[Oe List ...] about Fred

[Ken Fisher via OE]

Dear Lori,

Generally, I had a somewhat gruff relationship with your father.  Genuine connection was challenging.  And he was older.  I had lived 'the 60s', both culturally and politically.  He had not, and was even more of a moralist than myself.

In the summer of '77, Joe Mathews was dying and Fred was playing a critical role on the Assignment Committee.  My cynicism about order politics was by now well-established, having worked with Ray Spencer in India and then spending three years in Development.  And my marriage was far from healthy.

I was looking for an assignment that would best use my skills and capacities and went to Fred for a chat.  Amazingly, Fred heard me both with interest and without interruption.  The assignment I wanted was to be sent home to Ottawa, Canada.  He made it happen.  (And yes, I understand Corporateness.)

That assignment was one of the happiest and best times of my life.  With the support of the Ottawa House, I delivered some 200 Community Forums, mostly in clusters, good media publicity, and lots of money through development.  When Jonestown killings and suicides of '78 occurred, right-wing forces went after the US government's funding of the ICA.  That also happened in Canada.  As a hometown boy from the nation's capital, I was well-positioned to be the ICA's national spokesperson, defending and asserting our service role throughout the country.

I am forever grateful to Fred, for allowing me to have been at the right time at the right place at that point of my life.

Ken Fisher






Here is a euphemistic description of my 16 years in the Order

Institute of Cultural Affairs 1968-1983
     Researcher - Research and Training Directorate   Brussels 1980-1983
     Regional Director and National Spokesperson   Ottawa 1977-1980
     Deputy Director of Program Funding   Chicago 1974-1977
     Tri-State Program Director   Bombay 1972-1974
     Metropolitan Services Director   Madison 1971-1972
     Regional Program Coordinator   Washington DC 1970-1971
     Neighbourhood Program Officer   Chicago 1968-1970
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