Where's Armand?

Markings

On May 17, 1974, Armand, then nearly sixty years old, was at Tesi Lapcha, Nepal. In his book, A Catalog of Himalayan Mountaineering Correspondence, Armand included a copy of a letter he addressed to himself while he was 19,000 feet high, up in the pass known as Teshi (Tesi) Lapcha. He mailed it to himself in order to obtain the postmark and commemorate his climbing feat.

On the same page, he also has a copy of a letter from Sir Edmund Hillary dated September 27, 1974 in which Hillary congratulates Armand for reaching the pass: "...impressed at your endurance and determination." Little did Sir Hillary know that those traits of Armand's would continue for another 33 years.

The acts of journalling and sending himself postcards from all over the world appear as though Armand was marking his way through life. Marking, either as a testament to where he had been, or where he had yet to go.

It brought to mind another inveterate diarist, Dag Hammarskjold, whose only book Markings, was a collection of his diaries from 1925, when he was 20 years old, and ends at his death in 1961. A quote from the book, describes both men:

Never, "for the sake of peace and quiet," deny your own experience or convictions.

If I may add: ...but leave your markings along the way, for the sake of peace and quiet in those who follow.

Ward Marden

Limericks. They consist of five lines, a prescribed form, and the content is humorous, often lewd. At least Armand's often were. That is why he employed a pen name: Ward Marden.

I gave my father the set shown in the photograph and within a few days, he asked for ten more to share with his friends. Not entirely the angelic person portrayed in the article that ran last week in the West Hawaii Today is he? Fred Uechi is now the self- proclaimed Hawaii distributor of Armand Singer'sWard Marden's limerick books.

Here's a G-rated limerick from one of the books:

An African hunter named Wise
Looked up into four gleaming eyes
He claimed double jeopardy
On facing twin leopardy
And quick mouthed some hasty goodbyes.

There is an R-rated limerick in the 500+ book, number 109 on page 20. It's about a man named Fred and my mom will love it! If you don't have a book and would like to read it, please e-mail me. It's not for this family-rated newsletter.

Oh, dear Armand, you are still entertaining the masses!

Armand at the Movies

Whenever the opportunity arose, Armand Singer made his way to the cinema. During his trip from Massachusetts to South Dakota in the summer of 1935, he ventured into a few movie theaters, surrounded by strangers while entranced by the big screen.

My words are in blue.

June 22, 1935, Waterloo, Iowa: "Saw Public Hero, # 1 with Chester Morris; very good." (Notes on this movie say that filming began in March of 1935 and ended one month later.How's that for production?)

June 23, 1935, Sioux Falls, South Dakota: "Saw Naughty Marietta again and Hoorah for Love (Google is stumped!) with Gene Raymond and Ann Sothern (still smooth as ever)-very good."

June 24, 1935, Mitchell, South Dakota: "Saw Edmund Lowe in Mr. Dynamite in aft. Saw Dolores Del Rio and Pat O'Brien in In Caliente (a You Tube clip, just what I was looking for!) in eve. She is one glorious specimen of womanhood. It rained about 6pm. Jesus Xt, how it rained. I have never seen such a deluge. After show, watched lightning in distant sky. Beautiful- just like aurora borealis."

Armand always saw the good.

Photo: Greetings from Sioux Falls

Fossil Hunting

Armand graduated from Amherst College on June 17, 1935, magna cum laude, "...no one got summa". He collected his prize money of $75.00 and packed up his gear, ready to leave on a road trip early the next morning. He noted in his diary, June 18, 1935:

Got off to a poor start but made Brantford by 1A.M. (500 miles). Johnny is a hell of a driver, which is bad. Lovely country through Cherry Valley in New York. Ford seems OK.

Armand and Johnny paid $100 for a 1929 Ford sedan back in April and had to hunt around for an insurance agent willing to take a risk on college students. Ernie Wedge of Greenfield, was their man.

After a day in Brantford, where his mother and step-father lived, Armand and his buddy were on the road again, heading west. They slept under the stars, in a school yard one night, or wherever the old sedan gave up for the day.

My two sewed up blankets work very well. Car has acted fair, but considerable motor, tire and ignition expense....By some miracle Johnny hasn't killed both of us with his part of the driving. Phew!

On through Elgin, Illinois, Waterloo, Iowa, and Sioux Falls, S.D., by June 24. It must have been such a magical time in Armand's life. He had just graduated college with honors after four years of diligent study and work in the midst of The Great Depression, but the country unfurled it's arms to him:

Slept out near Mitchell. Rained a bit during night. I stayed pat, pulled sleeping bag cover over my head. Later, near dawn, it cleared. Glorious pre-dawn light and crescent moon. It's the real stuff.

Their destination was Arnold's Ranch in the Pine Ridge Reservation. The Badlands of South Dakota contain the world's richest Oligocene epoch fossil beds, dating 37-28 million years old. The young men had driven 2,000 miles to go digging for multi-million-year-old bones but the glamour soon faded.

July 8, 1935: Haven't said much about fossil hunting these days. It's tiresome, monotonous business- look at white shiny clay till your eyes water and close; walk in dry baking heat till you sweat buckets; lungs parched even though you drink buckets and then find nothing.


But in just a few days Armand's persistence was rewarded:

July 10, 1935. Today I found a complete hyracodon skull with teeth and upper and lower jaws- one of the best finds of season for expedition and some mesohippus and leptomeryx teeth.

This was Armand's life at 21 years of age and it was colored, even then, with his love of popular culture. He made it a point to see a movie in almost every town along his 2,000 mile trek to the Badlands and involved himself with the people along the way, digging as wide as he did deep.

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Check the blog on Wednesday for a list of movies Armand saw on this trip! I hope to find some clips.

Artwork: Reflective Images

Meet Shigeaki Hinohara

When I first began the Where's Armand? series, I had it in the back of my mind to one day turn it into a blog that would promote productive longevity. To live up to the Armand Singer standard, one had to be over 90 years of age and still actively contributing to life.

Where's Armand? will continue to bring you vignettes of Armand Singer's incredible life and journeys but in keeping with his spirit, the goal is to now become a productive blog. We're going to "get out there in the world" as Armand strongly suggested.

Reader and friend, Mona Toyama, lives in Japan and makes regular visits to Kona Yoga. She submitted several names of highly productive Japanese nonagenarians and today we'd like to introduce you to Dr. Shigeaki Hinohara (96-ish).

Dubbed the guru of healthy aging, Hinohara seeks healthy 75 year olds to join his "New Old People's Movement". The doctor says:

When we reach 75 we should start something new in order to discover those unused genes and develop them. It could be painting, or making music, writing poetry, sports or volunteer activities. One of my patients in his 60's had been admitted to St. Luke's with cancer, and was getting neurotic with anxiety over the disease. So I suggested he try to find something he enjoyed, like painting. He tried to avoid the issue, saying he was too clumsy with things. But once he took up the brush, his talent came out, and 10 years later he was holding his own one-man exhibitions and winning awards.

Dr. Hinohara relies more on mental attitude than any special diet or exercise (don't you love it?) and you may read more about his 'keep on keeping on' lifestyle in this article from Nipponia. Be sure to click "next" at the bottom of each page for more amazing life stories.

Photo: Nipponia

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