the situation and realized that Wines did not have a leg to stand on regarding the contract, but he could make his life interesting related to his work. Keith stood firm regarding the contract while Wines put him on vacation until May 1, at which time he would be terminated with no benefits. Keith must immediately check out of the University, vacate his office, and turn in his keys, thus also not having access to "available" computer equipment stored in outlaying buildings. Also, Wines asked Keith to make arrangements for the refund of Ritland's deposit to Andrews University by noon Friday and give a complete accounting regarding parts sold. Keith noted the presence of his large (3'x4'x5') fire-proof vault, which they assured him they would gladly remove from his office, and he told them the details regarding the items sold were none of their business. Keith deferred the check-out process until 8 am Friday, citing a meeting. That meeting was with the Ombudsperson (unscheduled)! Keith called Notre Dame to let his advisor and supervising teacher know he would not be there on Friday.
Early the next morning under requested escort, Keith packed his most personal items and delivered some contract-related items to Dr. Moon's (AUCC Director 1980--Nov. 1989) office one floor up. When Keith returned at 8 am the vault was being removed and harassing personnel were occupying Keith's office. Meanwhile, Keith had nothing in writing. Keith also would not meet alone with these personnel. The Ombudsperson felt strongly that something in writing was essential and came in on rather short notice. Two hours later, Wines finally wrote a letter. (His secretary had the day off!)
Keith checked out of the University. We contacted the Credit Union. We refunded to Ritland the $4,000 deposit and bought out his interest in the equipment. We wrote a letter of appeal to President Lesher dated March 22, 1993. We visited a lawyer on March 22, 1993. We received a letter from Ritland to "indemnify and hold harmless Keith Calkins in all matters pertaining to the Purchase Contract" and Ritland "transferred to Keith Calkins any and all interest" in the Purchase Contract. We wrote a letter to Bascom regarding medical insurance. Wines wrote a letter requiring "accounting of the equipment and parts that have been sold ... restitution of the equipment and parts sold. The deadline for completion of this is Monday, April 5, 1994."
On April 26, 1993 Keith accepted the math position, pending resolution of his grievance, computer equipment, and medical benefits. Keith only wanted to teach one or two classes and continue TAing at Notre Dame, but the Math & Science Center committee wanted an all or nothing situation. Also on April 26, 1993 the grievance committee met. The Chairman, Wines, and Keith sat at the three corners of a triangular table arrangement with the other two committee members and a very pregnant Terri filling in the sides. Wines maintained the original contract was void and noted Keith's failure to meet the deadline listed above. We documented our case well pulling several surprises: 1) a copy of the cancelled, certified, refund check; 2) the acceptance letter for the 1993-94 mathematics position; 3) the 1994 date in the deadline above; 4) the Xerox computers were sold by serial number in both contracts; 5) the letter indicating Ritland's transfer and satisfaction; and 6) the availability of a sworn deposition regarding a statement Wines made in June 1990 when told of a conversion off the Xerox Sigma equipment: "good, now we can get rid of Keith". The committee clearly did not accept the contract being void, but then also they didn't fully accept Keith's harrassed position either. As a visibly shaken Wines is leaving, the Chairman said the President had assured the committee the baby's delivery would be covered by insurance--Wines had previously clearly indicated this would not happen, if it occurred on?/after May 1.
By 5 pm Terri was starving and little, if any, progress toward delivery was being made. They gave her supper (no lunch) and administered another dose of prostaglantin. About 9 pm Terri wanted to go home. They gave her a half dose of a "Cairn's cocktail" (Vistiril and Morphine) and she eventually "slept" until 2 am. Keith awoke with the words "my water just broke" and summoned the nurse. Terri was then admitted to the hospital and quickly transferred to an LDR room. At 3 am Keith called Bethany and the grandparents. At 3:30 am Keith called Terri's folks again admonishing them to hurry. At 4 am a 7 pound 5 ounce, 20 inch Jared Keith Franklin Calkins breathed his first breath. Due to uncertainties regarding insurance, Jared was circumcised at 8 am and we requested early discharge. By 6 pm the birth announcements were done and we were ready to go home--except for a required voiding on Jared's part. About 8:30 pm Keith took a wet diaper to the nurses' station as his "ticket out of here" and we were home about 9 pm. Jared's name was purely Terri's selection, since Keith named Theron. Keith did, however, indicate a strong preference regarding the spelling of Jared with only 5 letters and no "o". Jared can mean to subdue! Ignoring the superfluous Keith, Jared's initials match his Uncle Fred's and Grandpa Calkins's. Two of Jared's great-great-great-grandfathers had Franklin as a middle name and often went by Frank. They are both located in the middle of his family tree, but one is paternal (#46) and the other is maternal (#48)!
On May 5, 1993 in the LDR room of Berrien General Hospital, we received word from Lesher's secretary that "the president is accepting the recommendations of the committee." Alice brought the actual letter to the hospital that evening in which "1. That Keith Calkins' present salary arrangement continue until June 30, 1993 ... 2. That the contract between Andrews University and XDX ... be honored. ... The [$4,000] check did not belong to Andrews University and there was no intent to defraud the University." Also that day in the LDR room we received word that the April 13 trip to Chicago netted about 1 pound each of gold and silver! Keith finished at Notre Dame with 2 A's, an A-, and a B+, respectively; his highest GPA yet since returning to school full-time. (Plans to take the written comprehensive examination this fall were deferred until next summer.) On May 14, 1993 we wrote a letter to Lesher seeking clarification of some points in his letter. On May 27, 1993 the teaching position, though still contract, had full benefits, less salary, and fewer assistants. We finished removing the garage foundation and dirt, leveled the area, and seeded it to grass. A garden was also planted.
One of the big changes this year occurred on Fred's birthday, June 15, when Jared took his first major trip. We went to Battle Creek and purchased the 40 acre, Calkins Centennial Farm near Cadillac/Tustin from Aunt Ada--she was no longer able to mow the lawn on a regular basis. We purchased it outright and mortgaged it over the ensuing weeks. Both required trips up to Reed City or Cadillac and the lawn got mowed each month--twice in July. (Just try being unemployed and financing a farm and "vacation home" with no indoor plumbing!) Fred and Alice are each buying an undivided 15% under a land contract type arrangement from Keith. The Calkins Centennial Farm was purchased by Keith's great-grandfather Henry in 1882 from the railroad; passed to his wife Malvina at his death in 1908; then to their son Lee at her death in 1939; then when Uncle Lee's estate was settled after he died in 1966 Aunt Ada acquired it. In July, about 30 acres were in the middle of a 5-year, agricultural lease, with about 10 acres planted to corn and 20 acres in hay. We also allowed a bee-farmer to house about 20 hives there for about four months and in exchange received two gallons of honey. The barn, the north part of which is over 100 years old, is in need of attention soon, hopefully next July. It looks like a project requiring more willing hands than money.
Also this year, in anticipation of an always imminent receipt of the Xerox Sigma computer equipment, continued basement preparation also ensued. A total of 7 pours of approximately 6'x6' cement floors occurred. These were a minimum of 4" thick with steel plate or additional cement underneath and plenty of rebar and wiremesh reinforcement. Before each pour, a substantial amount of dirt had to be removed. The original plans for lowering the floor by 15" were modified to 24" to accomodate raised flooring for the mainframe computer. George Plue was out from Flagstaff and Keith helped him for a few days.
The only tangible outcome of applying for unemployment was contact with Bill Garber of Interlink. Terri worked for Interlink until the week before Theron was born, and Bill was Keith's Communications instuctor in 1978. Bill and his brother Jim market and write newspaper software for advertisement billing and address handling. Their specialty is reducing postage costs. Jim was tired of converting addresses into a format their program would handle, so starting in August Keith does several of these a month. It has been very helpful in bringing in a little extra each month and broadening Keith's computer experience. Fixing the Novell network at the local library at Christmas also contributed to this broadening.
School started Aug. 31 with 29 ninth graders, 23 tenth graders, and 22 eleventh graders. Keith has two "graduate" Teaching Assistants in this task. Lorie is a junior Math major also working on certification and Gwen is a senior Art major. Gwen was with the program for a quarter last year and is studying to be a medical illustrator. Since the emphasis is on classroom learning and quick feedback--correcting mistakes as they happen--the primary function of the assistants is in-class help. Due to the immaturity level of the students and also some history, the sophomore and junior classes have at times been more "riot control", but alot of math learning is occurring. The juniors improved significantly after a parent/student/teacher meeting primarily regarding the physics program. During a sophomore meeting, Sally asked the students to grade the teachers. Keith got the highest, 7.9 (out of 10) compared with 6.7 for computer science and 4.3 for chemistry. Since math follows chemistry, you can understand some of the difficulties! Perhaps Keith is doing his part to turn the program around. (By late January, four sophomores had gone back to their home-schools.) Learning the textbooks, developing course outlines, lesson plans, and test instruments, with Tuesday night help sessions, have kept Keith rather busy. There was hardly a break before Thanksgiving. Next year they may want him to also teach calculus to the 12th graders, and pay more for the extra work. Keith will have to balance his long-term desire to teach calculus a time or two and progress on his Ph.D. You certainly learn alot by teaching a subject!
Although by July we had almost finished mudding the chimney bedroom, by October it was clear neither house nor Ph.D. were progressing satisfactorily. We established Tuesdays as a day to work on the house. It had been a day to go to Notre Dame, but that wasn't happening either. Progress could again be seen on the house. By October we had to wean Jared to a bottle. Being Jared, we couldn't do it gradually like we did with Theron. This was accomplished by Oct. 14, in time for Terri with her parents, but sans children, to attend Aunt Lottie's (age 96.5) funeral in Petoskey. Theron and Jared went to school with Keith while Bethany supervised Theron during the class periods. On Oct. 17 Terri's friend Linda visited.
On Nov. 18 at 11:20 during a celebration of 20 years of Xerox computers on campus, the Xerox Sigma 9 was formally powered off. However, within hours it was back on generating reports for the President. Keith authorized use of the computer nameplate for the cake and was able to obtain it after the ceremony. Also in November, we sat for PMC church directory pictures and ordered prints for Christmas. During Thanksgiving break we painted the chimney bedroom. Nov. 27 Keith took the boys to his folks near Tustin. Jared finished cutting tooth number 2 and 3 and days later number 4. After that trip, Jared became daddy's boy! Jared started to creep and by New Year's had developed a respectable crawl.
"And then there's the network ..." (1992 newsletter). Keith's job acceptance was contingent on getting a workable PC and getting "connected". Well, just before July 1 Keith received an infected PC with a 20Mb hard drive, and broken 3.5" floppy. He quickly got the virus removed and by Sep.\ had a new, functional 3.5" floppy. Now half-way through the school-year the PC is finally networked, and he may have authorization to access the network! However, when they networked it, the floppies quit working, and the PC was rather reluctant to boot--this X-mas letter was inaccessible.
In December the Computing Center asked Keith to fix some of "his" disk drives, but "threatened" to charge him for the electricity used--they felt they had to clear data off disk packs sold to another party. Keith wrote yet another letter. As of mid-January, the Xerox and related computer equipment were "still going", but apparently everything--except Keith' stuff--is converted off. Meanwhile, in spite of lack of access to records, documentation, and running equipment, Keith's computer sales and consulting limp along. Indeed, we found it necessary to purchase a 486DX for Christmas. In between Terri's church work, Keith's school work preparation, research, and consulting, Theron might find computer time for educational games and Keith might find time for genealogy. Keith still wants real type-ahead, free software, and enough memory and disk to compute faster than he can work, but he is getting hooked on having a printer at his elbow. He also wants his documentation, class notes, gradebook, company records, etc. out of his old office--patience is wearing thin.
During Christmas break we finished the chimney bedroom underlayment, cedar closet lining, closet shelves, closet floor, door/window casing/trim, padding, carpet, and relocated the master bedroom upstairs. Jared was also moved upstairs to make way for the computer. Fred and family were up to help after Christmas and Terri's father also contributed. We are also making progress on enclosing the stairway, in anticipation of a very mobile Jared.
Other than gaining a son, a centennial farm, and attending the Calkins, Anderson and Fox reunions, little was done in the way of genealogy. We were contacted by and joined the newly formed Calkins Family Association. We were also contacted by one of Terri's paternal Wier cousins and one of Terri's maternal Mann cousins who had found our booklets. No caving occurred in 1993 and the next caving trip is yet unscheduled.
Thank-you for your cards and letters--especially those with genealogical content.
/s The Keith Calkins Family
Enclosure: PMC church directory family picture taken in Nov. 1993--just received.