Phil Ambrose had run things for so long [as Curator of Funds 1969-2001] that no one could imagine him retiring. Yet, finally, the call of Italy was too strong. How could we honor him? Bags of money? Gold bars? Finally, we decided that a set of luggage would do the trick, since he would, we knew, continue to travel between Italy and Vermont. At the Business Meeting, we had the bags carried down to him by porters in a procession, so that everyone would see how much we esteemed him and also, of course, for maximum embarrassment! Phil was so cool and collected that you would have thought honors such as this were a common event (perhaps they are up in Vermont!).
-- Ruth Breindel