The Natalee Holloway Case
Born to immigrant Chinese and East Indian parents in British Guiana (now Guyana), under impoverished conditions, Isaac Joseph Chin, by dint of determination, sacrifice; honest, hard work, and a fair amount of luck, passed through a kaleidoscope of careers, adventure and undertakings, never shirking an obligation or a reasonable challenge.  Now, at age 87, fully retired from wage-earning activities, he is fully occupied--when daylight permits--sweating in his fruit orchard, in his workshop, even on the roofs of his several houses on his country estate on Aruba, the sunny, little island in.the Caribbean. When daylight deserts him he is at his astronomical telescope looking at terrestrial bodies, or for the man in the moon. Or, lying in bed rummaging through his past for things that he thinks might make interesting reading. He no longer travels--literally, because, he says, he has seen them all, and because places and people no longer have appeal to a country boy as he still is.  Starting at the age of 14 as a student primary school teacher in Trinidad, at a starting monthly salary of $4 (then about U.S.$11), he worked his way through teachers' college and technical college in the U.S.; sandwiching between: newspaper reporting, architectural drafting, building construction, feature-writing, community activities, globe-trotting, and friendly companionship; never resisting to flavor them all with his penchant for humor and mischief. He retired at the age of 60 as a senior engineer at the Lago Oil & Transport Company on Aruba, an Exxon affiliate.  Because he was financially strapped, to earn his bachelor's degree from Indiana Institute of Technology in Fort Wayne, he had to hitch-hike from Trinidad to the U.S. by small boats, with the sympathetic assistance of persons he met on his journey. And worked, sometimes full-time, while carrying a full load at college.  His closest companions, now, are his daughter and his ex-wife; his closest and best friend, a four-legged "shadow" he calls Patch. They eat the same dishes, off the same dishes, share the same rooms; take to, or not take to, the same intruders; occasionally angrily disagree, as all true friends do.  He says he is now spending some time trying to score points for entry to heaven, and good attendance at his send-off at grave side.