Life & Times, 1980 – 2014 Kate V. Scott Edited by Carli Scott Book 2 Life & Times, 1980 – 2014 Kate V. Scott, 2001 Cover photo: Letter Kate wrote to long-time friends Polly and Dil Clarke in 1996 Book 2 Life & Times, 1980 – 2014 Kate V. Scott Edited by Carli Scott Copyright © 2020 by Carli Scott. All rights reserved, including right of reproduced in whole or part in any form, except for the use of brief quotations. <www.tcracs.org/kvswp> The four books in this series are dedicated to the people of Belize, who received the Scotts with a warm welcome and lasting friendships, and who accepted our family as an integral part of the community in which we made our new home. vii Contents Forward . ix Back to Work . 1 Flurry of Visits . 3 Belize Independence . 9 Update on the Scotts . 17 Queen Elizabeth’s Visit . 21 Mosquito Coast . 33 Family News . 37 Laptop . 43 Carli & Tom’s Visit . 49 Ups and Downs . 57 Family Christmas . 63 Never a Dull Moment . 69 ’Tis the Season . 85 Surprise House Guest . 93 Crime Investigation . 95 Still Not Retired . 103 Odds and Ends . 111 New Toy . 121 At Long Last . 129 Memorable Visit . 135 Catching My Breath . 145 Year’s End . 151 Emergency at Sea . 157 Missy Joins the Family . 161 Rug Merchants . 173 Holidays Here and There . 175 All in a Year’s Work . 177 On the Home Front . 189 Year’s Highlights . 203 Controversial Cruise . 213 viii Kate V. Scott Book 2. Life & Times, 1980 – 2014 Hurricane Mitch . .217 Hectic Holidays . .227 Winding Down . .231 Welcome, Shadow . .235 Things Will Be Better . .239 Back on Track . .243 Movie Extras . .249 Life Proceeds . .259 Another Year . .265 Dog Walker . .273 On the Boulevard . .279 Bits and Pieces . .289 Kolbe Foundation . .313 Duchess . .323 New Project . .329 Getting Along . .333 Hurricane Richard . .347 Quiet Life . .351 Looking Ahead, Looking Back . .359 Editor’s Notes . 363 ix Forward Back when people relied on letters sent through the world’s postal systems to keep each other informed, my mother, Kate V. Scott, was a prolific correspondent. For decades, her delightfully written, newsy letters and reports enchanted and entertained family and friends. Following her death, and with the help of family and friends, I collected as much of Kate’s writing as I could find. This is the second in a series of four books that I assembled from the collection: 1. Life & Times, 1922 – 1979 2. Life & Times, 1980 – 2014 3. Travels, 1961 – 1994 4. Travels, 1995 – 2007 Books 1 and 2 consist of letters of general interest and other descriptions of incidents in Kate’s life; Book 1 also includes a draft memoir and essays describing her first few years living in Belize, British Honduras. I’ve organized this material into chapters that I present in roughly chronological order to tell Kate’s life story in her own words. Books 3 and 4 consist of Kate’s reports of her various trips, mostly vacations but some including business as well; again, the reports are ordered chronologically. For additional information about the source material that I worked with, see page 373 in Book 1: Life & Times, 1922 – 1979. When a narrative in this book refers to material in a different book, a footnote gives a reference to the relevant chapter in that book. I have maintained Kate’s usage and spelling. Readers from countries other than Belize will notice that she followed the Belize custom of using anglicized Spanish adjectives for people or things from nearby Spanish- speaking regions. When Belize was still a colony, a person from British Honduras was called a British Honduran; in contrast, a person from the Republic of Honduras was, and still is, called a Honduranean to reflect the Spanish word hondureño. Similarly, a person from El Salvador is a x Kate V. Scott Book 2. Life & Times, 1980 – 2014 Salvadoranean, from the Spanish salvadoreño; a person from the Mexican state of Yucatán is a Yucatecan, from the Spanish yucateco. (Although many people in Belize refer to a person from Guatemala as a Guatemaltecan, from the Spanish guatemalteco, Kate always used the standard English word Guatemalan.) I have modified Kate’s original text only where necessary for clarity or to remove redundancy when combining related material from different sources. On the first occurrence of any acronym or foreign word that may not be familiar to all readers, any word whose use in Belize is different from its use in standard U.S. English, or any word or name whose pronunciation may differ from what some readers expect, I have added a footnote to “translate” Kate’s meaning or to indicate how the spoken word or name sounds. My occasional comments on her narrative or her wording can be found in separate editor’s notes (page 363). — Carli Scott 1 Back to Work 1979 – 1993 From Kate’s recap of her life, written in 1993 After the death of my beloved husband, Bucher,* I gradually returned to the business. I decided that a daytime in the office was a big improvement over looking at four walls. I always had acted as comptroller. One of my biggest surprises was finding that this lit major could become enchanted with the tidiness of accounts. To my surprise, I then discovered that I am a first class salesman. Kate in office with son Alex and Glenda Crawford, mid 1980’s We have been CGM (The French Line) ship’s agents for years. Throughout Central America, Air France has selected CGM agents as their representatives. At the strong urging of our counterparts in Guatemala and Salvador, I wrote to Air France suggesting our appointment as their agents. * Bucher is pronounced BOOK-er. 2 Kate V. Scott Book 2. Life & Times, 1980 – 2014 Kate supervising loading of fresh oranges for shipment to Martinique We were made General Sales Agents for Air France in the country. It has been slow promoting Air France because no one thinks of his friendly neighborhood shipping agent when planning a trip. However, we finally have been given some competitive Belize / Europe / Belize rates and are beginning to attract travelers. Now that I’m in my early 70’s, friends regularly ask when I intend to retire. The question makes me feel as if the floor is dropping out from underneath. Fortunately my son, Alex, and I work well together. I have a wonderful time working and intend to continue as long as I am an asset, rather than an embarrassment, to him. 3 Flurry of Visits Early 1980 From letter dated March 24, 1980 My cousins Helen Anne de Geus and Jo Lee came from Saginaw to visit. As you would guess, we had a perfectly marvelous time. Helen Anne and Jo were delightful house guests, and we kept a fast pace. I had a cocktail party for them fairly soon after they arrived, to introduce them to my friends. Then there were coffee mornings and tea afternoons and two more cocktail parties to which we all were invited. I offered them a chance to get out of the parties, but they insisted that they knew people by this time and were enjoying them. Alex took us out to St. George’s Caye* one Sunday, with a short detour out beyond the reef to show them the glorious color “on the blue.” Helen Anne, who was sitting in the front seat turned around in terrified amusement at the mountainous waves...actually a modest swell...and Alex Kate’s cousins, Helen Anne de Geus (left) and Jo Lee (right), 1980 * Caye is pronounced key. 4 Kate V. Scott Book 2. Life & Times, 1980 – 2014 put us back inside the reef quickly. Being used to one- or two-foot waves at Higgins Lake, she was not pleased to see what looked like the entire windshield fill with blue water as the swells moved toward the boat. We were riding smoothly over them, but they were a little startling. We drove inland to San Ignacio, where there now is a charming little hotel. The rooms are rather bare but clean and comfortable, each with a private balcony. After lunch we drove across the Western border...the only formality was having our names entered in a register at British Honduras Immigration; the Guatemalans simply waved us ahead with a friendly greeting. Melchor de Mencos is a drab, dusty little border town, but at least it is a foreign country. We went through all the shops in town, and Helen Anne and Jo stocked up on bolsas, string bags of various styles and sizes. Back in their Saginaw shop, they are now selling the bags filled with a bottle of wine, loaf of French bread, etc. We all were astounded at my success in arguing the merchants into giving discounts; I think I took them by surprise. My Spanish only saved about US$1.80 in all, but I was terribly pleased with what I had accomplished. Back at the hotel in San Ignacio, we had our private cocktail hour in the dusk on one of our balconies overlooking the hills, then went in to a surprisingly good family-style dinner. The next day we left early in the morning, and I detoured down the Hummingbird Highway so that they could see some jungle scenery. We went back to the dismal capital, Belmopan, which is looking even more depressed with age. I covered myself with glory and blood by tripping down a three-inch step in the shopping plaza, a frequent error of trifocals. Tore two holes in my leg...which would heal...and one in my new surgical stockings...which wouldn’t.