LAS VEGAS -- This year's ASTA delegate registry carries its de
rigueur list of past presidents and indiciates with an asterisk who
among them is now deceased.
When advised he had earned an asterisk this year, Tom Keesling,
who was president in 1971-72, had a thing or two to say about
it.
Still very much a man on the go, the past president listed his
obligations for the next 30 days, and it is enough to make a lesser
(and living) person very tired.
He will be traveling to Florida; then to Los Angeles for a
speaking engagement; to London as a judge for the British Airways
Tourism for Tomorrow Awards; to Singapore for discussions with the
Raffles International Hotel group, and to Uganda and Rwanda for an
international convention on the preservation of the Mountain
Gorilla and the role of tourism in that endeavor.
"Not bad for an ASTA past president now officially listed as
deceased in a convention publication," Keesling said.
Keesling nevertheless wished ASTA delegates a successful
meeting, and then -- amusing himself one more time -- he added, "I
shall be looking down on all of you."