A Farewell

In a few months I will be 65 years old, a customary time to retire in this country. I will try to spend the rest of my days in various activities including tending to my family and personal business interests, but I will no longer be engaged in active leprosy work and will no longer have the privilege of serving as your editor.

Having had the opportunity to work in the leprosy field for almost 40 years has been a privilege, a privilege all of us in this field share. In addition to the usual perks of a career that is interesting, challenging, and with sufficient financial reimbursement to support our families, we are privileged to have come to know each other. I have come to know a large number of very dedicated and very intelligent individuals, and, perhaps most importantly I have come to count them as friends from all over the world bound together by the common bond of leprosy work.

Many of my friends will be continuing to work in the field of leprosy. To you I wish every success in making further contributions to some of God's most needy people, leprosy patients.

Many of my friends have left the leprosy field to pursue other work in science and medicine. To you I wish every success in making contributions to your new fields of interest.

Many of my friends have left the leprosy field and are now retired, as I am about to be. To you I wish a long and peaceful retirement surrounded by loving family and friends. Thank you for your many years of dedicated service.

Lastly, I am of an age that many of my old friends in leprosy work are now deceased. To you I am grateful that I had the opportunity to know you in this life, and, with God's Grace, I hope that we can again see each others' faces in another life yet to come.

After 24 years as editor, I will naturally miss the activities you have allowed me to carry out all these years. I will miss the contacts, directly with my colleagues in the laboratory, and indirectly with the many contributors, referees, and fellow officers and members of our association. On the other hand, I am satisfied that the journal will be in good hands with our new editor. He is eminently qualified to carry out these responsibilities. He is also the son-in-law of my predecessor as editor and my teacher, Olaf Skinsnes.

To all, may I end with a favorite saying of another teacher of mine.

GO GET 'EM TIGERS

—RCH