Look and Listen

Biography

I was born in the spring of 1924 on Decatur Island in the San Juan Archipelago of Puget Sound. The islands of this archipelago are the north-western most county in the continental United States. The San Juan Archipelago reminds me very much of the Greek Aegean, certainly both are incomparably serene. Though the Aegean has a far richer history, the San Juan’s have a far richer marine resource (and too, a better climate). I left this islanded Eden, under a cloud, at the mature age of fifteen to sail as a ‘ship’s boy’ on the five masted schooner Vigilant engaged in timber trade with the Orient. The Vigilant and her sister ship, the Commodore, were the very last of the great commercial sailing ships in the North Pacific, or for that matter in any ocean. My experience in the Orient while not academic, however narrow its focus, was certainly educational. My China experience occurred while the Japanese incursion into the Chinese mainland was on-going. This was during the Kumintang era of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek’s regime. However, I was not much concerned with these broader issues of politics; my experience was pretty much confined to just the waterfront of Canton. Although I didn’t learn much about Chinese history, politics, or its socio-economic structure, I did learn a little of its language, I learned something of its opium culture, and I learned rather a lot more than I needed to know of the culture of some of the very best Cantonese “houses of ill-repute.” And here again, I’m unsure about the academic accreditation of these particular learning experiences. In 1942 I was drafted into the army. I was sent to Europe as a member of the 515th Airborne where I was a participant in bitterest fighting in both Belgium and Germany. I returned to home (while still alive) early in 1946. In 1947 I went to Alaska determined to reverse my sad academic status by taking a Bachelor’s degree in mining from the University of Alaska. However, I have subsequently never done any mining in Alaska or elsewhere (none whatsoever). I spent the next 25 years of my life in Alaska as a commercial fisherman, an oil dock manager, working in salmon canneries, involved myself in local politics. I was elected to six terms as School Board President followed by six terms as mayor of an Indian Village. In 1976 my wife and I moved to San Francisco. My first employment in the Bay Area was as manager of Ram-Rod Polytran, a chemical company manufacturing cleaning products. After a short tenure in that capacity I had the opportunity to accept a position as Captain of a Greek yacht and for a time I basked in warmer latitudes. Tiring of tropical climes I returned to San Francisco to work as a property manager for the County of San Mateo Superior Court. And I also did a little feature writing for the San Mateo Times newspaper. I am now retired and living in Pacifica, California.

Inspiration

In process . . .