The Atomic City (Short Story) - 6/21/2014 7:57:02 AM
Thanks for the great little piece of history. Back in the 1960s, I'd stop in Vegas whenever I could for the cheap breakfasts. Unfortunately, one morning I lingered too long over my steak and eggs, and when I came out, a cowgirl gave me a friendly parking ticket.
The summer after my first year as an instructor, I joined a group of retreads, supposedly learning how to teach after industry. Our oldest student, Dr. JR Calloway Brown, was retired from Westinghouse and a chemist. By the end of the summer, he was hired to teach chemistry. I was renting a house and he decided to rent a room from me. JR got his doctorate from the University of Virginia in chemistry in 1928. He told me he had worked on the Manhattan Project. After a rough first semester teaching, JR was having some problems with his health and other issues. He disappeared in January. Finally he called me to have me bring him his shaving kit at the Mayo Clinic where he had checked into the psychiatric ward. He returned, finished out the spring semester, and left without leaving a forwarding address. Often wonder if his work on the atomic bomb had affected his life after.
Ron
