Period covered: 1964 to 1968.
Location: Boston, USA.
In the sixties a great many young people in Brazil were in love with the idea of Communism,
as had been the case in Europe after the First World War. I suppose they all thought this was the road to social justice, though I think it a misguided theory which is still being contested today. Many more people in the world have suffered under the banners
of religion and political creeds than because of pestilence, but I do not want to enter here into statistical research.
By contrast, from a young age I was instructed by my father in the virtues of Capitalism and Free Trade, I am happy to say. My father and I used to talk a lot about these subjects while I was still living at home in Belo Horizonte. I was very close to him
and consequently adhered to many of his beliefs on the most varied subjects such as religion, politics and principles. He was quite strict. In England he would have been described as a true Victorian or a puritan as far as his attitudes to his family were
concerned. We, the brood, had to be kept on the straight and narrow and every aspect of good behaviour and manners was required, especially of young women.
My father always had to know who the parents of my girlfriends were. Later, boyfriends had to be approved by him, and very few were accepted. My friends of the time recall all this and remember him with affection as he was always kind to them. My second husband
Albert, who worked with my father for a while, would have been approved of because my father thought he was a person of good character, hard-working and from a local family. That was what it took. He would say, “Marry your daughters to your neighbours’
sons.”
The universities of Minas Gerais in the sixties, as elsewhere in the country, were breeding grounds
for communist militancy. As my father was renowned locally for his wealth, his three children were not likely to be welcome in them. I had already been singled out for unwelcome attention in my schools, though I could manage to ignore it. But I found the idea
of more intense or aggressive inspection at university rather frightening.
I remember at times even my teachers
calling me by the name of Luciana. As that was not my name, but my father’s middle name, and it was feminine, I got the message that it meant Dr. Luciânia’s daughter, so when the time came for me to choose a university I told my father that
I would not expose myself to further harassment, and wanted to continue my studies in America.
I saw the United
States as the most wonderful capitalist haven and just the place for me. It is possible that in larger Brazilian cities like Rio and São Paulo students from wealthy families would not have stood out so much but in Belo Horizonte we certainly did. Later,
when my brother and sister reached the requisite age they even opted for private tuition as opposed to continuing their education locally.
I never believed in giving up any of my rights, which most definitely included going to a university where I would be judged according to my diligence, not my socio-economic status. I have never found a challenge that was too big for my large measure of determination,
so I approached the task of being accepted into an American University with a winner’s frame of mind ― I can do it- and I dedicated myself wholeheartedly to my studies until I achieved my aim. Being accepted as an undergraduate in an American university
was definitely my dream, and when I got there, I was so happy to be a part of the system that I loved every moment of.
I took my obligations very seriously, never missed a class, and had no time for socialising for at least the first two years. I realised that to start with, foreign students carried an extra burden because they worked in a different language, so to compete
with the Americans I had to work much harder than they did. I studied relentlessly and never failed in any subject, though sometimes I found it very demanding, but not for one moment did I regret my decision. This was, therefore, an extremely happy period
of my life because I saw what I was doing as a great achievement.
While at university in the US I corresponded
regularly with my mother, who kept me informed of everything that happened at home, and with my cousin Sandra Giffoni. Sandra is the daughter of my mother’s youngest sister, Aunt Branca, and she and I had played together almost since birth, she being
only a little younger than I, and we both initially attended the same school, Sacré-Coeur de Jesus.
In a letter to me Sandra once related how she had gone with a girlfriend to an American Institute where students could take the tests to get scholarships in the US. This was the American Field Service. She said that her friend had tried to talk her into taking
the test, but she thought it would be a pointless exercise because her parents would not be able to pay the fees. However, when she arrived there she decided to try once it had been explained to her that she would be under no obligation. About a week later
Sandra was astounded to hear that she had succeeded, while her friend had not. I was not at all surprised at this when I heard about it because I knew what a lovely, bright person Sandra was.
The AFS Intercultural Program was an international, non-governmental and non-profit organisation that provided intercultural learning opportunities.
AFS Founder and Inspector General A. Piatt Andrew
and Assistant Inspector General Stephen Galatti, at the AFS headquarters in Paris, France, 1917. Photograph by H.C. Ellis.
The original AFS began in 1915, shortly after the outbreak of World War I, as the America Ambulance Field Service.
It was transformed from a wartime humanitarian aid organisation into an international secondary school student exchange. This intercultural learning organisation had a noble vision, which was to help build a more peaceful world by promoting understanding among
cultures.
I promptly answered Sandra’s letter encouraging her to take this opportunity and enclosed a one-hundred-dollar
bill to help her pay the fees. In 1963 that was worth a lot more than it is now. Meanwhile Sandra had also told my mother about it and she offered to pay all expenses and, hardest of all, to persuade Sandra’s parents to let her go. Sandra and my mother
had always been very close. As a matter of fact, they were similar in very many ways, both physically and in temperament.
Though we had grown up together, there had always been an enormous difference in our economic status. My father was very affluent, and Sandra’s parents lived very simply, as her father was a minor public official. For this reason, my father paid for
her to attend Sacré-Coeur, and Sandra very often wore my hand-me-down clothes. She used to say that she had a poor person’s body as everything fit her!
At the beginning of September 1963 Sandra went to live for one year with a family in the northern state of Minnesota. That was the greatest adventure of her life as she had never been outside Brazil. I was at the time studying at Rosemont College, and during
the 1964 Easter holidays I went to visit Sandra in Minnesota. It was during that visit that we heard on the radio about the revolution in Brazil.
Sandra’s American family loved her and they remained on friendly terms ever after. It was because of this experience that Sandra became an English teacher. She now owns an English school in Belo Horizonte and for many years accompanied groups of students
to the US. It follows, therefore, that Sandra was a most successful outcome of the American attempts at Entente Cordiale.
In June 1964 I moved from Rosemont College to Boston for Summer School at Boston University and in the autumn embarked on full-time studies in Business Administration. For the first two years I lived in the new dormitories in Bay State Road where I shared
a room with another girl. The ground floor of this building was open to visitors, as was also the cafeteria in the basement, but from the first floor up only girls resided, and no man was ever allowed up there. We were only two blocks away from the School
of Business building situated on Commonwealth Avenue.
In Massachusetts nature delighted me in every season. In
autumn the variety of trees that turned various shades of red, yellow and orange was overwhelmingly beautiful. Leaves are green because they contain chlorophyll. When this pigment is abundant in their cells, as it is during the growing season,
the green colour of chlorophyll dominates and masks the colours of any other pigments that may be present in the leaf.
In late summer, as daylight hours shorten and temperatures cool, the veins that carry fluids into the leaf are gradually closed off and the chlorophyll begins to decrease. Often the veins will still be green after the tissues about them
have almost completely changed colour into yellow and orange hues caused by carotenoids.
This is common in many
living things and it is what gives the characteristic colour to corn, canaries, buttercups and sunflowers as well as egg yolks, carrots, bananas and oranges. Their brilliant yellows and oranges also tint the leaves of such hardwood species as hickories, ash, maple, birch, sycamore
and sassafras, among others.
Left: My university – Boston University.
Right: The street where I lived – Bay State Road.
After the autumn season, dominated by rich tones of red, there came another, so different and especially characteristic of Boston, which was completely white, gentle and silent.
It was the one I liked best and was the time to retreat into the warmth of our homes. After all these years I still long for the snow. I so much miss the snows of Boston! The three months of glorious red and yellow autumn were followed by a large amount of
snow. I thought the city became so beautiful under that layer of white over the parks and streets, and the Charles River was so enchanting when it snowed. I could see it from my bay window while I studied. In a way, the tranquillity of this scene reminded
me of my room in my parents’ house, the Chácara. There I had also loved watching the rain from my bedroom window while I studied. That window faced a large tree, my favourite, the Paneira or Bomtax tree. The Chácara was my
first paradise, and snowy Boston was my second.
There are various species of such trees in Brazil but the best
known is the Ceiba Speciosa Ravena, indigenous to the forests of Brazil and Bolivia. It was initially described in 1828 by St. Hilaire, and later by Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton (19 March 1821 – 20 October 1890) in their writings. Sir
Richard mentions the Bomtax Tree in his book Exploration of the Highlands of Brazil, published in 1869, with ‘A Full Account of the Gold and Diamond Mines’. In this book he mentions having met in Minas Gerais Dr John Lucie Dayrell,
my grandmother Teresa Dayrell’s English grandfather.
When spring arrived light green leaves sprouted, shyly
at first, but becoming ever more daring. One by one they slowly appeared until little flowers also bloomed, adding all possible hues to an exuberant landscape. Fate often dictates where we are to live, and in my case, I could have been accepted into university
elsewhere, but life in Boston most definitely left a mark on my personality. Another reason I miss the snow is because it has not been the same in any other city that I lived.
The Snows of Boston
I miss the snow!
It filled my eyes,
Entered my
soul.
I want them back
The days of Boston
That are long gone.
I
miss them so!
Have not forgotten
The fluff ‘n slush,
Flakes dancing
Down my window
Facing the river.
Boats upstream
With heavy loads
The swirling snow
Dancing around.
I want them back,
My days of snow!
Is it the memory,
Times of achievement
Or is the love
For
which I sigh,
Though long gone,
Too strong to die.
I can’t forget
Those days, and yearn
For the intense
First love
emotions,
The happiness
Of that time.
Though love re-found
To
warm my days,
My mind goes back
Chooses to evoke
My first love
In me alive.
© A.L.P. Gouthier, 2013
Left: Father and Anastasia, Christmas at home in 1963. Photo collection
of A.L.P. Gouthier
Centre: Autumn in Boston. Right: Winter in Boston.
My mother once came to visit me in Boston and to see my university, while on a trip to North America with her cousin Niná Bittencourt. They spent most of the time in New York where I joined them at weekends. During the first years of university I also
went to The Big Apple a few times to meet my friend Neville d’Almeida who was living there at the time. Neville is also from Belo Horizonte and on his return to Brazil became famous, especially as a cinema director, as well as actor, writer, and photographer.
However, most of time I spent the weekends at school studying.
New York City
While I was in America, I went home every year
at Christmas, and on one of these trips I remember going to a New Year’s Eve party at the local Yacht Club, situated by the Pampulha Lake. I was with two girlfriends, Ligia Ximenes and Teresinha Dollabela, and Tereza’s boyfriend Humberto Carvalho,
who was a young solicitor. After the party they decided to stop at a nightclub called the Chat Noir to eat something as we were all hungry.
I had never been there before, but they served a good Picadinho. When we were about to leave Humberto asked me if I would drive his car to the Avenida Bias Fortes because he wanted to drive home his friend, Alvaro Batista de Oliveira. Alvaro had been
at the club far too long and was too drunk to drive safely. I surmised that the other two girls could not drive, so I agreed. Humberto took off and I was to follow him, but I soon lagged behind. I was not concerned because Tereza knew the way.
I soon noticed a car driving far too close to ours, and as I watched it in the rear-view mirror it bumped into us, obviously
on purpose. In those deserted streets before dawn I realised that I could not allow it to overtake us as we could then be forced to stop, and its occupants clearly had bad intentions. I swung from right to left each time they tried to overtake me, and in this
manner managed to arrive outside Alvaro’s house where Humberto was waiting for us.
The car that had pursued
us parked across the street. The two girls were crying and told Humberto what had happened, while I exchanged places with Tereza and sat in the back of Humberto’s car. Humberto told us he knew one of the boys in the other car and went to talk to them
and ask why they had behaved so badly. After a short while he came back and told us that they obviously had the worst of intentions. Suddenly they got out of their car, came over and attacked Humberto, and a fight started in the middle of the street. Fortunately,
Humberto’s friend Yeyé heard the commotion from inside the house and came to the rescue. Soon the attackers gave up and drove away, but poor Humberto emerged from the scuffle with a broken hand.
When I finally managed to get home my father was furious with me for staying out so late, but I told him to stop shouting and listen to my account of what had happened.
When he heard the story he was even more furious, but at least not with me. He called his solicitor, Dr Lellis Silvino and they went together to Humberto’s parents’ house to talk to him and inform the police.
The two young men were arrested and played innocent, saying they had not done much, merely chased the car driven by Dr. Luciânia’s daughter.
It became abundantly clear that I was considered fair game and did not deserve respect. My father told me about this with such sadness in his eyes that I thought it best never to mention the subject again.
I soon returned to university in Boston, quite happy to be away from my home city, and all proceedings were handled by my father and Humberto’s legal advisors.
Many years later Humberto Carvalho married my cousin Claudia Faria, the daughter of Aloisio Faria who owned the Banco Real, and my cousin Clea Dalva.
A few years after this I heard a story involving Aloisio Faria and my cousin Clea, though my mother refused to confirm my father’s involvement in its outcome. Apparently Aloisio fell in love with an elegant society belle and announced to his wife that
he was going to leave her. He and his brother were the owners of a prominent bank inherited from their father. Clea, who was in love and happy with her husband after many year of marriage, was devastated by her husband’s intention. Supposedly, when my
father heard about it he phoned his dear niece and by some accounts, told her not to worry because her husband would not go through with this folly. “But what do you mean uncle Totoca? Aloisio is very determined,” she cried to her uncle. “Once
I let him know,” my father told her, “that if he divorces you we will pool our shares of the bank together and take it away from him he will change his mind.” What I do know is that Aloisio and Clea did not separate and a few years
later moved to Sao Paulo with their daughters, where they lived together for the rest of their lives, and the relationship between our families continued as friendly as ever.
It was during the time I was studying in Boston that the contraceptive pill first became available, or at least that is when I first heard about it. This development, meant to give women control over their lives, was largely the result of a campaign initiated
by Margaret Higgins Sanger, 1879 – 1966. She was an American birth control activist, writer and nurse who used her writings to promote her ideas. She was prosecuted and persecuted in America, not least by opponents of abortion, and consequently
fled to Britain. She thought that for women to have a more equal standing in society they needed to be able to decide when to bear children.
In September 1965 I moved from the dormitory to a lovely apartment, also in Bay State Road, that I rented with my American friend Judy Shaper. This was a great novelty for me, but life continued at the same pace, with classes and hard work. By the end
of that December term I was at last getting more accustomed to my workload.
When I try to think of the time, I
first saw Joseph Eros I recall two occasions. On the first one I was standing on the major hall located on the ground floor of the Business College, probably in between classes, when I noticed someone walk swiftly across the hall in the direction of the lifts.
I watched him and found him so different from everyone else, so obviously not American. I remember asking someone nearby, “Who is that? I wonder where he is from.” “He is from England,” came the reply, and the moment passed. On
the second occasion I was walking down Bay State Road when my attention was suddenly drawn to the loud revving of a passing car. Looking in the direction of the sound I noticed it was again the Englishman.
The months passed and winter descended on the land. One afternoon I was studying in the library with a friend of mine called Panos Geuras. I do not remember if Panos
was an American Greek or actually from Greece. After a while we decided to go into the lift hall to smoke a cigarette, and there was the English boy leaning against the wall near the lift, also smoking. Suddenly he looked at me and said, “Where are you
from?”
I looked at him and said: “I am from Brazil and you are English, I know!”
He
smiled at my implied admission that I had noticed him before. This exchange earned the irritated glance of my Greek friend who soon suggested that we return to the library.
Winter darkness fell early. We worked on day after day, hunched over our books in an incessant battle against time. Tuesday the 9th of November promised to be no different from any other day for this Boston University student. At five in the afternoon
I again found myself in the library of the Business College, when suddenly the lights went out. Everyone looked at each other wondering what had happened and went to look out the windows to see if it was only in our building. It appeared to be all along Commonwealth
Avenue, but it was difficult to tell the extent of the problem due to the glare of headlights. After waiting for a while to see if power would be restored, the students decided to venture out in the direction of the lockers where we kept our overcoats. Some
happened to have a small torch handy and helped those who did not. We streamed out into the street, brightly illuminated by headlights, and only then did I notice that the streetlights were out and the heavy traffic at the intersection was being directed by
students.
The American Northeast blackout of 1965 was due to a substantial disruption in the power supply caused
by the failure of a protective relay on one of the transmission lines from a hydroelectric power station in Queenstown, Ontario, near Niagara Falls. In Canada it affected parts of Ontario, and in the United States Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire,
New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, and Vermont. Over 30 million people and 207,000 km2 were left without electricity for up to 13 hours.
I finally decided to go down the dark stairs from the fifth floor and was happy to find someone with a torch willing to help me, first to my locker on the first floor to get my coat, and from there we reached the street. The capriciousness of youth knowns
no bounds and, far from being concerned, everything seemed a great adventure to us. I must say that the natural sense of order and caution of most people was very impressive, and the heavy end of day traffic was calmly following the directions of the students
who had ventured into the darkness to help out as temporary wardens.
I turned left and walked along Commonwealth
Avenue to the end of the University buildings, turned left again then right into Bay State Road, passing my old dormitory, The Towers, just past the International Student Centre. There I crossed the street and entered the building in which I shared the second-floor
flat with my friend Judy.
There was not a light to be seen in any of the buildings along the way, but at the same
time the sense of calm and order could not fail to impress. Feeling my way in the dark entrance of my building and carefully up the stairs, I finally reached the flat and was happy to see that Judy was already there and had a transistor radio tuned into the
news. Only then did we realise that something dramatic was happening. To our amazement it was announced that there would be an address from the President himself.
We soon heard Lyndon Johnson asking the people of the affected areas to keep calm and refrain from going out so as not to exacerbate the general chaos. He said the power cut was the result of a still unidentified failure in the supply system and no one yet
knew when power would be restored. He also informed us that all military personnel, police, fire departments and hospital staff were ready to help in any emergencies such as people stuck in elevators, as well as traffic emergencies. The news also informed
us that hospitals were operating with emergency generators, and there was no call for alarm.
At that many students
decided it was all great fun, and as no one could study in the dark we might as well enjoy ourselves to the sound of music on the radio. As we had a fireplace in our flat, we decided to roast marshmallows and sausages on the fire. We were soon joined by my
Greek friend Panos who brought me a big flower arrangement that he had picked up at the restaurant where he had been when the black-out started.
The next day life returned to the normal classes and interminable hours of work. By the beginning of December I was for once feeling calm and ready to face the exams, so much so that one Sunday afternoon, with a friend called John Dewey also known as Jeep,
I actually took the time to go for a drive to the seaside to watch the wondrous spectacle of snow-slides cascading down onto the waves crashing against the shore. Parking the car on a little bay, flanked on the right by an old house on a cliff, we gazed for
a while at the beauty of the white scenery. I remember Jeep with great affection as he was in love with me though I did not reciprocate. We went our separate ways, but I saw him once again many months later. I was struck by the sadness I saw in his eyes when
he looked at me.
In the middle of December 1965, on the Friday evening after end of term exams just
before the Christmas recess, I went to a party with a French friend where I ran into the Englishman again. This was our first opportunity to talk briefly, ask each other’s names and exchange telephone numbers. As I was leaving the next day to spend Christmas
with my parents in Brazil we arranged to meet again when I returned.
Joseph Alexander Martinez Dallarosa’s
family was British, of Italian ancestry, and lived near Winchester in the UK. Probably because of his foreign background, Jo was in many ways more English than the English. At least that is how he appeared to me. Having been born in Rome where his father was
posted during the war and where he met his wife, Jo was taken to England when still a baby to live with his father’s family. As is customary in England, at the age of nine he was sent to a boarding school called Downside.
This was a leading Catholic school, at that time for boys only, and it is one of England’s oldest and most distinguished public schools as they
are called, though in fact they are private and expensive. Downside Abbey is in Stratton-on-the-Fosse in Somerset. It was founded by monks from the monastery of St Gregory's in Flanders who settled in Somerset in 1814. During the 19th century Downside remained a small monastic school, but the 20th century brought expansion of the school buildings and school numbers — over 600 boys at one point.
After Jo finished his studies at Downside he went on a grand tour. He had learned Italian from his parents and French in school, so
he headed to Germany to learn German. In Cologne and Munich, the young, affluent and handsome Joseph Eros did learn German and met Ulla Larson who was a good-looking Swedish woman over ten years older than him. Ulla had an exotic background. At an early age
she had been thrown out of her parents’ home for getting pregnant and had found employment in a circus caring for the elephants. As a result, she was nicknamed Jumbo.
When Jo returned to his parents’ home, he had Ulla in tow. His father proceeded to pack him off to university in America as soon as it could possibly be arranged because he was fed up with him gallivanting around Europe, and especially crashing cars
with his fondness for speeding. He told me that Jo had thirteen minor car accidents in a period of one year. Ulla settled down in London where she eventually became a good friend of Jo’s sister Luciana.
At university in the US Joseph Dallarosa stood out from the Americans in every possible way. He also broke many university rules for he had no intention of adapting to
the American ways and norms. In his second year at Business School he gave a party with some American friends who were also students at BU, but the university authorities - there was indeed a university police force - found out that alcoholic drinks
had been served so they were summoned to appear before the disciplinary board to explain their actions in light of the fact that the purchase of alcohol was forbidden for under twenty-ones in the State of Massachusetts.
Jo later told me that he arrived at the university tribunal with a careless attitude as he hated America, the university, and the Americans. When questioned
as to whether he was in the habit of drinking beer, the usual transgression of young American students, he declared that he did not drink beer as he preferred whisky or wine. When questioned about where he obtained alcoholic beverages, he stated that his father
brought them to him every time he visited. The upshot was that his American friends were thrown out of the university, but he was not because they concluded that he had simply acted in accordance with his cultural habits.
Joseph also dressed very differently in his habitual English style of jacket and tie, which I thought so elegant and much more to my liking than the
casual American style. He had dark hair and eyes and striking features, he was very self-assured and sophisticated, and he drove around in his black Mustang with music blaring, which never failed to turn the girls’ heads. The quality I admired most in
him was his kindness.
We started going out together in January 1966 after my Christmas holidays in Brazil, and
Jo soon sensed that I was still a virgin. I had never felt the slightest desire to have a sexual relationship with anyone, but to me Jo was different. I had always hated the male attitude that everything was permissible for them, but the same freedoms, not
to say licentiousness, were to be condemned in women. I perceived that Jo was not susceptible to this chauvinism, especially because of his attitude to the sexual experiences of his two sisters.
Before we ventured into an intimate relationship, we discussed the subject, though I found it extremely embarrassing, and Jo told me that I had to use contraceptives.
This meant going to a doctor and asking for a prescription for the pill, but as I was shy, we decided that Jo would go with me to give me confidence, posing as my fiancée. I was grateful for his care and consideration, but I was also not the type of
person to take chances. We were in love for many years and always treated each other with great affection and tenderness.
While I was still living with my friend Judy, Jo would take us to the supermarket in his car and meet me at university whenever we had some free time. At weekends Judy often went to New York to stay with her boyfriend, Richard Levine, whom she later married,
and Jo spent the weekends with me. For the first time since arriving at university I really enjoyed a social life. I dressed in beautiful clothes purchased at Bonwit Tellers - an upmarket clothing boutique housed in a grand redbrick building in central Boston.
Thus, properly attired I gadded about town in style with Jo in the sleek black Mustang.
I still remember my favourite
restaurant there, the Anthony's Pier 4, located on the South Boston waterfront. It functioned on a riverboat, the Peter Stuyvesant, a former New York City riverboat built in 1927. In 1963 it was purchased and restored by a restaurateur, Anthony Athanas. On
one occasion Jo organised a surprise party for my birthday, the only one I ever had in my life, but I really do not like surprises.
The following semester I lived mostly with Jo, though I kept my flat with Judy. He was living in a two-bedroom flat and renting the extra room to a Canadian man called James who worked in town. At first, I was disconcerted by James living there, but Jo told
me that he was sorry for him because he was always short of money, worked all the time and so would not be in our way. I accepted James’s presence in the flat as I was touched by Jo’s kindness.
I particularly remember one Saturday morning hearing James leave the flat to go to work when we were still in our bedroom chatting. That evening we were again chatting
and giggling in the bathtub when James returned from work. He was soon on his way out again for the remainder of the weekend and he gently knocked on the bathroom door and said. “Hello children, if you can play the whole day long you should get married!”
Not long afterwards that same year, Joseph’s father came to Boston one weekend for a visit. He was going to stay with his son
as James was never there at weekends. I had intended to go to my flat before he arrived and meet him formally later, but Mr Martinez Dallarosa arrived unexpectedly early that Saturday morning when I was still fast asleep. I was so embarrassed that I did not
know what to do, but eventually I had to get myself together and meet him. He brought me a big teddy bear that Jo’s mother had sent. I named it Jojo, Jo’s childhood nickname, and I still have it.
Left: Jo taking a photo of Anastasia in the
mirror. Boston 1966.
Centre: Mario Martinez, Jo’s father, and Anastasia in Boston in 1966.
Right:
‘Jo’ – Joseph Alexander Martinez Dallarosa.
All three part of the photo collection of A.L.P. Gouthier.
I have many fond memories of our life in Boston and of our first home together, but one
of my fondest recollections is returning from evening classes and running up the stairs to fall into his arms. The following year we moved to another flat and continued to live happily and only for each other. Those two years in Boston with Jo were the happiest
of my life. It was perfect, with no worries at all about the future. All we had to do was study hard to pass our exams and be happy. Jo was not as devoted a student as I was, but I insisted that he also work hard so that we could live at the same pace. Any
other differences we may have had did not yet matter.