I WANT
TO WISH CHUCK A HAPPY BIRTHDAY--WE MET IN MEMPHIS IN THE 1970S AND HAVE
BEEN FRIENDS EVER SINCE--HE WAS THEN AND WILL ALWAYS BE 27 TO ME! HAPPY
BIRTHDAY CHUCK!

BERNIE    JEAN NIDETCH    GREATMARTIN

I
arrived in Memphis, Tennessee, from New York City, on Sunday, October
12, 1969 and the following week I did 11 classes and that would be one
of the easier weeks for the next year. Bernie's ex-wife and his 2
daughters moved down as a 'front' for him but that's another whole blog.

I
have a closet filled with diaries that I started to keep at the age of
10 and still keep to this day, though now they are mainly in the form of
a blog. I don't know how it happened but I am missing the years
1971-1975.  I do know they were each a separate year book which included
my daily, weekly and monthly scheduled appointments, locations I
opened, including classes I started and taught , trips I made, people I
met, employees I trained and everything I did and every place I went for
those 5 years. Did I lose them? were they taken? I don't know so I have
to rely on my memory and incidents.

Bernie
and I went to Little Rock to help Myrna get her franchise started and
we went back when Jean Nidetch, the founder and public face  of Weight
Watchers came to visit just as she was to come to Memphis to help us
celebrate our 1st anniversary. A lot happened during the 'missing'
years: Bernie's ex and kids moved back to NYC, I went through TA
therapy, traveled to Australia, South America, Hawaii, Papeete, New
Zealand, all over the United States, separated from Bernie, met Johnny,
walked away from WW and, literally millions of dollars which I will
write about some day, went to court sued by Bernie and suing him,
basically getting a 'divorce', starting a new business and for close to 9
years traveling to Chattanooga every week for a night or two, meeting
and making friends, giving and holding staff meetings and dinners, not
to forget a social life away from Weight Watchers and Our Weigh and
starting to drink too much.

I
met many interesting, fascinating and exceptional human beings during
the decade I lived in Memphis and one of the first was Ginny Pozos, a
funny, warm, obstinate Irish woman from Minnesota. She joined my first
class in Whitehaven--yes, that Whitehaven--where Elvis lived--that's
another blog--lost her weight and came to work for us on a part time
basis as there were only 24 hours in a day. She was married to a well
known research Spanish doctor, Bob, with whom she had three children
and, in her spare time was a registered nurse specializing in care
taking and wrote two books about being a caretaker that are used as
references today.

In
spite of Ginny's last years, which weren't good at all, she never lost
her wonderful sense of humor or strong sense of being. She and Bob
divorced, he married a much younger woman, she developed cancer and was
taken away from her children, and friends, way too early. I miss that
smile, and the woman it belonged to, every day!

If
I remember Memphis for nothing else I will always remember it for the
fact that I met the most unforgettable character I would ever meet in my
life--Dr. Robert Kingsbery. I will write about him, Overton Park and
Square, Cotton Carnival, Mid-South Fair, Gig Young, the Pink Palace,
Carbondale and the Southern University of Chicago, Jonesboro,
Chattanooga and, yes, I haven't forgotten, SEX IN MEMPHIS!   :O)