I was recently having dinner with some friends when the topic of elevator operators came up (who knows how these conversations over dinner evolve) and I told everyone that, in fact, my father had once been an elevator operator, much to their amusement. It was one of those faint memories...something he'd mentioned to me ages ago that I found hilarious and then stored away in the back of my mind. And as soon as I recalled the story, I wanted more information, so I wrote to my father to ask him to provide some, which, naturally, he did.

(As always, I'm leaving the spelling and grammar intact, so as not to lessen the charm of these correspondences.)

From:Cara McDonough To: Fred Rotondaro Date: Wed, May 28, 2008

Didn't you once hold a job as an elevator operator? Can you tell me about that?

From: Fred Rotondaro To: Cara McDonough Date: Wed, May 28, 2008

Ablut 50yearsago at the shawnee inn in the poco mount-ns. Owned by fred waring, a famous orchestra leader. Did it right out of high school. It was fun. We got a room and naturally our. Meals0 0 Lots of young kids around but I was too na?Øve to realize how charmung I was. The eleva(or was hand operated. Pull. The lever down and you went down. Up and you went up. But only three floors. I don't remember the people I ferried around except for one round faced guyb who I thought played the partner of jack webbin the tv series dragnat. Turned out he was a priest. Wrong again

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