Years passed as Russ and I corresponded about mundane issues and, again, from him a plethora of partially laid out commentary which often made little sense to me. Maybe in the end I'm just stupid?
As April of 1984 rolled by, Russ seemed thrilled, yet a little uncertain to relate how he was invited to be master of ceremonies at his 11th Airborne reunion, an affair which both he and Susan could attend and enjoy. The Bonnie Wheeler mentioned in his letter (see image) was head of the Cambridge UFO Research Group, and the group's newsletter seems to have included plenty of UFO-related cartoons in each printing.
If anything would extract Russ Reardon from months on end of disappointment and ventures unfulfilled, it was eventual publication for the second time of his article, "The Premise," this time in the journal, Pursuit in 1984. I was actually amazed because, as a regular writer/book reviewer for Pursuit myself, I knew that Russ had badgered director Robert Warth and other staff members for months on end to get his paper printed in the respectable pages of Pursuit, and his persistence was probably not like a ray of sunshine, particularly to Warth. (By the way, all editions of Pursuit printed by the now-defunct SITU are available in a special collections section for free online. The journal mentioned here is designated Vol. 17, No. 4, Whole Number 68, Fourth Quarter 1984.)
By 1985, maybe earlier, Russ had begun corresponding with the late and much maligned Paul Bennewitz (if you are familiar with the UFO "scene" look up references to Bennewitz and Richard Doty) about aliens and religion -- especially the latter. Written communication and at least two phone conversations between the two of them was not exactly cordial as time progressed, from what little I have seen, and most of the actual letters from Bennewitz apparently ended up in the hands of a person whose name I do not recognize. This person was supposed to return everything to Russ, but never did so.
As the mid-eighties rolled on and matured to the next inevitable decade, Russ and Susan began encountering several tragedies, all of which seemed to force upon Russ a profound impatience about taking a bold step while he still could. I don't know about Jesus manipulating time in a spaceship, but I did realize that time was indeed of the essence for Russ as he appeared caught up in curiosity.
