International House Berkeley

83 What else about romance? Victor Shick was a Russian, and Peter Komor. They were a pair! I'm not sure what their background was, but I think they were White Russians who had gone to Shanghai during the Revolution, and emigrated and came to Berkeley together after the war. They were two fellows who were very close because they shared a similar background. Here's a story: when we moved to Rossmoor, we noticed that down at the shopping center at Rossmoor, there was a sign for a dentist named Peter Komor. Now that's kind of an unusual name. We needed a dentist, so we went to him. And I said, "I knew a Peter Komor at International House." And he said, "That was my uncle." He had been named after his uncle, apparently. Kind of a far-fetched connection. Peter married a girl from I-House, and the marriage lasted. They're both dead. And I think Vic Shick is also gone. Vic was quite a lady's man at International House. He was tall and a good dancer, so he had no trouble getting dates to dances.... In terms of political discussions, everyone was very internationally-minded at that time. It was very liberal. You wouldn't have been at International House if you weren't liberal. It must have been 95% Democrat. Of course, that's part of the Berkeley scene, not just I-House. Yes, I had heard that there was concern in Berkeley about having a pile of foreign students close to campus, but I wasn't aware that we had a political role to play in integrating Berkeley. I think at that time – you know, that was the time of Harry Truman; he was president during those years just after FDR – I felt that we were part of the majority, that everybody kind of felt as I did – that it was a very liberal time. I did know Bob Schutz, and Marie Schutz, his wife. They were good friends of the Jacksons. No, I didn't really talk politics with them, although I knew that Bob Schutz was very much into politics. Bob Schutz was active in the political life at that time, was very liberal, and worked for KPFA at one time, didn't he? What did I study while I was at Berkeley? I studied public administration primarily – I had a second concentration in foreign trade. After I graduated, I had a split career between Federal service and state of California service. But it was very satisfying, as far as I was concerned – it even took me to Bangkok for two years. Our oldest son actually graduated from the International School in Bangkok. And of our three younger children, two of them were in high school, and one of them was in junior high while we were in Thailand. How did my time at I-House affect my life? I think totally. As far as I'm concerned, a highlight of my life was the experience at International House. This was partly because I met my wife there, partly because probably 60% of our good friends are from those days, and partly because that was a great and optimistic time in my life: everything was positive, everything was looking up. Next year was going to be better than last year – always. It was just a good time, a great time. It was partly

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