[Oe List ...] Don Cramer

Wed Aug 29 13:20:05 PDT 2018

I don't remember a lot of details, but I believe I typed all night. Was
surprised when I realized the sun was up.

Jann McGuire

On Wed, Aug 29, 2018 at 11:32 AM W. J. via OE <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net>
wrote:

> All that typesetting was done on those huge IBM Selectric
> typewriter/recorders that were screwed into desks containing the hidden
> base of electronics connected by cable to large bins that held 16 mm
> sproketed magnetic tape after it was spooled off clear plastic cartridges.
> Press the rewind and the tape retracted into the cartridge. AND... no
> errors or do-overs allowed! Then the cartridges were loaded onto the
> variable-width=font and multiple-ball Selectric typesetter which used black
> carbon ribbon to print onto specially coated white paper.
> Sigh.
> I remember it well!
> We were SO proud to own one complete set.
> Marshall
> On Wednesday, August 29, 2018, 1:00:18 PM EDT, Walter Kargus via OE <
> oe at lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:
>
>
> Thank you Marshal
>
> Don was a great person and we will miss him..
>
> A story and experience I have with Don during the Summer Research assembly
> in 1970.  That was the summer we wrote the book on the Local Church.
> Not only did we write the book we were to print it also.  In order to do
> that we had to typeset the document.  Don had to arrange an inkind from IBM
> the typeset machines.
> We got behind in the typesetting so Don invited the IBM Salesperson to
> come and see what we were doing.  The IBM Rep had the tour and was amazed
> at how many people knew how to operate the machines.  He said "It takes us
> 6 months to train people."  Don replied 'we have trained them in 3 hours."
> The Rep was amazed.  We got the type setting done in house and the use of a
> bank's machines downtown after hours. At the final Plenary Don introduced
> the Sales Rep and tells the story of what he had done for us and the
> Assembly gave him a standing ovation.
>
> So we wrote the 36 Tactical books, printed them and then we bought them.
> A great summer with Don.
> Walter Kargus
>
>
> ------------------------------
> *From: *"W. J. via OE" <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net>
> *To: *"Order Ecumenical Community" <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net>
> *Cc: *"W. J." <synergi at yahoo.com>
> *Sent: *Tuesday, August 28, 2018 11:26:19 AM
> *Subject: *Re: [Oe List ...] Don Cramer
>
> You're right on target, Sherwood, though I don't know how "wide-eyed" I
> ever was @ five a.m. More like bleary-eyed in my case.
> Don Cramer was SO "on" all the time that it is as though you couldn't turn
> him off if you tried. And a perfect match for Claudia. What a "power
> couple"--literally! (Maybe they ran on caffeine by the gallon.)
> So what did the O:E in its profound wisdom do to best utilize (or exploit)
> the unique interpersonal gifts of priorship that the always-on Don Cramer
> had in such abundance?
> Why of course we assigned him to run the always-on, round-the-clock print
> shop! Forget that he knew diddly-squat about how to keep that monster
> two-color offset printing press up and running 24-7. He got a lot of
> on-the-job training and learned it lightning fast. Then after lots of
> double and triple shifts during the week, we sent him out to teach RS-1
> every weekend. Just to cool him down, don'tcha know.
> I had way too much work to do just to keep the print shop fed with
> camera-ready copy. And after too many bleary-eyed late nights pasting up
> the *i.e.*, I utterly failed to catch a HUGE ERROR. Totally my fault, of
> course, and it was BIG ENOUGH to jump right out at anybody who was half
> awake (we weren't!). In the headline for the lead article on our work in
> Hong Kong, I had pasted up the title as "Kong Hong"!! With the 'Kong' above
> the 'Hong' on the page.
> Well of course the bleary-eyed Don Cramer and his bleary-eyed crew didn't
> catch it either. They shot the negatives and burned the offset plates at 4
> am and proceeded to print up THOUSANDS of copies without even looking at
> the result. Until somebody caught it by chance next morning. Probably a
> fresh-faced new intern!
> WHAT???? I mean, WTF is this?
> So of course we had accidentally spent a ton of $$ that we didn't have--we
> were in debt up to our bleary eyeballs--and Cramer actually proposed that
> maybe we should send it out that way--maybe nobody would catch it or maybe
> they would see it as some kinda "cute" intentional typographic design. All
> rationalizations, of course, for our HUGE corporate blunder.
> Finally Joe Mathews said, No, we're gonna eat that mistake for breakfast,
> lunch, and dinner. And fix it fast and reprint the whole thing ASAP and get
> the print shop back on schedule (remember, we were also printing all those
> seminar papers that went out the door every weekend and literally TONS of
> other stuff like IMAGE). I don't know what we did with all that scrap paper.
> This is all about living in the real world of taking corporate
> responsibility for owning and fixing and paying for our mistakes. And
> learning that we are all responsible together for every mistake any one of
> us makes. But somehow we never learned to go easy on ourselves, as well as
> to pronounce absolution on one another for our major goofs and get some
> much-needed sleep occasionally.
> We usta call that "discontinuity."
> So in my old age (turning 78 in 3 weeks), I salute the fabulous Don Cramer
> and all of our other wonderful colleagues who have departed this earthly
> life. Remember that in the Other World there are no mistakes.
> Grace and Peace,
> Marshall
> I was very grateful for the opportunity to visit Don once in Bellingham
> WAY more than 2 decades ago. We were older and maybe a little wiser, but he
> was the same delightful Don Cramer. I'm very sorry that on my one trip
> through Bellingham about 8 years ago driving a U-Haul packed to the roof
> with the earthly belongings of a colleague plus his VERY sick cat named
> Bodhisattva (since departed this earthly life), we were unable to stop to
> visit Don on our 15-hour journey south from Vancouver to Sacramento. But we
> did arrive safely and bleary-eyed at some God-forsaken cheap motel late
> that night. Some time later a major bridge we had crossed on I-5 went into
> the river below. Another major crack in the system somebody had failed to
> catch in time.
>
> On Monday, August 27, 2018, 2:38:47 PM EDT, Sherwood Shankland via OE <
> oe at lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:
>
>
> Yes, Joan – Don was a forceful evangelist. Jan Campbell (my ex) and I had
> just moved into a house with a wooded lot, walking distance from my first
> engineering job at Nela Park – the GE Lamp Division in East Cleveland. All
> set for life in the suburbs. However we had taken RS-I (Frank Hilliard and
> Justin Morrill pedagogues) during our college days at CU Boulder, and had
> hooked up with the Cleveland Metro Cadre (Rafos’, Gilles’, Talbots, Wasons,
> Tippetts, Pools, Sean Burke, and many more…) So Don comes to our new place
> and says something like: “Why would a great young couple like you guys want
> to get tied down with a big old mortgage on a place in the suburbs?!?! And
> Sherwood, why would you want to get all tied up with a corporate giant like
> GE?!?!...A month later we moved into the Cleveland House with Herman and
> Joy Greene, Don and Claudia + + + . So Don loved to ‘practice’ his spirit
> lectures for RS-I, RSIIIA the Odyssey etc. on the wide-eyed interns at
> morning collegiums in the basement dining room…I think the rafters were
> scorched from his flaming deliveries. Classic chalk-talks long before Power
> Point. All of which launched me into an 18 year ‘tour of duty’ with OE on
> Global Assignment. Don’s ability to touch everyday spirit issues through
> conversations and spins was a powerful gift. Thanks, Don, for the stories,
> the spirit pushes and laughter all along the way! To Kristen
>
> and Mark and the Cramer family connections…be well as you celebrate your
> Dad’s amazing journey and the bending of many journeys.
>
> Grace and Peace, much love all around. /
>
> Sherwood and Eunice from Centennial Colorado.
>
> *From:* OE <oe-bounces at lists.wedgeblade.net> *On Behalf Of *Joan via OE
> *Sent:* Sunday, August 26, 2018 1:56 PM
> *To:* oe at lists.wedgeblade.net
> *Cc:* Joan <jfknutson at aol.com>
> *Subject:* Re: [Oe List ...] Don Cramer
>
>
>
> Don Cramer was the one who dragged me kicking and screaming into the
> Order.  He humilated me in front of our area cadre to change my mind, how I
> was the ONLY hold out to have a family from every metro.  As you can see I
> am almost over it.  How I loved Claudia and Don.  He will be missed.  Joan
> Knutson
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dharmalingam Vinasithamby via OE <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net>
> To: oe <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net>
> Cc: Dharmalingam Vinasithamby <dvinasithamby at yahoo.com>
> Sent: Sun, Aug 26, 2018 5:23 am
> Subject: [Oe List ...] Don Cramer
>
> Dear Colleagues,
>
>
>
> Just learnt that Don passed away on Friday. Kristen Cramer had mentioned
> it on her Facebook which someone forwarded to me. Another veteran of our
> community has left - I remember working with him in India, teaching in the
> ITIs and in the Philippines. I will remember his passion and enthusiasm.
>
>
>
> Dharma
>
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