Circular No 1033

 

Newsletter for alumni of The Abbey School, Mt. St. Benedict, Trinidad and Tobago, W.I.

Caracas, 1 of October 2021. No. 1033

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Dear Friends,

A short CV on Douglas Houk, class 1964.

If you would like to collaborate to keep the Newsletter going, at the end of this issue, you will find the instructions to where to send your writings and also, important to send funds, I know your limitations.

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Interesting Narrative of Douglas Houk in a Series of Emails with Don Mitchell

19 September 2018

Douglas:

Hi there, Don,

My name is Douglas Houk.

I don’t know if you remember me, but I was at the Mount from Prep B till the end.

I joined the U.S Navy in 1967 and was in Vietnam till the end of that dumb war in 1970, and from there I went to work as a roughneck. 

I quit when the rig moved too far away. 

I started an inspection company and did pretty good till now.

Because Venezuela is broke, wish me luck.

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Don:

I remember you very well. It is so good to hear from you.

Have you given Ladislao a note on your activities since you left Mount?  

He likes to put little biographies in the Circulars from time to time, accompanied by photographs, perhaps one of you in the army, and one of you on an oil-rig?

I have a Yahoo address for you.  

Are you receiving the notices I send out about the Circulars? 

I ask because you don’t mention how you come to be contacting me. 

It may be from receiving the Circular notices. 

Do you prefer this Gmail address? 

If so, I can easily change it.

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Douglas:

Well, Don,

I do remember you and your brother Gordon and the nickname Box Head.

Kids will be kids, I guess.

When I left the Mount, I went to another private school and finished there.

Then I joined the U S Navy and went to Vietnam.  

I was 19 and I thought I was tough Stuff and got taught I was not. 

But all in all, it was a good time for me.

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Don:

Yes, you have Gordon and me identified.

I really hope you can get a platform (not one of those unmanageable South Korean schoolgirl’s Samsung phones) to prepare a short bio to send to Ladislao so he can put it in the Circulars.

There are plenty of Old Boys out there that have been wondering if you are alive and well.

So, which schools did you attend after Mount; which actions in Vietnam were you present at; what happened to you in Vietnam and after you left; who did you marry (first, second and third, if necessary); who are the children if any; who did they marry, and how many grandchildren did they present you with; what have you been doing since the Navy; which were the oil companies; what oilfields did you work in; when did you retire; what are you doing since you retired.  Things like that.

It would be great to hear the details.

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20 September

Douglas:

Hey there, Don,

Are you all going to have some kind of get together for the old boys from Mount?

If you are, please let know. I would really like to see how we all grew old.

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Don:

If you saw the last Circular, it is all explained there.  Here is the link:

https://abbeyschool2018circulars.blogspot.com

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21 September

Douglas:

Hi there, Don,

When I left the Mount, my uncle got me a job as an office boy and after that I went to a private school in Trinidad. 

I left there and went to my father in New York where I joined the navy and went to Vietnam. 

Vietnam was a whole different world. 

I did 3 tours and that was it for me.  I was lucky.

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22 September

Douglas: 

Hi again, Don.

When I left the Mount, I went to a remedial school and got my GCE which l had to get to get to join the Navy.  

I was in boot camp which lasted 2 months and then on to my first ship.  

All in all I had a ball in the navy but I didn't like all the BS regulations and got in trouble quite a bit.

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23 September

Don:

I am really looking forward to a vivid description of your various ships and naval adventures and all the roustabouting tales of your career :-)

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24 September

Douglas:

Well, Don,

I worked in Venezuela and started an oilfield Inspection company and did pretty good until the Venezuelan politicians stole everything. 

So, I came back to Houston and I am now beholden to the Texas government to keep me eating.

But I am not griping, I made some pretty good money in Venezuela and met a lot of Venezuelans here in Houston.  

The good thing is I can now speak Spanish well, which is a thing I never thought would happen,

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Don:

As usual it is good to hear from you.  

You keep sending me these little titbits of personal history.  

What we really need for you to do is to type out for Ladislao a two-page history of “Douglas Houk after Mount”.

Do you not have a granddaughter at your typing disposal?

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28 September

Douglas:

Hey there, Don.

Here is one old boy, HOKOON I think. 

He became a pilot for BWIA.

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Don:

Were you going to attach a photo of Hokoon?

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19 October

Douglas:

Well Don,

After I left the Mount, I worked at a jewellery store and then as an office boy running here there and everywhere.  

I quit and got an offer to train at an oilfield job working on a drilling rig. 

This was in Oklahoma and this white boy hates the cold. 

I moved south and went to Houston where I met some people who talked me into starting an inspection company with them and that was my start in the oilfield.  

From there I went to Singapore where I started making some money and did pretty good.

But all the work was in Indonesia I so I moved there and I really liked the place and made some money which was the reason I went there.   

So, mission cumplido.

Right now, I am in Houston and this is where I will be for the rest of my days.

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Don:

Interesting, Douglas. 

But I thought you spent several years in the US Navy. 

Or am I mixing you up with someone else?

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23 October

Douglas:

Well Don,

When I left the Mount, I went to a remedial school and got out pretty quick. 

I got a job and worked at Y Delimas and got out tout suite.

Then I took a course doing oil field inspection.

I took a course and got a job fairly quick.

I liked my job and I worked my ass off.

My boss asked me if I would like to go to Indonesia and I jumped at the chance.

So, I went there and there and took my wife and 5 year old son. 

They liked the place, so I rented the house.

I liked my job which was oil tools inspection, and my daughter was born there.

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23 October

Don:

I think you have now given me enough titbits for me to send your news to Ladislao so he can put it in the Circular for all your old Mount friends to be able to catch up with your story of life after Mount.  I have tidied up the spelling and punctuation a bit.

Please tell me if it is okay to send it to Ladislao.

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31 October

Douglas:

Well Don,

My life was a pretty boring one as far as I see it.  

I never thought I would live this long but now I guess I’ll end up living on the federal payroll.

But I WILL not like it.

Jesus help me.

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31 October

Don:

I know what you mean. 

Fortunately for me, my expiry date is written on my pacemaker battery.

I do not intend to renew it when it runs out.

I take it this is your response to my last letter when I asked your permission to pass on your story to Ladislao. 

I take it this is a yes?

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8 November

Douglas:

Well, Don,

Hope you have all your need about my time after MSB, but the times then were definitely, as Bob Dylan said, a changing.

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UNKNOWN ESSAY

Hey Ladislao

Peter Sammy and I were very close and out of school whenever I was home on weekends we would be hanging out or just going to eat KFC.

We were so close that when I was graduating, he offered to drop me to the graduation up the hill and pick me up after and against the wishes of my father I accepted his offer, and he did it.

That's how generous he was.

Sometimes on weekends he would come to where I lived in Valsyn and we would go to the park and play cricket or soccer.

We would spend hours discussing various History topics we had to get done or debate the pro's and con's of the direction the country was going.   

He was so smart his knowledge was so vast that sometimes I believe in class he just stayed quiet or pretend not to know just to be one of the guys, or as we say to be accepted as one of the guys, he was too smart for his time, and I used to always tell him that.

One of the things I always remembered about Peter, he hated to say good bye, it was always "see you later" and I picked that up from him, and up to today I never say good bye, always see you later.

Peter you will be missed terribly and my friend "see you later"

To his family, please accept my humblest condolence

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EDITED by Ladislao Kertesz,  kertesz11@yahoo.com,  if you would like to subscribe for a whole year and be in the circular’s mailing list or if you would like to mention any old boy that you would like to include, write to me.

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Photo:

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