Return to Thoughts

Richard Walker: I actually had to be convinced to go to Nashville at the urging of my wife, Sheila and, strangely enough, my good friend, Diane from the Hague (where I graduated), who had coordinated our big American School in the Hague reunion in May of 2003, which was just as rewarding for everybody at that school. Since I graduated from ASH, I wasn't quite sure anybody at ASIJ would remember me if I attended a reunion, since I didn't graduate with everybody. During all the hoopla around my reunion in the Hague, I decided to check out ASIJ's website, too, to see the notes in Mirja's collection about all of my old friends from back then. That got me interested in the reunions going on for ASIJ. I couldn't go to SFO because it was only 2 weeks after my ASH reunion and the budget couldn't handle it, and then I almost went to the Doro-Kami in Wisconsin, but I think I had a wedding video I was committed to on the very same day. So...I finally decided it was a no-brainer to jump in the car and drive 4 hours up the road from my home in Atlanta to Nashville.
 
What I didn't expect was that a guy with the heart of a Brent Ware was going to give us all the gift of a lifetime by hosting this event and that folks like Lisa (DeYoung) and Irene (Anderson) and Mirja Karikoski (Hanson) would all bend over backwards to provide the perfect atmosphere for rekindling my lost love for my friends from back then, my old school and my old home, Japan, which I have not visited since leaving in 1973.
 
When I arrived at the Best Western, the first two people I ran into were Paul Swain and Tim Turner, so we all instantly hit it off and I knew it was going to be a good time no matter what. Tim and his wife, Bev and I had some beers before the bus came and took us to Brent's place and then I was overwhelmed with jitters...I didn't know any of these people and they probably don't know me either...uh oh!
 
Then I got to the mansion after the bus fought through football traffic (like a salmon swimming upstream) and I sort of clung to Tim and Bev and Paul since I "knew" them. It didn't take but 10 minutes after being graciously greeted at the door by the Wares to start recognizing old friends...first, Anne Ludlow , whom I had not seen since we ran into each other several times in Boston during college days, then there was Grace Fukuda (Berman)...a very special friend I had not been in touch with since leaving Tokyo, then Paul Nagata, my best wrestling buddy whom I'd always wondered how he was and where he was, then Steve Sundberg, who was also one of my best friends from back then. He had once illustrated a children's book I wrote in Mrs. Butler's English class. He was ALWAYS so creative. Then there was Jessie Furness. whom I remembered from us being in the same confirmation class together at St. Albans Anglican church across the street from Tokyo Tower. Then I got my sushi and sat down with, Paulette (De Young), whom I remembered as this gorgeous upperclassmen girl who was always so friendly. She was sitting there with Beth Pederson, whom I remembered as being one of the best cheerleaders when I was in football. Beth and Paulette instantly made me feel welcome and then Lisa (De Young) came along... I remembered VERY well the music she and Karen Heck created in a big assembly we had during junior year. They played "House of the Rising Sun" and "Father and Son" and to this day, I think about that assembly every time I hear either of those two songs on the radio.
 
Then, Gary (Mr.) Fish loosened us all up with his great standup routine. Teachers are like parents...they tell you all their fun secrets when it's safe some 30 years after all of their antics occurred. When he was talking, he talked about his "losing cross country team", which instantly conjured up memories of my time on that team. He was a big coaching inspiration to me back then. He was another great "character builder" at that school for me. Then there was Mr. (Steve) Myers, who taught me how to do a slide rule (or else I wouldn't graduate!) and Mr. Bonneville, whom I did not immediately remember, but then it came back to me that I still had the protractor I bought for his class in my desk drawer after all these years ( the one with the Japanese writing on the sheath). And...that was just the first night.
 
Then for breakfast on Saturday, I got to sit with Mr. and Mrs. Bonneville and I heard of their adventures in Laos, where they adopted their son and daughter, Saudi Arabia, Nicaragua and Slovakia, before they finally settled down in deep south Texas. They were incredibly brave people to work in such lands at such times.
 
Then at the farm, the visiting and the fun just helped me to bond with my old friends even more and forge great new friends like Woody Sherman and Nathan Lund, whom I hadn't known really well at ASIJ. Lisa and Dave Jastram are both among those new friends I know I will cherish. I was sorry I did not get to see Dan Jastram. Dan was kind of a wrestling mentor for me. He was always better than me, but he was always a great teacher in his quiet sort of way. He had written me a wonderful note in my '73 yearbook that I sometimes still look at for inspiration. (I'm sure he probably doesn't remember it.) I had a great time riding the horses. That's another experience I did not have for some 10 years, since Sheila and I went horse-back riding in the Blue Ridge in Virginia when we first were married.
 
Then Saturday evening was a wonderful whirlwind of a night. The dancing, the speech by our new headmaster ( a GREAT guy!), watching Brent Ware in action delivering his wonderful gift to everyone and then receiving our token gift with true appreciation. Then, I was instantly on American Bandstand with cameras rolling and members from several bands I listened to in college (Wet Willie, 38 Special, Marshall Tucker) all playing live before my very eyes. I was grinning the whole time.
 
I had a wonderful conversation that night with Anne Ludlow Kuzara and Dave Kuzara and found out that Dave is facing the same challenges I had faced in 1996 when my Dad had terminal cancer. I got to pray for Dave the next morning at the wonderful memorial service that Lisa and Marcia and Anne and Irene and Nan and Donna had had for all of us. That morning I was very glad the Mr. Moyer issue was brought up, because I had not previously heard much about that except bits and pieces and I am sure that was a painful thing for several people in the room. Appreciated the thoughtful (and perfect) positioning of that tragic situation.
 
Also, I did not know a lot about David De Young's battle with AIDS and the story about that really touched me and the (AIDS) quilt moved me immensely. Then, I was in tears when we were given the opportunity to honor the ASIJ parents and I got to put a tsuru (paper crane) on the tree for my dad, who was my mentor and my hero during my Japan years and really, always up until he passed in January, 1996. I was a bit shy at the microphone, but I wish I had said that on that morning. Thanks for providing us with that wonderful setting for prayer and emotion.
 
Finally, the last brunch, and I got to catch up a bit with Nan Setterholm (VanSandt). She is a wonderful person and has just as great of a personality as she did back in school. Then...more jolting emotional news...Mr. Okada was gravely ill. I remembered very vividly, a dinner at his house the night before an away football game at Zama. He explained to all of us ignorant kids all about the internment camps for people of Japanese decent in the US and his bitter experiences there during World War II. That was a lesson in life I will never forget.
 
Finally, it was time to say goodbye and take the last round of group pictures and exchange emails and phone numbers. During that last flurry, I said hello for the first time to Paul Kidder, my JV football buddy. In a brief 5 minutes, I found out that he lives in Atlanta right down the road from me. I didn't get to meet his wife and kids, though, who were sitting right there. Paul and I just had lunch 2 days ago here in Atlanta and I learned that his wife and I went to Tufts University, so there's another great connection made as a result of this wonderful weekend.
 
What a magical weekend...