Issue link: http://ihouse.uberflip.com/i/703833
82 a car, which was a big plus. One summer, he and I decided that we would get a job in Santa Barbara for the summer. So we went to Santa Barbara, and we found two jobs – one was as a bus boy in a very nice restaurant, and one was as a bell hop in a hotel. And we flipped a coin to see who would get which job, and I won, so I became the bell hop – that was the better job by far, the more lucrative job. You got tips as a bell hop and not many tips as a bus boy. So that was a good summer. We remained very close friends. In fact, we saw him and his wife less than a year ago, and then both he and his wife passed away within the last six months or so. They lived in Moraga, which is not far from us in Rossmoor. We used to see them frequently. Warren Engstrom is another good friend. He was also a good friend of George Reel. In terms of foreign students, Ingrid Bergstrom [Borland] was a good friend, and Alex Romanos – although I have lost track of him. Maideh Mazda was a very good friend: when Joan and I were married, Maideh was the maid of honor, and Jane Toy, who was a Chinese-American girl from Bakersfield, was a maid of honor. My best man was Irving Tragen, whom we saw just recently, a Jewish fellow from San Francisco, now lives in San Diego. He spent most of his life in South America, working mostly in OAS, Organization of American States. Pierre Carlo was a good friend; he was French, wound up in Paris... There were a lot of marriages that happened at I-House. What did they tell you about romance at the I-House? That marriages lasted? That's true. You know my best man, Irving Tragen, married his wife – Ellie Dodson was her name – and they were together for some fifty-five years. Maideh Mazda – her husband was not from I-House, but it lasted. They are still married, and they are still around. So these people who are still around are all in their late 80s or early 90s, and they're still married. Very few divorces, despite the fact that the marriages were often between people from different cultures. Maideh Mazda married an American, Charlie Magee. He was in the Navy and was later in the diplomatic corps, and later, he was the American Consul in Leningrad for many, many years. He was also in Paris at one time, as the Assistant Consul or something of the sort. Why did the marriages last? I think the marriages lasted because you got to know each other well before you got married, and you knew what you were getting. I suspect that in the more current era, people get married without knowing each other as well. Living at I-House, you live in the same building, you eat breakfast, lunch and dinner with the same person; you get to know them pretty well. One person who married internationally whom we see still is Esin Sunel – she's Turkish, and she married a Norwegian, Paul Olson, a roommate of Bob Brewer's at one time. The marriage lasted. He died. But, in terms of divorce, I would have a hard time coming up with any divorces. I can think of a dozen, two dozen marriages, but I can't think of a single divorce. Interesting....