In Hemory of Karsten $olheim --by K. Louis Solkeim EDITOR~S NOTE: We received word recently that Karstcn Solheim, the founder of Karsten Manufacturing, maker of the world-renowned PING @golf dubs, had passed away. You can read about Kaxsten Solhedm's life, accomplishments and honors on the PING web site: "hup://www.pinggolf.com/ press20000216". He had a truly remarkablelife and career, with honors and accolades bestowed upon him not ordy by worldwide golf groups, but also by several U. S. Presidents, including receiving the President's "E" Award for Export Expansion by President Reagan, and more recently, an Oval Office meeting with President Clinton, including a Congressional reception on Capitol Hi]]. We have been in touch with the PING folks for many years through their very extensive use of APL for the reseaxch, design, manufacturing and even shipping of their PING golfdubs. PING introduced APL2 as its primary development language in 1989. For the December 1995 issue ofdPL Quote Quad (Vol. 26, No. 2), Ray Polivka interviewed Karsten Solheim's son K. I:ouis Solheim, andJames Heston. Louis Solheim is Vice President of Karsten Manufacturing. He has been an avid APL user since 196fi, and was at one time a member of the first APL development group at IBM. For the many Quote Quad readers who knew Karsten, we asked Louis to share some thoughts with us about his father. SEFrEMBEnt999 - - VOLUME.~O~NLFMBER1 words; he wasn't the most articulate person. "Watch and learn," was what I heard when, as a young boy, I would ask questions. I f he was working on his car, I would hear, ~'Watch and learn. And, oh, by the way, hand me that tool." So I learned the names of tools and how to fix almost anything. H e also taught me how to think b y pointing out the consequences to potential chess moves I was about to make. I find that I ' m still learning from him even after his passing on February 16, 2000. My father's accomplishments in his lifetime of 88 years have been reported in numerous magazine and newspaper articles and can be found on the P I N G web site at "www.pinggolf.com/ press20000216". Here you'll find stories of his early work as a cobbler, a traveling salesman and a mechanical engineer. W h a t you won't find is how his work on Bank of America's first banking computer system probably led to the simplified data flow he initiated when he started his new company, manufacturing P I N G golf clubs. H e later brought in a computer system, then added hard disk drives, and finally monitors with light pen entry. H o w ever, computers only fidfined part of his original system until in 1990 when the whole system was put in place with an APL2 online implementation. T h e P I N G staffhas continued to improve the system and today it uses APL2 packages extensively, supports over 350 users including W A N connections to operations in Canada and Mexico and handles Product Configuration, Order Entry, Credit, Production Scheduling, Customer Maintenance, W o r k O r d e r Processing, Shipping and Accounts receivable. My father wasn't a man to brag about his accomplishments, but when he believed in M Y FATHER, KARSTEN SOLHEIM, w a s n o t o n e o f m a n y something he would work hard to sell the idea. H e was also thankful before G o d for things he accomKarsten Solheim in 1968 plished. In his last years, Parkinsons-like symptoms took a lot out of hixn. It was hard for him to walk and talk, hard to control his motions, especially his legs and his lips. But he still tried to do the same things he always did. One thing we always did was say grace before a meal. In his final months with us when he had an opportunity to pray, it was just mumbles. Every once in awhile, you might pick out a word and figure out what he was saying. A friend was in one day, and after hearing his prayer, said, "I think I know what he was saying. H e was asking G o d to help him be understood." My mother asked him, :'Is that what you were saying, Karsten?" H e said, "Yes."

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