When I was a kid. An honest to goodness retired IBM engineer and his wife moved in across the street from me. He and his wife were very nice to me, giving me toys on my birthday and overpaying me to wash their car in the summer. The engineer, Fred, would sit in a chair in the yard and tell me stories about computers and other technologies.

One late summer day while drying their Cadillac, Fred told me they were moving to Florida. It was a sad day. I helped them pack boxes and throw stuff out for the next month. The day before they left Fred gave me a box full of things he thought I should have. Amongst them was a pocket knife (which I still have on my desk), a slide rule and this IBM flowcharting template.

I never heard from them again until I was much older and I got a letter from his wife. Fred had died. I think he would be happy to know that I eventually chose a career in computers and that his stories had something to do with my choice.

Its kind of a cool looking package, so I thought I would share.

Over the years, this post has gotten a lot of feedback and people have asked me for more photos of the template as well as some of the other items that Fred gave me. I dug them out and snapped a few photos. You will see the template, a 1944 quarter, a cool lighter and a pocket knife. I think I still have a few other items, if I find them, I will photograph them as well and add them here.

As you can see, I used this thing for years and did a little drawing on the back. Makes me a little sad, but not too much.





















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