Carl Larsen, H. Alan Kantrud, Susan Fishel, Kent Smith and Kay M Purcell
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Carl
Larsen
Born in
Iowa in the year of 1940. In 1947 I was forcibly relocated
to west Texas. (Parents do that sort of thing) After much
effort on the part of parents and teachers finally graduated
in 1959. The next morning I joined the Navy as I did not have
anything else to do. Twenty years six months twelve hours
and fourteen minutes later I figured out that this wasn't
what I wanted to do so I left. During this time I acquired
a wife and five daughters. I opened a Diner and within nine
months managed to run it into the ground and left town just
ahead of the creditors.
I spent the
next three years doing this and that. ( warehouseman, dishwasher,
and last but not least completely unemployed) During this period
I became single again due entirely to my own fault. As a last
resort I became a Cab Driver in the LA area and managed to save
up and bought my own Cab Company. After 15 years I had major
heart problems and am now "retired".
After reading
the other Bios I feel slightly out of place as I do not have
all the academic credentials to list but I have a good grasp
of reality. I will not list a lot of interest as I would like
to keep it open to learn more from others and not be channeled
into one or two areas.
H.
Alan Kantrud
hmm. do
i make it up as i go along or tell some semblance of the truth...ah,
well, the truth is interesting enough{s}
i am thirty.
i live (currently) in minneapolis after having been flooded
out of grand forks north dakota a few years ago. i am approaching
the end of my second full-year as a licensed attorney. i prosecute
criminals at the municipal level (anything lesser than felonies)
and do a wide variety of other civil work as well. a brief yet
intense career as a professional photographer had me living
in new hampshire for a bit before college, which consisted of
seven long years in grand forks. now i'm a skinny country kid
turned city-slicker.
no kids.
no wife. dog got hit by psycho farmer-kid driver and died a
few years ago. sounds like a country music song, altho i listen
mostly to the blues.
i grew up
with fountain pens lying around the house. mom used 'em to write
missives to her relations and my memories of her filling her
cartridges with a syringe and a bottle of skrip (she was WAY
to scotch to buy new cartridges) are vivid. i paid the pen no-mind
otherwise, but loved mechanical pencils.
enter about
4 years ago when a mentor/friend/i-wish-my-kids-liked-the-stuff-i-do-type
introduced me to, yes, you guessed it, a 51, in buckskin, with
a fine nib. i was hooked. i have coined the phrase "little works
of art that work" to nutshell to the uninitiated why i collect
pens and b/c it describes what i feel is true.
my pen collecting
style is what i refer affectionately to as 'bottom-feeding;'
i don't think i've ever paid more than 75 bucks for anything
and most would come in under 25. mining antique malls, estate
sales and innumerable flea markets has been fun, but time-consuming
and often frustrating. collecting in the upper midwest yields
mostly parker and sheaffer's finds, especially given the proximity
of both companies to this area. but i've done fairly well. my
collection includes nothing but vintage stuff, the latest pens
coming from the sixties...lamy 2000; parker 75's; mb's and my
earliest from the single digits this past century...eye-droppers
and early bchr offerings from the big three. rare and cheap
include a parker true blue, a parker vest pocket in lapis, and
a waterman's 56 red ripple...all under thirty bucks.
other than
that, i have a passion for just about anything that catches
my fancy. i enjoy antiquarian books, woodworking, my marine
aquarium, foreign languages, backpacking, and still enjoy jumping
around on the mountain bikes i used to race. i am also a 'chilehead'
and enjoy cooking fiery cuisine. last but not least would be
my lifelong love of hunting and shooting...on the off season
i am on a 'sporting clays' league and at this time of year i
am usually out looking for the next grouse bound for the stewpot{s}.
happy hunting
to all and many thanks to pentrace for this very fun opportunity
to expose ourselves...well, uh, describe ourselves, anyway. and as i am (at this point) at the bottom of this list,
i have to applaud those folks above me. quite an eclectric and
accomplished mix we are!
Susan
Fishel
My name
is Susan Fishel. I am pen collector and a snail wannabe, so
here’s my pen-oriented bio. I grew up in Nebraska in a small
town where we knew not only everyone’s names but the names
of their dogs and cats and cows. It was the same little town
that my mom grew up in, and her parents grew up in, and her
grandparents helped establish. I was not a full-time feral
child, only in the summers, and then I made an exception for
the bookmobile when it came to town. I’ve tried other states,
but Nebraska is quiet and unhurried, comparatively, and so
am I.
To fund my
pen hobby, I work for Ameritrade as a technical writer. I became
a technical writer about 15 years ago -- what else can you do
with a degree in philosophy -- after trying a number of other
‘careers.’ I’ve been a paraprofessional librarian, industrial
engineering tech, cocktail waitress, drafter, security guard,
switchboard operator, bookkeeper, office manager, help desk
guru, and cashier among other things.
My first
fountain pen was a yellow Sheaffer school pen filled with turquoise
ink. I was in the third grade. I bent the nib. Before the late,
lamented Sheaffer, though, my sisters and I had feather pens.
My mother would trim pheasant tail feathers with a razor blade
and set a bottle of Skrip in the middle of the table. We would
suit up -- in my dad’s old shirts worn backwards or my mom’s
aprons tied around our necks -- and have at it. Feather pens
and Big Chief tablets aren’t the best of matches. We had better
luck with the layers of newspaper Mama spread on the table.
Other pen memories include engraving my dad’s name on his Eversharp
with a straight pin. I have the pen. He must have used it after
the artwork; it’s entirely brassed.
The next
pen was a lady Sheaffer I with a porpoise nib that I used in
college for notes. After a log dry spell -- not enough money
for pens -- I acquired a couple of Vectors, and it’s been a
free fall through pendom since then.
Kent
Smith
I've loved
fountain pens since I bought my first Esterbrook when I was
a fifth grader. I'm old enough (63)to remember dip pens and
inkwells in school desks (third and fourth grades). I think
what pen and ink represented to me was the forlorn hope that
someday, somehow my awkward lefthanded scrawl might become
presentable at last. I pursued that chimera with several Esterbrooks
throughout high school and college, then with a Sheaffer Snorkel
I'd received as a high school graduation present.
After college
I did a masters and doctorate in Chinese history. I acquired
and prized low-end Montblancs and a Pilot while studying and
traveling in Taiwan, Japan, and Hong Kong. (In those days the
People's Republic of China was even more inaccessible than the
dark side of the moon). I then taught Chinese history at a liberal
arts college for seventeen very happy years. They were also
years in which Sheaffer cartridge fountain pens adorned the
linings of every one of my tweed jackets with large, gaudy blue
and red ink stains.
At forty-four
having spent every single year of my life since the age of five
in school, I went off to theological seminary. (Actually, I'd
been pondering doing so for the previous twenty-five years).
I was ordained an Episcopal priest in 1985. I resigned my tenured
professorship and for the past fourteen years have been rector
of a suburban Connecticut parish. Our town is about an hour
and a half from New York (and FPH and Joon). If I were any closer
to those emporia, I might have to ask you to visit me in debtors'
prison!
My wife and
I met and married thirty years ago when we were faculty colleagues.
Our two daughters are in their twenties, and both are preparing
for careers in social work. I'm a compulsive reader, mainly
history and nineteenth century novels. I love travel, photography,
and classical music. Of the latter I am, alas, a consumer only,
not even an occasional producer.
My current
bout of stylophila began when my last Montblanc gave up the
ghost a few years ago. A young clerk at Bob Slate's in Cambridge,
MA sold me a Waterman Preface (ultra dependable if unexciting)
telling me that it was a better pen and a considerably lower
price than the bottom of the line Montblanc they had in stock.
He was right. I went on from there with Cross, Sheaffer, Caran
d'Ache, Pelikan, Stipula, Namiki, Omas....All of you on this
board (and IkonPen) have stoked my curiosity and acquisitive
fever to perilous levels by your constant incitement. I also
think you're a hoot! Thanks!
Kay
M Purcell
My first
pen was an Esterbrook in grade school. I was not allowed to
write with ballpoints until I got to college. I hated that
Esterbrook (I have no idea what nib it had and didn't eve
know there were choices until I joined the Zoss list!)
and threw it away as soon as I could. So what am I doing among
this bunch? Well when my two kids were toddlers and no longer
needing constant care, I needed something else to do. I read
an ad entitled "Improve Your Handwriting." Well, up until
college the only two subjects I ever received Unsatisfactory
in were handwriting and spelling. (In college I added a couple
of Phys Ed classes to the list.) So, I decided to give it
a try, and sent in my money. I got a wonderful book by Eagers
(I think it was) and a pen holder and a bunch of Speedball
nibs. I never mastered the dip pens, but before I totally
gave up, I got an ad in the mail for a Platignum pen. Got
one of those. Better than dip pens, but still not good. I
got an ad in the mail for an Osmiroid. Got one of those. Better
than the Platignum, but still not good. Then I got an ad in
the mail (boy, was I on the sucker lists!) for Pelikan 120
made by the "high end pen maker." I had no idea what a "high-end
pen" was, but I ordered one any way. Think I paid about $50
and we ate a lot of beans that month. But ... it was love
at first write.
That pen
did all of my correspondence for 25 years. Then when we had
more money, I started to wonder what a "high end pen" was and
if I could maybe replace it with one with a gold nib, instead
of a plated one. I started watching for ads and answering anything
that looked promising. Eventually a Fahrney's catalog ended
up in my mail box and I thought I had died and gone to heaven.
But Pelikan did not make a gold Italic nib :-(. Parker did.
I started on my quest for the perfect replacement. By now I
had noticed the cracks in the end cap and I wanted to retire
the trusty 120 to prevent further damage. So, I started accumulating
pens in my search for that perfect one. I'm still searching
....
However,
in the mean time I discovered ebay, the two Zoss lists (there
used to be two), and Internet pen stores. And I realized that
I had a collection and that I was not alone. My accumulation
as well as knowledge has grown significantly. Thanks to all
of you knowledgeable folk who are so willing to share your expertise.
When I am
not doing pens, I am a Visiting Instructor in Electrical Engineering
at Southern Illinois University. I teach the capstone course,
Senior Electrical Engineering Design, plus whatever is left
over after everyone else gets what they want. I have been "visiting"
long enough to be able to retire any time I want. :-)
I live with
my husband of 38 years, two dogs, four cats, and occasional
litters of kittens that pass through on their way to good homes.
Our two children are grown and on their own, but not married
yet. I also collect miniature figurines of cats; I have more
of them than pens, but they are less expensive. I have enough
pocket knives and playing cards to be collections, but they
are more like accumulations than collections: very eclectic
and totally unorganized.
and threw it away as soon as I could. So what am I doing among
this bunch? Well when my two kids were toddlers and no longer
needing constant care, I needed something else to do. I read
an ad entitled "Improve Your Handwriting." Well, up until
college the only two subjects I ever received Unsatisfactory
in were handwriting and spelling. (In college I added a couple
of Phys Ed classes to the list.) So, I decided to give it
a try, and sent in my money. I got a wonderful book by Eagers
(I think it was) and a pen holder and a bunch of Speedball
nibs. I never mastered the dip pens, but before I totally
gave up, I got an ad in the mail for a Platignum pen. Got
one of those. Better than dip pens, but still not good. I
got an ad in the mail for an Osmiroid. Got one of those. Better
than the Platignum, but still not good. Then I got an ad in
the mail (boy, was I on the sucker lists!) for Pelikan 120
made by the "high end pen maker." I had no idea what a "high-end
pen" was, but I ordered one any way. Think I paid about $50
and we ate a lot of beans that month. But ... it was love
at first write.