John Lawrence Paynter, 1941-1995

John Lawrence Paynter, 1941-1995

The following was prepared for the Memorial Service held for John Paynter at the Asia Centre (University of British Columbia) in November 1995.

The Great Totem Pole Caper

The Great Totem Pole Caper

Was it Murphy who said that anything that can go wrong will go wrong? If so, when he formulated his law, he must have had in mind what I will call the great “totem pole caper.” We, in the foreign service, are…