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for a site. South Bend was chosen because of the
<br /> Indiana Toll Road nearby and because of facilities at
<br /> Notre Dame for large banquets. µ
<br /> South Bend Chamber of Commerce people and the `y
<br /> convention headquarters hotel staff helped the plan-
<br /> ning committee schedule activities. Letters sent to
<br /> manufacturers, distributors and importers of limited
<br /> edition plates invited their participation in the pro-
<br /> gram. » .,
<br /> "In the beginning stages, we were worried that not
<br /> JI enough companies would participate," Witime says, `
<br /> It "but by the first of May we were getting calls from so
<br /> many that we became concerned about not having
<br /> enough space."
<br /> The convention's basic format has remained largely
<br /> unchanged. "We always have the beautiful exhibits of
<br /> the manufacturers, however, our principal emphasis is
<br /> .W on providing collectors with opportunities to acquire
<br /> information about limited editions from manufactur- A
<br /> ers, artists and other collectors," Winnie says.
<br /> p ' "We like to offer a mixed agenda to keep things
<br /> v interesting." Educational seminars are presented by
<br /> lit artists and plate manufacturers, many of whom come
<br /> fi
<br /> t from Europe. Each seminar is repeated two or three
<br /> times daily so everyone who wants to can take part.
<br /> g 4I
<br /> AS A HIGHLIGHT of the 1976 convention, plate
<br /> collectors watched sculptor Laszlo Ispanky create an
<br /> ' original piece, "God of Thunder," in the Notre Dame
<br /> ` f Athletic and Convocation Center.
<br /> • °
<br /> Last year Irene Spencer of California and Jahn
<br /> ` McClelland of Connecticut, using models from the -•''•
<br /> DR. JOHN EMRICH, right, and Andres Tzing Mendoza, his paramedic, inspect patients' x-rays at Dr. audience, painted portraits at the convention, and this Store in New Carlisle is headquarters for Watson's Collectors' Club.
<br /> Emrich's clinic in Santiago Atitlan, one of Guatemala's poorest villages. Emrich, from la Jolla, Calif., and year more than 40 artists will be on hand at the Membership totals more than 2,800.
<br /> two Guatemalan doctors are the only physicians for thousands of sick people in the area. Emrich's By Tad Bartimus convention in Century Center, several of whom will be
<br /> competition is ignorance and witch doctors, the odds against him overwhelming. He says he stays because painting and creating other works of art.
<br /> he feels he's needed, and because his efforts give him personal satisfaction. Also last year, the Bendix Theater was the site of a
<br /> special seminar, "The Legend and Treasures of Tu- - t
<br /> tankhamm" featuring a series of limited editions t
<br /> created for the Fgyptian government by the Edward b k 1 r Pix i
<br /> Yank cou le fights to save lives in Guatemala highlands , MarshaHB°ehrnG°.
<br /> p g Joyce Zielinski of Watson's Collectibles has been the t
<br /> convention chairman since 1976. "This year's program - r'
<br /> "
<br /> JOHN EMRICH never has to wonder Medical School. His patients seldom see Their lives changed direction just be- the lowest per capita income in the an exciting art form using poured pewter,
<br /> Lhe Unit-
<br /> what his 14-hour workday will bring. He him in anything but jeans, a work shirt fore Emrich's last year of medical ed States, it didn't take long for us to get she said. Artist Georges DeLodzia will demonstrate
<br /> knows it will be tuberculosis, hookworm, and boots. school. homesick new medium, uniting oil painting and pewter,homesick for Guatemala. We realized AI III '
<br /> measles, malnutrition, late-night knocks Ile has 3,000 families in his records that the need here is greater than any- which gives vibrance and reality to sculptured animal "
<br /> the some of the cards re resent 10 or 12 "I had a friend working on the Navajo where in America." figurines, she explained. "'This will be the first time
<br /> at his door. ,
<br /> P reservation in New Mexico and I went that the collectors will be seer a demonstration of
<br /> members o
<br /> seeing
<br /> r who be of one family. Although h:m- ;m i h have lived in 'Emrich is an American doctor out to help," recalled Emrich, his deeply Since 1975 the F r c s e this kind."
<br /> has rejected antiseptic citadels of mod- rich and two Guatemalan doctors are the tanned face intent in the candlelight of Santiago Atitlan, a town of 22,000 people li
<br /> ern miracles and Medicare fora rimi- Y P Y 'ciani for thousands of sick on the ed a of Guatemala's mile-hi h More than 90 exhibitors will participate in the con-
<br /> e
<br /> rn h si i
<br /> p his family's table. "I was really put on g g
<br /> live clinic in one of Guatemala's poorest people, he is philosophical about the bur- the spot, had to deliver babies by myself, Lake Atitlan and at the base of the vention, occupying 150 exhibit spaces. "In 1975 we had �y}
<br /> one 16 exhibitors, and this e p
<br /> mountain villages. An American doctor den and has come to terms with the local cope with emergencies, try to save peo- 10,264dool Volcano Toliman. Y year we have had to turn
<br /> attitude toward death. His corn- many away," according to the chairman.
<br /> who has traded $25 office calls and people'sple's lives with nobody to depend on but Its steep cobblestone streets are lit- I
<br /> Thursday afternoon golf for 70 patients Petition is ignorance and witch doctors. myself. I liked it." tered with garbage. Many Indians live in Convention entertainers sometimes get into the ar-
<br /> every day except Sunday who pay 25 thatched-roofed houses, cook with wood tistic act. In 1977, Red Skelton provided comedy as well
<br /> cents each— if they can afford it. "WE'RE NOT GOING to see the re- The Emrichs— including son James, tires, grind corn on shone mallets just his own line of limited edition plates.
<br /> Susan, a 31- ear-
<br /> Emrich and his wife Sus Y sults of our work in our lifetime," says now 13, and Amy, 9 — returned to the
<br /> Emrich, 35. "I treat the outside the front entrance. Even the
<br /> old biologist who has become a self- people for pass- reservation in 1971. He worked for the stone houses, laboriously built boulder by Last year Jonathan Winters entertained for conven- w� ,•
<br /> lies, TB, pneumonia, and do the best I Public Health Service, and she set up a tion delegates in the Notre Dame ACC. Scheduled for
<br /> taught nutritionist, say they came to the boulder, have earthen floors. Most of the
<br /> can. We're working re family planning, day-care center for the tribe. In 1973 they this year is the revue, "Here's Entertainment," star-
<br /> cool southern use with
<br /> to live in a two- and some people are receptive. But there planned an extended vacation in South village women are barefoot and dressed ring Rosemary Clooney, Rose Marie and Joanie Som-
<br /> room stone house with a hot plate be- in handwoven blouses and sarong skirts.
<br /> cause "we like it here. The people are are enough people who think it is a gringo America. They got as far as Guatemala, 'Their babies are tucked into shawl mers, backed by the Frankie Ortega orchestra. Bob
<br /> plot to wipe out the Indians to counteract where John decided to substitute for s on Crosby and the Bobcats will play for the Friday night
<br /> friendly, the need is great, nobody both- much of the good. Lentil we eliminate another American doctor who wanted to their backs. They wash their clothes, hair dance. '
<br /> ers us." and children in the lake, acatch-basin for
<br /> malnutrition — which means getting go home on leave. They fell in love with raw sewage. During the December-to- In 1973, Winnie Watson started a tradition by opening s
<br /> Almost none of their neighbors can more money to the Indians — we aren't the country but returned to the States in
<br /> read or write, and it is passively accept- going to have much of an impact." 1974 to work for a year to repay student May dry season, dust swirls rafter-high her home to visiting conventioneers, as a place where
<br /> ed that one baby in four will die before Emrich stays because he feels needed loans. through the streets and grit blankets they could meet and talk informally. Displayed t �I
<br /> his first birthday. — and because his efforts give him per- everything. throughout the house is her magnificent collection of TWO BLOCKS FROM
<br /> Dr. Juan, as the Indians know him, sonal satisfaction. "AFTER LIVING AMONG these poor But the vista is breathtaking. Ringed 400 limited edition plates. the store is Winnie
<br /> doesn't express himself easily, but he's Ile grew up in La Jolla, Calif., and got people, going back was really a head by mist-shrouded volcanos, the late after- Built in 1881, the house is perfectly situated in iJew Watson's home, built in
<br /> taught himself Spanish and enough of the his undergraduate degree at San Diego trip," recalled Susan, a dignified woman noon sun drenches the hills in a purple Carlisle's Victorian atmosphere. Just two blocks away 1 881, with a cupola
<br /> Tzutuhil dialect to find out where it hurts. State University in 191 the same year with long black hair which is beginning to light. 'The wind in distant pine trees is the store, its interior lined from baseboard to ceiling that gives a sweeping
<br /> hasn't worn starched whites since he and Susan wed after a chance meeting show streaks of gray. "Even though we touches off a gentle murmur which with limited edition collectors' plates, and inside an-
<br /> Ile
<br /> residency days in Honolulu in 1970, the on the beach. She had just moved from went to Rio Arriba County in northern echoes across the lake like a pagan sigh. tique sideboards are some of the most delicate and view of the surrounding . F
<br /> year after he was graduated from UCLA her hometown of Honolulu. New Mexico, at that time the place with A few tourists take the 11/2-hour scenic intricately designed figurines ever created. countryside.
<br /> TEN • The South Bend Tribune, Sunday, July 8, 1979 The South Bend Tribune, Sunday, July 8, 1979 FIFTEEN
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