Surviving Serendipity

 Author's Summary

Lawrence J. Enders, a cadet at Cretin High School, St. Paul, Minnesota and Dr. Enders today. 

MWSA Review

Winter 2011 Reading List

Lawrence J. Enders had done a wonderful job of writing his story inSurviving Serendipity.  His goal in life was to be a stable, hometown physician.  He ended up being drafted and serving in the U.S. Air Force as a flight surgeon for twenty-three years.  He retired as a colonel and accomplished being a doctor, pilot, medical administrator, and military officer. He shares many “serendipitous” events, which lead to interactions with astronauts, Russian spies, Hollywood stars, an acquitted multiple murderer, the John F. Kennedy family, a Nazi war-crimes scientist, etc. Dr. Enders served in seventy-five missions in Southeast Asia. He has lived quite the life!

 Many of Dr. Ender’s experiences do seem unreal, and family members and friends encouraged him to write his book, for that very reason.  In one year, Enders was selected by NASA on loan from the Air Force, was involved with a daring sea rescue, and helped with the delivery of Jacqueline Kennedy’s baby. And that was just one year of his life. More than once he heard the words, “Have I got a deal for you!” 

 I would like to share a quote from Lawrence Enders from the end of his book: “We may not be able to choose the parents to whom we are born, or indeed, where we are born. We may not be able to choose how or when we will die. But we can all choose how we live!” Webster’s defines “serendipity” as “an apparent aptitude for making fortunate discoveries accidentally.”  Read about many serendipitous happenings in the life of Lawrence Enders in Surviving Serendipity.

Reviewed by: Joyce Gilmour (October 2011)