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24
SPRING
2013
Letters to the editor
Dear editor,
I had started collecting stamps when I was still in grade school but
I had no experience with what were good philatelic practices or
how to really arrange my stamps in the most appropriate manner.
My joining the Stamp Club at Prep came about mainly at the
urging and encouragement of our adviser, Mr. Conde. He was
instrumental in teaching us the basics of philately and how to
make the most of this very interesting and widespread hobby. Mr.
Conde’s stories about how he developed his own collection kept
us all enthralled and eager to learn more about how to improve
our own collections.
The story I remember most vividly is the one where Mr. Conde
was with the US Forces in the Pacific Theatre during the Second
World War. He recounted how Conde, every time the US Forces
(I’m not sure but I think he was with the Marines) landed in a
new town during their fight with the Japanese, would go straight
to the local Post Office and pick up as much of their stock of
stamps as he could handle, and that while all his colleagues ran
off to chase women and go to the bars!!!! It seems he eventually
got himself an exceptional collection of Japanese and other Asian
stamps. Occasionally, he would share with us some of his spares
and I still have a number of stamps in my collection that were
given to me by Mr. Conde.
Over the years, I continued to add to my collection. Working
with UNICEF in many countries around the world allowed me to
considerably expand my collection, even though I had practically
no time to work on my stamps. The most important novelty in
my stamp collecting career was my specializing in stamps and
covers of Indochina and the three countries that became indepen-
dent when the French colonial period ended: Vietnam, Cambo-
dia, and Laos. This came about when in 1980 I was appointed the
UNICEF Representative in Hanoi and I discovered the interest-
ing and beautiful stamps of that area.
I have continued to collect stamps and since my retirement in
1995 I have devoted a lot more time to expanding and organizing
my collection, especially those from the Indochinese countries.
I belong to stamp associations (American Philatelic Society and
the Society of Indochina Philatelists) and to a local grouping, the
Lakeshore Stamp Club in Montreal, where I now live.
It is very often, while I am working on my Asian and Indochi-
nese stamps, that I remember Mr. Conde and how his tutoring
had fanned my interest in philately, an activity that I continue
and enjoy a great deal until today. Interestingly, my own special-
ization in Indochinese countries seems to have brought me full
circle back to my learning from Mr.Conde...
Fouad M. Kronfol ‘52
PS. Some of the other members of the Prep Stamp Club whom I
remember include the following: Raja As’ad, Ismat Asha, Munir
Katul, Eddy Khairallah, William Ogden-Smith and Elftherios
Athanasiade. I would be interested to know their whereabouts
and if they are still involved with stamp collecting...
Dear editor,
There is something magic at IC that keeps it in our minds ev-
erywhere we go. IC is one of those things that doesn’t leave my
mind and I like it. I spent all my school years at IC, 1964 in KG1
- 1979 Bacc II - Math. After IC, I moved to AUB and gradu-
ated in 1983 with a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Electrical
Engineering to be more precise. Fifteen years is a long time to be
going somewhere everyday but it was the greatest experience of
my life and I still love it. After graduating from AUB, I worked
for three years in Beirut before moving to Abu Dhabi in 1987.
Abu Dhabi has become my second home since then. Currently,
I am with Oracle (Computer Industry, Software, and Hard-
ware) working as a sales director for the Banking and Financial
Industry. I am married with two boys. Rafik, 20, is currently in
his junior year, studying Business Administration at the Lebanese
American University. Karim is in Grade 11 and will be moving
to Lebanon in a year to start his university studies.
My memories and the enjoyable times I had at IC are endless.
Beginning at the Elementary school, moving to Middle, and then
to Secondary school, each period had its nice moments. Our
one year at Mechref campus was the best. Studying there - the
classes, the campus, and the environment - took me to another
dimension in education. Afterwards, I was back to the Ras Beirut
campus from 1976-1979. One should remember the students vs.
teachers football game and the English vs French section water
balloon fighting, which involved some eggs...
I am attaching a photo of my class taken in 1970 during one of
the trips that IC used to coordinate. It was a trip to the airport to
visit TMA (Trans Mediterranean Airways). At the