The couple Joseph Mayer, a chemist, and (later nobel prize-winner) Elizabeth Mayer’s wrote in 1940 the book, Statistical Mechanics, popularizing entropy.
THE HOLLISTERS from Peter C Mayer’s book, „Son Of (Entropy)2—Personal Memories of a Son of a Chemist, Joseph E. Mayer, and a Nobel Prize Winning Physicist, Maria Goeppert Mayer.“
My father, while dining in the Gottingen Ratskeller… Oh! For those who are unfamiliar with German towns, the translation of Rathaus is city hall, but various characteristics give the Rathaus a different meaning. As an example, the Rathaus is usually a agrand old building, often only second in greanderu to the cathedral. Usually, the Rathaus cellar contains the Ratskeller, a quality restaurant, often the best in town. Joe spent enough time in the Ratskeller to acquire a favorite waiter. As late as 1950, Joe had this waiter serve us. While dining in the Gottingen Ratskeller, my father noticed an American couple enjoying themselves and speaking German. (My mother would correct the story with, „you said ‘a California couple.’“ ) Dad tended to avoid Americans; they interfered with his goal of learning German, and he didn’t like chronic complainers. He approached the couple and was given ice cold shoulders. His thoughts: „What a nice looking couple, but they are most unpleasant,“ or something less kind. Later, the couple, Joe and Kay Hollister, approached my father and asked him to join them. They, too, did not like chronic complainers. Kay would party with her husband and Joe in bars where no respectable german lady would go. My mother said she would never have gone to these bars. Kay would walk home, sometimes singing and at times with a Joe on each arm.
Later, while my father was introducing my mother to the American West, they wrote every Hollister in the Santa Barbara phone book. Each put a letter in Joe Hollister’s box at the Hollister Estate Company—a pretentious name for the Hollister ranch—office. My parents received a letter from Kay that included the instruction to stop at the Gaviota Store for directions on how to get to the ranch house. At the Gaviota Store, the response to the request for instructions to the Hollister ranch was, „You came from the North? You have been on the ranch for the last one hundred miles.“
There were several exchanges similar to, „We would like to have instructions to go to ranch house.“ „Why do you want to go to the ranch house?“ It is on a long, narrow, difficult dirt road. Besides, the road is private.“ In exasperation, my father said, „We were told by Joe and Kay Hollister to ask you for instructions.“ „Oh yes, the store owner said, taking a deep breath, „Mrs Kay told me about you.“
Later, when showing their children the American West, my parents often stopped to see the Hollisters. As children, both my sister and I liked the couple, and as an adult I would often visit the widow, Kay. While in high school, I worked one summer for Joe Hollister’s brother on the ranch and two years, while in college, I spent Thanksgiving with his brother. A tale about the lad, Joe Hollister, was the major component of a Joe Mayer this-is-the-way-to behave lecture. „When Joe Hollister was about your age, he walked through an open gate that was usually kept closed. He decided to close the gate. Later, his father and other cowboys tried to drive a herd of cattle through the closed gate.“ As a lad, I required that the instructional point be explained, „leave things in particular doors and gates, the way you found them.“
Drake Station 