The German experience, as you can see, did move me very much. Seeing that terrible destruction and seeing the miserable state of the people, how they had been beaten down by the war through no fault of their own probably.

Laughlin's outdoor activities helped other literary friendships though; for many years he and Kenneth Rexroth took an annual camping trip together in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California. At times Laughlin's skiing got in the way of his business. Biography
He was born in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania the son of Henry Hughart and Marjory Rea Laughlin.