Westward. Encounters with Swiss American Women

In 1924, after 20 years of diligent service as assistant to several of America’s outstanding bridge engineers, he was appointed Engineer of Bridges for the Port Authority of New York, in charge of the construction of his own proposed bridge over the Hudson River in New York. The building of this bridge, today known as the George Washington Bridge, brought him professional recognition and the start of a long career as specialist in long span bridges. Margot remembers walking with him on Sunday mornings to a high point near their home in Boonton, New Jersey, from where he could observe through binoculars the progress of the construction of the New Jersey tower of the bridge. She also vividly recalls him coming home from the office in the evening, going first into the garden and walking around a bit, still wearing his hat and business clothes and street shoes, pulling a few weeds or pruning a few straggly branches from a pine tree. This was how he shed the pressures of the office.

“We like our little sister. She smiles at us in the morning.”