International House Berkeley

33 could sit around a pool at parties. There was Rafael Rodriguez. He was from Costa Rica; he was a botanist, and his specialty was orchids, which was the national flower of Costa Rica. He won all sorts of awards; he was internationally known for his orchids, and he assembled a beautiful atlas of orchids, which you have probably seen. After graduate school here, he went back and taught at the National University of Costa Rica; their science building is named for him. He became a sort of national hero. Among other achievements, he founded the Boy Scouts in Costa Rica. He did a lot of special things. He was a very accomplished artist, and he put himself through school doing scientific illustration. He wrote wonderful letters; they were like little illuminated manuscripts, a pure delight! And he designed the cat cards [for sale at I-House]. Rafael also wrote songs — he did not write the music, but he put I-House words to some well-known tunes. He was very funny! One song was The Chinese Laundry Procession. People were divided into groups — one group was supposed to go, "Kumba, kumba, kumba, kumba," and another group was supposed to do, "Kumillaha, kumillaha, kumillaha." And I forget what the third was supposed to do. But he orchestrated it as a round, a procession; he was the high voice at the end, doing something funny to catch up with the parade. Also he designed coats of arms for people: things he thought were quite funny, and things he thought were characteristic of them. I am sure Peggy Grunland has one of these; Nanny Brewer has one; Barbara Knox has one. Her husband, Bill Knox, was a physicist. I remember him going up and down the front steps of the I-House on a pogo stick and wearing a cap with a propeller on the top. People weren't always serious those days. The place was fun, it really was. Staying in touch with others? Oh, well, I still do. There are some of us who have been getting together for fifty years, weekly, on Wednesday nights. It started when Galen and I lived just a block off campus, and people would come over. Sadly, we've lost some of our group, but we've added others, and "Wednesdays" still go on — a very vital and supportive part of our lives. Maideh Mazda? Maideh was Persian. She was from Iran, but she grew up in Baku (then Russia, now Azerbaijan). She was beautiful and very exotic, and she was a very good dancer. After I-House, she taught at the Monterey Language School, where she met her future husband, Charles Magee. He was later in the Foreign Service, and I think he was an ambassador in Riga for a while. Then they lived in Washington for many years. I have a cookbook of hers that she wrote, In a Persian Kitchen. Nancy Schettler and Bob Gordon also lived in I-House. For years, he was the Consul General in Florence, Italy. He died several years ago, but Nancy is still back in the Washington area. This was another I-House marriage. Other people who majored in

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