The very next day, Dr. Stephan Pearson sent two letters. The first was to Christiania College, informing them that he was available for appointment to a position on its staff in any of the Departments of Physics, Mathematics, or Chemistry and briefly outlining his activities since graduating from that institution. The second was to the institute in Pittsburg, resigning his position there and requesting that they make all the security arrangements necessary for his departure. Then in the afternoon he put on his best clothes, drove down to pick up Miss Katherine Kunstler after school, and with her paid a visit to the county clerk to buy a marriage license and then went on to Kay’s minister to make arrangements for a simple wedding the day after school was out.
Christiania College had, of course, followed Dr. Pearson’s career with some interest. Upon receiving his letter, the administration was so elated that it found it hard to sound professional in the return letter. It offered him the professorship of physics that had for two years been in the hands of an acting chairman. This would involve not only the duties of the chairman of the Department of Physics but also the responsibility of serving as head of the entire faculty of science and mathematics. When Steve showed the letter to Kay, he beamed and said, “Who would ever have thought I would become another Brockhaus?” Then he entertained her with some tales about his old teachers at Christiania.
And so in the fall of 1947, Dr. and Mrs. Stephan Pearson gratefully and joyfully took up residence in the little town of St. Mark, Minnesota. For nearly a decade, the black storm clouds in Dr. Pearson’s soul receded to the distant horizon, all but obliterated by the brilliant sunlight shining directly overhead.
THE END OF BOOK TWO