Ken Berg's Memories

 Ken (and Becky) Berg:

Joe and I go back quite a number of years. Other than a couple of friends in Minnesota that I have known since elementary school, there is no one from my early days that I am still regularly in touch with. A few recollections:

In 1967 I was finishing my thesis and, supposedly, applying for a job. The thesis was pretty much completed, but application forms are long and boring, and "It can wait 'till Wednesday" is an old Minnesota saying. My lucky star was shining. In 1966, Maryland had hired 18 new math faculty, and in 1967 they discovered that they still needed one more. I imagine they were looking forward to going through the hiring process again about as much as I liked filling out forms. My understanding is that it went something like this. The chair mentioned to Joe that a hiring committee would have to be formed to start the process, Joe said  "Let's hire Ken Berg", the chair said "Sounds right", they offered, I accepted,  the application forms got trashed,  that was that.

An amusing side story. About a week after I accepted, I got a note from Bob Hill, who organized schedules. Later Bob and I would become friends, but this was the first I had heard of him. The note said that I was scheduled to teach Math 414 and Math 463, and what texts would I like to use? For a moment I thought of replying  that I wanted to use texts 37 and 53, but instead I called Joe to find out what these courses were actually about.

Joe and I had not yet met except by phone when all this took place. We met face to face at a conference that summer in Fort Collins.

Moving on a few years, Joe decided to start an exercise program. We would meet at the track at Byrd Stadium and jog around the track. It's fair to say that when Joe started this he really needed it. He stuck with it, and I cannot think of anyone who accomplished more. Not that either of us ran a four minute mile, but that wasn't the point. The transformation was truly impressive.

Kids: Mark and Bonnie often came with Joe. Mark was maybe 10 or 12, and ready to run. Bonnie was younger, but nobody was leaving her behind if she had anything to say about it. I enjoyed watching the kids join in. Some years later I was sharing a house with some other guys, on sabbatical for  the fall semester at Berkeley, when a now young adult Bonnie showed up. She was either picking up something or dropping off something, I do not recall the details, but she mentioned she was going to an Emmy Lou Harris concert.  Not anyone I had heard of, but I now have a couple of her albums. Kids can be useful. I learned of Carole King from my older daughter, and while even I had heard of Jerry Garcia, my younger daughter made sure I paid attention.

More recently, meaning about 26 years ago, I was seeing a woman who mentioned that Joe had been asking her a bunch of questions. "I think he was vetting me". I guess she passed the exam, Becky and I have now been married for 25 years. 

 We wish for good years and good times for Joe and Barbara.