Memoirs of an International Life
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MEMOIRS OF AN INTERNATIONAL LIFE REMEMBERING: GROWING UP, LIVING AND WORKING ON FIVE CONTINENTS William Keith Gamble ©2004 William Keith Gamble 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE 1 Growing up – The early years 1 2 Education – Country school and high school 37 3 Working my way through Iowa State College 46 4 The Navy and World War II 54 5 Return to civilian life and back to school 90 6 Starting my career 96 7 More education and a shift in career 105 8 Start on an international career 115 9 Burma – Living and working abroad 120 10 Up country – Developing an agricultural college 140 11 Our first home leave 155 12 Return to Pyinmana 162 13 Our second home leave and boarding school 186 14 Burma again – Kodikanal school 191 15 Cornell University 212 16 Back to Burma 228 17 A military coup and our early departure from Burma 248 18 A headquarters assignment 259 19 Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean 267 20 Colombia and Venezuela 322 21 West Africa 344 22 International Institute of Tropical Agriculture 376 23 New challenges – The International Service for National Agricultural Research 406 24 Retirement and Consulting 436 25 Life in full retirement 475 Countries visited on official business 477 3 4 INTRODUCTION This is a story written for my grandchildren, Allison, Bronwyn, Valerie, Kelly and Noah, so they may know something about my life and their heritage. It is also written for my children, Timothy, Thomas and Kathleen, to remind them of some of their experiences in their early years and it is also for their children to know more of the early life of their parents. For me, it has been a very rewarding experience to put together this life story covering over 80 years of a wonderful time. It has enabled me to reflect on my many experiences from a small farm in Iowa, and a one-room schoolhouse, to a doctorate degree and life as a leader in agricultural education, research and development in Asia, Africa and Latin America. I am very grateful for the unfailing support of my family throughout all the years abroad and for the guidance, counsel and wisdom of my wife, Virginia, through the good times and the hard times of our 60-plus years together. I wish to especially thank Timothy, Thomas and Virginia for their assistance in editing and many helpful suggestions throughout the writing of this book, Allison for editing and formatting, and Kevin Bertelsen for his assistance in arranging a publisher. William Keith Gamble Madison, Wisconsin October 2004 5 6 CHAPTER 1 GROWING UP — THE EARLY YEARS My Name and Travel at an Early Age To my parents, brothers, sisters, and everyone I knew until I left home to go to college I was Keith. All my brothers and sisters were always called by their first name but my mother decided that I would be known by my second name. No one ever explained the reason for this, although I understand my mother was afraid that people would call me Willy. However, in college and afterward, I was Bill. The early years 1920-25 (my first 5 years) are very faint memories. I know that I, the youngest of 7, was the first in our family to be born in a hospital (all my brothers and sisters1 had been born at home). Several factors probably influenced my parent’s decision. First, my mother was 39 years old, and it had been 4 years since my sister Margaret was born. Second, a hospital (the Hand Hospital) had just been completed in Shenandoah. My family was also in the process of moving from our farm near Shenandoah to Holyoke, Colorado, so it was probably thought my mother should have hospital care to be sure she would be able to travel. The reason for the family move to Colorado was because it was thought that my mother had asthma and they believed the climate in Colorado would be better for her health. After I was born, Bob, Floyd, Margaret, my mother and I stayed with Uncle Arthur Allen (my mother’s youngest brother) and his wife, Vera, at their home near Climax, Iowa. My father and Paul took the car, farm implements, horses and household goods by train to Holyoke where dad had purchased a large wheat farm. 1. Frances Elizabeth – July 7, 1905; Dorothy Louise – January 18, 1907; Paul Arthur – January 6, 1909; Robert Hollister – December 12, 1910; Floyd J. – December 15, 1913; Margaret Theresa – September 27, 1915. 1 Dorothy and Frances stayed with dad’s parents in Shenandoah, walking 2 miles to country school each day to finish the school year for the 8th grade before taking the train to join the family. Those of us staying with the Allens took the train from Red Oak to Colorado when I was a few weeks old. According to a note I found among some family papers, we were exposed to mumps on the train and later everyone came down with it at the same time. I don't know if that included me since I recollect having the mumps somewhat later in life. The family lived in Colorado for only 2 very unfortunate years. I have no memory of those years but understand we did not harvest any crops – it hailed out one year and no crop the other due to drought. So, economic survival took precedence over concern for mother’s health and the family moved back to Iowa to the farm, which is still known to me as the “family farm”. Fortunately, dad had owned 2 farms before going to Colorado. He had sold one to purchase the farm in Colorado but had kept the other and rented it to the Moles family. We returned in 1922, one farm poorer than we had left in 1920. A letter (in 2001) to me from my brother Floyd, in response to my questions about our move to Colorado and back, gives some interesting details of that experience: “We moved to Colorado in the last part of February in 1920. I had started first grade in September (1919) and you were born on February 10, 1920. Mother and you stayed in the hospital for 10 days. I don’t remember you and mother coming back to the farm before we moved. Bill Carter helped dad and Paul load our machinery and horses into the boxcar down at the Burlington depot. I watched as Mr. Carter backed our car up the ramp in the big center door and block it into place the last thing, and then locking the boxcar doors. Dad and Paul rode to Colorado in the caboose and at one stop on the way had to unload the livestock for water and then reload them. After that, Mother, you, Bob, Margaret and I 2 stayed at Aunt Vera’s for a couple of days til after the funeral of Uncle Sherman’s first wife, Joe Allen’s mother. It was a real rainy day but we kids all went to the funeral at Uncle Sherman’s house and at the Climax Cemetery. That evening, Uncle Arthur took us all to Red Oak to catch the train to Colorado. We had Pullman Sleeper tickets so Bob and I slept together in the upper berth, Mother and you slept in the berth below us and I don’t remember if Margaret had a separate berth or was in with you or slept in the aisle! Aunt Vera had packed sandwiches and food for us so we didn’t get to eat in the dining car. Dorothy and Frances stayed at Grandma Gamble’s so they could finish out the eighth grade in Fairview country school. They graduated in May and came to Colorado on the train. That put the whole family under one roof again. As I remember it, a short time later, dad and Paul went to a sale in another town and bought three horses. Paul was going to ride one and lead the other two and dad would follow them in the car. Very shortly they (or probably dad) decided maybe he should ride the horse. Anyway, it bucked and tossed him way up in the air. When he landed it had broken the stitches that weren’t yet healed from an appendix operation he had shortly before moving out there. Between them they got the horses home and I assume that Paul drove the car home (he was 11 years old at the time). Anyway, a few weeks later dad took a train trip back to Omaha to have the damage repaired by the doctor who had originally operated on him. We stayed in Colorado for most of two years and that is quite a story in itself. However, our crops were pretty well destroyed by hail and we decided to return to Iowa. Dad still had the farm (where we grew up and which Paul later bought) but had been renting it to Emmett Moles. In the last part of October dad loaded Frances, 3 Dorothy, Bob, Margaret and me and a minimum of extra clothes in our open Model T sedan and headed for Iowa. Two boards built up from the driver side running board made a real nice baggage carrier. At dark the first night we stopped in a little grove at the side of the road. The bed for Bob and me was the two seat cushions with one pushed against the rear of the front seat. Bed for the girls was made on wooden slats laid lengthwise on the seat back tops over Bob and me.