BERNIE    JEAN NIDETCH    GREATMARTIN

I
arrived in Memphis, Tennessee, from New York City, o 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 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 caretaking 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)