My Early Life

This is a little bit about me. I was born in Seattle, Washington on July 1, 1941. The summer weather was hot. It was before air conditioning was invented, so in order to keep cool we had to take cool baths and sleep in damp sheets with the windows open at night. My father was a landscape architect. Since this was before World War II started, he had an office on East Pike Street in Midtown Seattle. After World War II erupted, he was assigned to work at Boeing Field. He helped the company camouflage the plant from the enemy. He helped to make the plant look like a city block from the air, complete with cars, streets and houses.

After the War, he resumed his landscape architecture business. When I was about seven years old, he and my Mother decided to move out of the city. We moved to Coquille, Oregon in 1949. My dad and his mother opened a stationery store in downtown Coquille. The store sold books, stationery, pens, typewriters, and business forms. The family bought a house that was located at the end of First Street. The house was located at the edge of a forest. My back yard was in the woods. While I was growing up, my two brothers and I enjoyed the roaming in the woods and building huts, and fishing. We used to camp out in the woods with our friends in the summertime.

I attended school at Washington Elementary School, Coquille Middle School, and Coquille High School. I used to receive better than average grades in school. In high school, I was nominated for membership in the National Honor Society. I was in band for all four years, and I managed the football team for three years. I remember that I enjoyed writing stories. I wrote a story about the Lone Ranger one time, and turned it in to my English Class in grade school.

When I was in my senior year of high school, I remember that I became intrigued with the idea of becoming an attorney. I don't remember why I became interested in this, but I decided that I would go into law school early in the 12th grade. When I entered my freshman year at the University of Oregon, I decided to register in pre-law. Later on, I changed my major to Political Science. When I was in my senior year at the University of Oregon, I completely changed my interests again. I decided to become a librarian.

I graduated from the University of Oregon in 1963 and was accepted to the Graduate School of Library Science at Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York. I completed my Library Science degree in 1966. From New York, I moved to Southern California. I worked in the Acquisitions Department at the Doheny Library at the University of Southern California. In my first job, I purchased new periodical subscriptions, and replacement copies of magazines and journals.