Autobiography - The Galindo Group

Ram Galindo THE MAKING OF AN AMERICAN Page 176
six workouts a week, which I still maintain today and which has rubbed off on my oldest
and youngest kids.
Shortly after we moved to Bolivia, my father-in-law, Axel Madsen, began realizing, not to
his liking, that both Kirsten and I were serious about making a family together and that
she had decided not to return to Denmark. He probably was saddened by this
realization, but nevertheless began reconsidering his initial policy of rejection. I began to
be invited to his home, thus starting my twenty-year relationship with Denmark. Initially
he not only paid my family’s travel expenses but for mine too, a fact that I appreciated
very much. Perhaps moved by his curiosity and because he was able to do it, he and
his wife came to see us in Cochabamba, once in 1967 and again in 1970. My own
parents celebrated Christmas of 1968 at their home in Copenhagen while on a trip
through Europe, and, surprise, he was a charming host! Toward the end of the 1960s,
he even began to take us on vacation trips in various exotic parts of the world. Kirsten’s
brother, Troels Madsen and his wife Emmy, were always very nice to me.
As I mentioned before, I had business and family reasons to travel to the U.S. and
Europe fairly frequently and most often Kirsten and Cid would go with me. The Potters
in Houston allowed us to use their home as a home away from home. My brother Chris
had recently married and worked in New Orleans and so we went to see him there in
September 1964. In June of the following year, in preparation of the next big event in
our family, the birth of our second child, Kirsten flew to Houston to spend some time
with the Potters and to avail ourselves of the best medical care we could. I also wanted
to make sure that all my children would be born in the U.S.A.
Nine months after our New Orleans visit, on July 5, 1965, the day following my father’s
birthday, I received a telegram from Scott Potter announcing that a precious baby girl
had been born. I wound up some critical work I was in the middle of doing and flew to
Houston as soon as possible. We named my little doll Kim Blanca, the middle name in
honor of my mother whose first name was Blanca, and the first because it had only
three letters and the middle one was “i”. We had previously decided that we wanted to
give our children three letter names that were easy to pronounce in any language. The
middle letter “i” made a good common factor.
By September 1968 I already owned a small cabin in the beautiful Hill Country of Texas,
on the banks of the Guadalupe River at Ingram, near Kerrville. We went there to spend
a vacation and receive our latest and last little addition to our family. Lis Else Galindo
was born on September 5, 1968, and completed my joy as a father. Although very
small, she was perfect and needed no special services. Her middle name, Else, was
Kirsten’s mother’s name. I had delayed my return to Bolivia to the last possible moment
because I didn’t want to be absent for my new child’s birthday, as I had been for Kim’s.
We were alone in the remote cabin on the Guadalupe about a two-hour drive from the
San Antonio airport. Two days after the birth, in an act of total irresponsibility, I allowed
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