My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 201 Larry When Carla said yes, the servers burst into a song: Together [to the tune of Happy Birthday] “Congratulations to you! Congratulations to you!” Bob A few days later I got a call from Darcy. “Bob, I’m getting married, and I want you to be my best man!” I could hardly believe it—not the best man part, but the part where he found a woman smart enough to say yes when he proposed. Larry They were married on July 23, 1995, in Carla’s hometown of Walla Walla. Darcy and Carla sang an original song together as their vows, and I remember thinking, this accompaniment track is really good. After the reception, they changed into running gear, and Darcy unfurled a banner that said, “Just Married.” They literally ran off to their honeymoon, banner flying between them. And that honeymoon lasted over 20 years. Last July Darcy used window paint on the car, saying “Just Married … for 20 years.” The car had to be detailed to get the paint off.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 202 Bob Darcy adored Carla. I’ve never seen someone with more love or devotion than Darcy had for Carla. Darcy and Carla recorded an album together, called “2nd Chance,” released in 1997, which won two Angel awards. It included two original songs that Darcy and Carla wrote together. And they loved to do music at whatever church they attended. They were introduced to Soul Gospel music when they provided all the music weekly for four years for Dr. Gaines’ newly established congregation in Palmdale. Larry Last week a pastor I know passed this to me, a copy of that album with a note inside. [read from note: “Pastor Bolen, Thank you so much for the sermon on Beatitudes… It inspired me and gave me confidence to do what God called Carla and me to do—share music. So here’s a CD we cut several years ago, and would love to come share at your church. Thank you again. Here’s our contact info.”] Darcy never missed an opportunity to sing with Carla.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 203 Bob Darcy loved to run. He ran for an hour to an hour-and-ahalf, or more, 5 days a week. Darcy said that when he ran, he felt close to God. That was his quiet time to pray. He never carried a phone, and once in awhile had to borrow one to call for help when he had run too far to get back home on his own. Carla always stood ready to rescue him, and if he was gone too long, she would go looking for him. Larry Eventually Darcy and Carla moved to Hanford, in California’s San Joaquin Valley. Darcy got a job as a substitute teacher. By that time he had added a 3 to his name, and at the start of the day he would write his name on the board. “D-A-R-C-3-Y. That’s my name. You’re probably wondering, what’s with the 3? Well, the 3 is silent.” Bob When I visited Darcy in Hanford, we couldn’t go anywhere without students wanting to call out to him. “D3!” they would yell. Larry And he would reply: Wussup, dude?
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 204 Bob While in Hanford, Darcy and Carla were members of the House of Hope Multi-Ethnic Church. They became their dearest friends and closest family they ever experienced in a church. Darcy and Carla continued the joy of music ministry gospel style and loved the children as their own. Larry They lead many programs like VBS, children’s evangelistic meetings and the monthly Kidz Club. A fellow praise team member called Darcy “Ray,” because he played so creatively, and you never really knew what to expect. There were also growing pains and sorrows, but they were always enveloped with love. In that church they considered each other family, regardless of ethnicity, just brothers and sisters in the Lord. They remain Darcy and Carla’s dear family to this day, and several are here today. Bob Darcy loved Jesus. When he was four years old, he would get in bed with his daddy to have “private devotions” together. Soon able to read for himself, he had established a longstanding habit. His entire life was filled with sharing. Last week we heard from a
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 205 missionary to Africa who remembers Darcy when he was very small. They came to visit, and seven-year-old Darcy got out his toys and told their little son to choose any car he would like. Larry One of my enduring memories of Darcy was at a young adult rally at the National Mall in Washington DC. We all wore bright orange T-shirts, and I remember seeing Darcy, running toward anyone NOT wearing one of those orange T-shirts, handing out literature he had brought. When I asked him about it, he said, “I just didn’t want to miss the opportunity to spread the gospel today.” Bob Darcy’s parents found some notes Darcy had written for a new song he was writing. One of the lines is simply, “Jesus, I love you more and more and more, and you alone I adore.” Larry [pause] Last October, Darcy and Carla moved to Loma Linda when she started a job for the medical center. Darcy
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 206 loved to run and explore the hundreds of miles of trails in the hills behind Loma Linda. Bob On Friday afternoon, March 11, just like he’d done thousands of times before, Darcy put on his running shorts and a tie-dye T-shirt, laced up his running shoes, and got ready to run. And just like he’d done thousands of times before, as he left he texted Carla: “I’m going out running, I love you very much.” Larry Within 15 minutes of starting his run, a heavy rain began to fall, and with it came a cold wind. But of course, that wouldn’t stop him. He kept running. Bob [pause] When he did not return, Carla looked for him before calling 911. Then dozens of cousins and friends and strangers—who only recognized his picture as a runner they had seen—searched the trails throughout Friday night and early Saturday morning, as the temperature dropped into the 30s. The search continued until they found his body, 25 hours after he started his run, just a
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 207 mile from the trailhead. Larry [pause] I loved Darcy and loved our times together. Right now, I’m just grateful to have shared so many memories with him during our journey through life. Darcy dreamed big…and I will honor him by pursuing big dreams, too. Bob Darcy was my best friend, and I know there are many in this church who consider Darcy to be one of your best friends. Together, we say: Goodbye Darcy. We will miss you terribly, but we look forward to seeing you again very soon. Larry Shine ever on, dear friend. Shine ever on.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 208
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 209 More About Darcy and Our Plans Here are a few more details about Darcy. All evidence is that he did not suffer at all. He was not the victim of any violence, or even a snake bite. A few days later we saw the biggest rattlesnake I had ever seen just a few feet from where he lay. Our greatest fear was that he might have fallen and broken a leg or slid into one of the quite deep canyons that are all over the place up there among the trails. He wasn’t found sooner because he had left the trail and followed a service road down toward an electrical tower. I’m sure it looked to him like a faster way home. It was not raining when he left home dressed down in his usual skimpy running clothes. He didn’t have a pound of fat on his body. He ran off all the food he ate. Then that tremendous rainstorm hit, and the temperature plummeted from 70 down into the 30’s in very short order. Since he ran about 14 miles, he was a long way from home, but loved to run in the rain, so would not have started home very soon. We had helped them move to Loma Linda a few months before. His health was not terribly good. He was not able to start substitute teaching again after he reached
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 210 there. I had noticed him running into corners and walls in his house. Something was going on. Not sure what. Anyway, he will never have to clean his garage again. He will never have another car wreck. He never had a bad one, but he had some minor ones. He is resting peacefully. I fully expect to see him again. Virginia has come to accept it. It is harder for me. Everyone reacts differently. Four years before that we thought very carefully about what Virginia and I should do. We figured that when we were 75 and 79 was the oldest we could expect to be able to move ourselves. As you know, moving is a really hard job. We had several couples in our little church who didn’t plan ahead. Their children didn’t help them, and they just sat until they died. We were determined we would not do that. At that point we had five years to go. Virginia figured if she got rid of 20% of our stuff each year it would be easy to move when the time came. So she actually did that. I was loath to leave my 22 acres of woods, plus 2 tractors, huge shop, etc., etc. Virginia had to keep reminding me of all the reasons we needed to get somewhere closer to a town and medical care. Out in
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 211 the woods we were 14 miles from church and the freeway, and 35 miles from the hospital. When Darcy died, I suddenly—with no prompting from Virginia—said, “Why wait? Let’s go ahead and move.” We thought about moving to Loma Linda to be close to Carla, but her sister and brother-in-law decided to move there. Darcy’s death was very hard for Jennifer to take, so we decided we should move close to her as morale support. It took us a year to sell our southern Oregon home and decide where to go next. We ended up moving to Sequim one year sooner than the five years we had planned on. There we were 2 1⁄2 miles from medical offices and 17 miles from a hospital. But both of us had our major care in Seattle which took about a 2-1⁄2-hour drive from Sequim. Now that we have sold our Sequim house—after three delightful years—we are half an hour from each of our hospitals, so that is much better. And all our minor care is about 8 miles away. Virginia had a yearly checkup on her hip a couple weeks ago and the doc said it should last as long as she does. The x-ray looks great. She can never run or jump again which is just fine with her.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 212 We found a beautiful new townhouse half a mile from Jennifer’s house. Virginia is happy to rent for the rest of our lives to save her all the paperwork she constantly had to do for houses we owned. I’m not so sure. Since we are very close to Jennifer, we may be pretty much settled down for good. We’ll see. Note: That was before our two months in Thailand that quickly persuaded us we wanted to live there.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 213 Darcy Letter After One Year March 9, 2017 Dear Family and Friends, It is hard to believe that March 11 a whole year will have passed since Darcy went running and did not return. Carla and Virginia and I have gone through our individual shadows and can say with total assurance that God has sustained us. Your thoughts and words of comfort have been a large part of that. Life on this earth, under the sun, is never perfect, and sometimes it is awful. As we have endured our sorrow, we have heard of many who are experiencing even worse tragedies. The only permanent solution is for Jesus to return. We look forward to being with Darcy again at that time. As many have asked what the autopsy report showed, I waited to send this message until I could relate what information might be included. For whatever reason, the coroner’s office waited exactly 10 months to send the report. Although the autopsy was performed on March 23, the report was not signed until December 30, then sent to Carla later in January. Virginia and I are here in Loma Linda with Carla, and I just read both the
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 214 coroner’s 7-page report which is just forms with a very few spaces filled in, and the 6-page autopsy report. Nothing of real significance was included. All his organs were in good normal condition. Microscopic examination of heart tissue showed perivascular and interstitial fibrosis which Darcy’s doctor told Carla is usual for runners. The toxicology report showed that his prescription was in his blood, but no other drugs. There were no signs of any kind of trauma. Of course, the coroner had no way of knowing that Darcy had slept little on Thursday night and had postponed lunch on Friday to go running. [From the day he was born, Darcy needed to eat every three hours.] Nothing was mentioned about the fact that he was moving fast in skimpy clothes in rain and in temperature down to the 30’s that had been in the 70’s when he left the house. Some of us have plenty of fat to keep us warm, but not Darcy. Nobody can know for sure what happened, but the weight of evidence from the weather and Darcy’s running habits would seem to indicate that he was overcome by hypothermia before he could get home. The fact that his face looked very peaceful reassures us he did not suffer and probably did not know he was
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 215 taking his last breath. Because of where he was found, he was undoubtedly trying to take the shortest route home. Less than one mile and he would have been back on the pavement. This Sabbath evening Carla is hosting a supper for 20 people who were particularly helpful at the time or have been great support to her since. Virginia and I are here to help with that. We will have an evening of focusing on the good memories we all have. I’m sure there will be a lot of laughter! Thank you again for your comforting support. It has meant more than we can ever express. Regardless of the difficulties we all experience, may each of us find our faith in God growing stronger day by day.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 216
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 217 Christmas, 2019 Dear Family and Friends, I walked down the hill from Jennifer’s house and had chest pain that made me stop to rest for a while. As a result, I had a stent put into my heart. That didn’t stop me for long! Two days later we left for Costa Rica with Virginia’s brother Bill. Virginia had asked my cardiologist if the stent could wait until we got back, but he said he would feel much better if it were done before we left. Later he told Virginia that the place the stent was put in is called the widow maker, so we were fortunate to have such a good outcome. A few weeks later, with our dear friends, Sandy and Daryl Larsen, we drove down much of the length of Baja, Mexico. We left on January 10 and returned on Feb 22. During that time 20” of snow fell into our yard. A friend closer to the center of town had 42”. You may be able to imagine how gleeful we were when we returned home to see only the last of the piles of melting snow. That is not supposed to happen in Sequim. Well, maybe once in 22 years, but we all know weather patterns are changing these days.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 218 Back from Mexico, Virginia had hip replacement surgery on March 12, followed by two weeks at Jennifer’s house taking it easy. 6 weeks later, on April 22, the hip came out of joint, so recovery had to start all over again. That resulted in another two weeks at Jennifer’s house taking it easy. Back home in Sequim Virginia started weeks of PT which helped a great deal to get her back on her feet. Because of my stent, I qualified for 40 sessions of cardiac rehab. That turned out to be an excellent program. I started in early May, then had to complete my sessions after we got back home in July. We spent June in Walla Walla, helping with Jessica’s wedding. If any of you need a plain and simple red velvet cake with fabulous frosting, ask Virginia for the recipes. It will be in the next Schuler cookbook. After that celebration, we stayed on in Walla Walla for Gary Bass’ memorial service. Now Carla and her siblings are truly orphans. We are very close to Carla and we know her sisters well. They have been taking care of each other for years, ever since their mother died three years before Darcy and Carla married.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 219 Our best summer weather was in August and September, and we managed to set aside some hiking days to celebrate out 55th wedding anniversary at length. There are so many beautiful areas here, and we still have many to visit for the first time, even after those hiking days. At least we could check off a few more scenic places. On September 26 we had the opportunity of going to SeaTac to pick up our friend, Marilyn Justesen, and then had the fun of going to visit our granddaughter Juliana’s 3rd & 4th grade classroom at Kirkland SDA School. She has 25 students, and I think there must be at least 12 nationalities among them. They are a beautiful group of children. October 20 we enjoyed a fabulous day with friends going to the Seattle Symphony. We have missed that quality of music for a long time. We used to be appalled by old people who had to constantly go for medical care. Ha! Now we understand. We feel pretty good; very good most of the time, but we have a lot of medical/dental appointments, nonetheless. The latest is that next week and the week after, I will have two cataract surgeries. Hopefully when
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 220 that is over I will, like Virginia after her cataract surgery, be able to see much better than I can now. I am very involved in gardening, Olympic Driftwood Carvers, and Community Service. Virginia is very involved in the local senior center. Both of us stay busy at church. Consequently, there is no time to be bored. Now we see the holidays looming in the near future. We plan to spend both Thanksgiving and Christmas at Jennifer’s house. It is not just selfishly wanting to escape cooking and decorating here. It is really hard for Jennifer to get away long enough to come to Sequim, plus she loves to cook and decorate, so how nice for us! Meanwhile we will leave January 7 (Virginia) and 8 (me, who has frequent flier miles) for Thailand where we expect to be warm for the worst of the winter, just in case we again need to escape 20” of snow in our yard. Of course, the best laid plans go awry, but at least that is what we are prepared for and hope to do. An after note: It snowed 20” again while we were gone. Absolutely unheard of for Sequim. In the past it was only about once in 22 years. And the rest is history since we are retiring in Thailand where it will never snow.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 221 To Thailand After Many Years When we moved to Sequim about three years ago, we felt like we had found paradise. Then we visited the church and were sure we had. We have enjoyed our three years here more than any other place we have lived. Last fall we learned from friends’ experience how nice it was in Phuket where they went to run a marathon. It wasn’t hard for us to leap to the conclusion that we should follow their example and spend two months of winter in Thailand. It was almost like going back home for us. We lived in Singapore for 8 years where Thailand was part of my territory. Virginia’s parents worked in southern Thailand for 6 years after they retired in the States. Our early teen daughter visited them and decided she was going to be a nurse to the hilltribes in north Thailand, and she did that for 8 years. So, it was high time for us to return. Virginia’s main motivation was the desire to write a book. It’s hard for her to do that at home surrounded by all the tasks that are begging for attention. So off we went with our three suitcases. Long story, but the Adventist university two hours north of Bangkok had
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 222 offered us a furnished apartment. We were met at the airport by a friend we have known since the 1980’s when we lived in Singapore. He enthusiastically told us about a new retirement community planned to be built beside the Adventist health promotion center that is beside the Adventist university. We spent that first weekend with another friend from Singapore days. Everything was already coming together to help us feel right at home. Two months with no cooking as we ate in the university cafeteria—Thai food every meal—began to sway our minds. Plus, the book was finished 2 1⁄2 weeks before we headed back home. Plus, we had a wonderful time socializing with the 900 plus university students from 33 countries on that totally multicultural campus, as well as with the teachers from 19 countries. I reconnected with several of the men I enjoyed working with when we lived in Singapore. The next generation are now running the work. The college president is the son of the first national president of Thailand Mission. The Bangkok Hospital president is the son of a pastor. The treasurer of the school is the son of a pastor, one of my best friends in Singapore days. The Union president used to meet with Virginia’s mother almost every day to
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 223 practice English and the piano, make whole wheat bread, and study the Bible. We were reminded that we used to think about retiring in Thailand. Now the most important reason for going there is the wonderful opportunity to live on an international campus with young students and young adults on the faculty, representing many cultures. There is even the possibility that Virginia with her degrees may be able to help in the university. With that thought in mind, we headed back to Washington state to sell our house. About the very day we were leaving, the first COVID-19 case outside China was identified in Thailand. That made us realize that people might be afraid of us since we were returning from Asia. So we decided to quarantine ourselves. No problem, there were lots of things to do in the house. By the time our self-impose quarantine ended, most of the country was facing the dangers and risks of the pandemic. We had hoped to be back to Thailand by September. Instead, it would be two years before Thailand opened back up and planes were flying again.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 224 We used the lockdown time to go through our belongings. We took pictures of everything and sent out word to our family members that they should come and get what they wanted. In very short order, we had reduced down to something conceivably possible to ship overseas. We thought! It was just the first pass. We would go through the remainder two or three more times, getting rid of more and more. Two massive garage sales, one in Sequim and one in Auburn were huge helps because we could donate carloads to each of them. The adventure had just begun.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 225 Back to Thailand Again On May 5 we had a comfortable trip back to Bangkok. Things are very different than they were when we came in January. Not a word about any COVID test. Not even a request to see our vaccination record. No quarantine. But everywhere we have gone, almost everyone is wearing a mask. There is still a lot of caution, even though they are trying hard to make it easy for tourists to come back to Thailand. We arrived in Bangkok airport near midnight on Thursday night/Friday morning. Had too much baggage to fit into a taxi. How embarrassing is that! We expected the hotel to provide transportation for us, but that luxury went away with the COVID tests. A nice van took us to the hotel. We had to check out by noon on Friday, so started looking for transport at 8:30 when the world was awake. Thought maybe we needed to go to the Mission Hospital for starters, but it was easier to just get into a van once and go straight to the university. They kindly sent a van to pick us up. By 4:30 Friday afternoon we were back in Guestroom #6, our home since January.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 226 We heard that work had started on laying out the spaces for the retirement homes, one of which will be ours, so we walked over there to check it out. The immediate area has been well cleared and we saw a few markers. Not enough to really have an idea how much space each house will have. It is a good place for the Retirement Village, on a paved road with all utilities, on the edge of the campus. Besides the paved road, there is a nice wide sidewalk, bordered by a bougainvillea hedge, and maybe 10 feet back the jungle begins. Getting back into the swing of activities here, on Sunday afternoon we went to the yearend music department recital. When I saw that there were 37 students playing or singing, I thought we might be there for hours, but it was finished in less than two hours. All ages from very young up to lots of college students. A husband and wife are the backbone of the music program here although there are several other teachers. Their three children played remarkably well in the recital. Graduation will be the weekend after next, then Virginia needs to begin serious preparation for the class she will teach during the second session of summer school. We will not be running out of things to do.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 227 Learning Thai and Shopping We have a new university president. Dr. Siroj Sorajjakool, who taught many years at Loma Linda, has decided to retire and collect his social security. We knew him as Berm when he was a student in Singapore. Since January we have been waiting to find out who would be chosen to replace him. What happy news! She will be our dear friend, Dr. June Sriratanaprapat. Her Thai first name is Jarurat, but pretty much everyone calls her June. The first and second presidents of this school were Thai ladies, so she follows an awesome precedent. They were the ones who had the ability to negotiate with the government to make this a university. Additional note: Today we received a document signed by June, and she signed her name with Jarurat, instead of June. On to another topic. When Virginia’s mom and dad came to Thailand in the ‘70’s, they hired a Thai teacher and learned the language. Dad learned to speak, and mom learned to read and write. We would like to be doing that as well but haven’t made much progress yet.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 228 It is an interesting language. Their script is based on Sanskrit, but lots of signs are written in our kind of letters so we supposedly can read them, However, despite the many “r’s” in the words, they are hardly ever pronounced. Lots of names contain “porn”, but it doesn’t mean the same as in English and it is pronounced pan (rhyme with gone). D and T seem to be interchangeable. Th sounds like t, etc. Last week we were sitting on the bus in Muak Lek waiting to leave for Bangkok. I noticed a big sign that said, “Hop Chafe.” After looking at it for a minute I realized it was advertising hot coffee. We hate to be illiterate, so we’ll keep trying to learn a phrase here and there. People are very gracious about mistakes, and appreciative that we try to say things in Thai. You may like to hear about shopping. Because Virginia’s mom always modeled supporting whatever economy she was in, Virginia also loves to shop. We have now learned to take the local bus to Bangkok so we can go whenever we need to, or our spirit moves in that direction. By paying an extra $1.40 each, the bus
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 229 will come here to the university and pick us up. Otherwise, we have to find a ride to Muak Lek which is 4 kilometers from here. Then it is $4.70 for the 2 ½-hour ride to Bangkok. The bus is very comfortable, quite new, holds about 25 people, has seatbelts, and USB ports in the back of every seat so tech things can be charged on the way to town. That ride ends at Chatuchak train station. Chatuchak Market used to be the weekend market back in the 70’s. Then it became permanent although it is hundreds of tents all fastened together. There you can buy just about anything you can think of, including gemstones, clothes, food including french-fried cockroaches, and pets including bears. If it were air conditioned, it would be easy to spend all day there. Behind it is a 4-story air conditioned building of great shopping, called JJ Mall. It is not as good as it was before COVID. The top two floors are now for parking instead of beautiful things like we used to see there. Moving on. We could take the train, but then we would have to catch a taxi somewhere else. Usually, we get a taxi where the bus lets us off and pay about $2.75 to get to the Mission Hospital or some shopping place. We have seen a lot of nice malls in this world, but
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 230 nothing like they are here in Bangkok. They are the most beautiful and spacious and huge imaginable. Most are seven or eight stories high. And there are lots of them. There is a golden mile where you can walk from one mall to another without going out to the street. Most of the name brands you find in big malls in the States are also here. And all the malls of whatever size are filled with busy restaurants. Again, many of them are well known in the States. And by the way, all the prices are considerably lower here. That makes it more fun to shop. A couple of weeks ago we decided to celebrate and eat at Ferrells. Any of you old enough to remember that one? It is all about ice cream. Here the restaurant is in all the malls, whether large or small, expensive or less so. The last time we entered Ferrells was in 1978 when we first arrived in Singapore. Ferrells arrived at the same time and everybody we knew was going to try it out. Back to 2022, when we got to the restaurant, there was a long line waiting to enter, so we gave up and ate healthy food in the Gourmet Food Court. But we thought we would try Ferrells the next opportunity we had. Bad idea. Steven Colbert reported on the science
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 231 that declares how harmful ice cream is for one’s health. He went on to say, “Stop It!!! Stop studying!” And something else like, “Leave us to our pleasures!” But it was enough to convince me that we don’t need to go to Ferrells. There are endless other places to eat, a few of them vegetarian, a very few of them vegan. Who ever thought Steven Colbert could be such a good influence? Virginia has a 30-year-old skirt that she still loves so she wanted to find material and have another one made. After searching the internet, we chose to take the taxi to China World. It blew our minds to find a whole block, plus an alley full, plus a 4-storey building all packed with one thing—cloth. Now she has cloth for three skirts in different colors and needs to find time and transportation to go to the tailor in Muak Lek. Before I leave the subject of Bangkok, let me tell you that everything has changed since we use to come here in the 70’s to 90’s. Back then few buildings were more than two-stories and most of them looked varying degrees of old. Now there are over 80 high rises. The current tallest one is 70-storeys. There are always taller ones under construction. This is despite the fact that Bangkok is sinking and has a flood problem.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 232 Now to the shopping in Muak Lek. At least once a week somebody takes pity on us and offers us a ride into town. (There are no taxis in Muak Lek. But I have to add that there are people we know we use their car as a taxi and we can pay them to take us anywhere we want to go.) When this school started in the 90’s, the town was just one street. Now it is spreading out with quite a few streets. But we keep comparing it to Haad Yai where Virginia’s mom and dad lived. The shopping there was way better than it is here. Here there’s not one fabric store or craft store. Mom might hate it here. That said, everything that is usually needed is available. Lots of 7- 11’s and other similar stores. There is also Happy Shop where we can get peanut butter and lots of other slightly-unusual-for-this-town supplies. We kept hearing about Happy Shop. Finally someone took us there. There is no Happy Shop sign. All the signage is in Thai script. But everybody who speaks English knows it by that name. Then there are the markets, including a couple we have never visited. If we go in the morning, we go to a covered market. Again, it is not quite as good as the Haad Yai market as we remember it, but there are many stalls with fruit and vegetables of all kinds.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 233 Unfortunately, it is necessary to walk past endless amounts and kinds of meat and seafood. The last time I was there I walked past six hogs’ heads all skinned and lined up. However, the varied kinds of fresh greens and herbs are wonderful to behold. And tofu is 25 cents for a nice big square piece. If we go in the afternoon, we go to a closer outdoor market that has become a big square with two very long rows and growing numbers of sellers. There again we can find endless vegetables and whatever fruit is in season, in addition to masks in every color of the rainbow, used and new clothes, and lots of other things I never think about until someone shows me what they found, Again, there is a huge amount of meat and fish as well as ready-made food. I can also get tofu there for the same price. The couple of days each week that the market is closed, almost all the tents disappear. It is hard to imagine how all those people can make a living selling there, and then take down their tent and set it back up again two days later. What happens to all the food left over when closing time comes? Well, that’s a question none of us can answer.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 234 I should tell you one more thing about Muak Lek. About a mile and a half from our university, the government is building a new air force academy. Big deal. Lots of big buildings including a veteran’s hospital, and most of them are about finished. We have heard that 5000 people will be coming there to work or study. That should make a major difference in this little town. Maybe at least some taxis or Ubers. But I expect one of the large grocery stores will decide to build here. And Bangkok Bank will surely decide to have a branch here, I hope. The next improvement in a couple years will be the high speed rail. Much of the track is already finished. Built by Italians or Chinese, depending on whose story you hear, it is beautiful and looks like a Roman aqueduct. The trip to Bangkok will take one hour instead of the usual 2 ½. The closest station (very close to the university) is already finished, and I know of people who have visited it and say it is very nice. So life moves on.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 235 Our Trip to Vietnam Two evenings ago, we returned from Vietnam. It was an interesting nine days. Four of us composed the group. Ellen Gee (She is looking for Mr. White) was the one who really wanted to go and was beating the bushes for others to go with her. She teaches English here. Since she was having so much trouble finding anyone, I helpfully offered to go with her. Eventually Virginia relented and agreed to go as well, once she realized her class was only during the second half of summer school. Dr. Amanda Simon teaches education here. She is from London, and a generation before that from the Caribbean. She accidentally heard about our trip close to the last minute and decided to join us. Tuesday, June 6, we got there. There was plenty of paperwork to do ahead of time, but we managed all that and had no trouble entering the country. Ellen who is from Sarawak and Amanda didn’t have the same need for visas. We had filled out visa forms ahead of time, and the tour agency sent us a letter that allowed us to get the visas at the Hanoi airport. That took maybe five minutes.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 236 A very friendly English-speaking tour guide met us the minute we were out of the restricted area and accompanied us to our hotel. It was the first time any of us had been on an actual tour. How nice to be taken care of! Because ours was private, we rode around in a 16 seater van. They recommended a private tour as a safer way to avoid COVID-19. We appreciated the perks it provided. Hanoi has 8 million population and 4 million motorbikes. The second day we discovered what breakfast was like in our hotel. The tour agency had told them that three of us were vegans. I have seen $30 breakfasts in hotels that served less than this one did. There were tons of delicious food. Every day they fixed special things for us. By 8 am we were in the spacious van for a couple hours ride, heading for Trang An where we rode in a sampan boat for another couple hours, going through four caves (in the boat and ducking our heads at times) and enjoying all the spectacular scenery around the river system. After visiting a couple temples built a thousand years ago in honor of the first king who dared to break away from China and form a separate kingdom, we went to a restaurant for lunch. It was a feast with seven or eight different dishes. All of them were delicious. We
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 237 didn’t think we could finish so much food, but we almost did. The third day, after another wonderful breakfast, we set off on about a three-hour drive to Ha Long Bay. This was our favorite day. Both days the drive had been through endless rice fields and other beautiful scenery. The tour guide regaled us with ancient myths plus stories about life in communist Vietnam. He made it sound so good I was ready to believe it might be the best way of life for most people. When we got to the bay, we first visited a pearl factory and watched the steps of the process from the way they prepare the clams to how they take out the finished pearl. They grow the pearls with a tiny ball of motherof-pearl inserted into the clams. Then they hang the clams on racks in the bay that is salt water. It was fascinating and the pearls were beautiful, different colors depending on which type of shell they are growing in. Reluctantly we decided (smile) not to buy any and boarded a boat that could have comfortably held a group of 20 that was all for us. It rained a lot, so we mostly stayed inside the
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 238 enclosed room of the boat. They soon served us a banquet. Even better than day before. All of it was cooked on the boat in the galley. Meanwhile we were boating among endless smallish islands. They were small but very tall with extremely steep cliffs. The scenery was fabulous. We were overwhelmed by the number of beautiful, tall but little, islands. The myth we heard is that the dragon came down from heaven and dropped lots of little stones which promptly grew into the tall islands that we were passing. It was so beautiful that the dragon decided not to return to heaven. Instead, he found a cave to live in and was so comfortable that he totally forgot to provide rain. Lots of people died during the resulting famine. One couple, knowing they would die if they did nothing, decided to find the dragon, and plead with him to send rain. On their way, a daughter was born to them. By the time they found the dragon in the cave, she had grown into a beautiful young woman, and the dragon fell in love with her. He invited in all his animal friends to attend the wedding. Subsequently the happy couple had 100 sons. That made the cave so crowded that the wife took 50 of them and returned to her parents. But she was worried about her other sons, so she traveled back to see them.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 239 They were crying for milk from her, so she cut off one breast and left it there for them. We stopped and climbed up a hill to go into the cave. Sure enough, there was the dragon, other sorts of animals, and the breast near the exit. All of them large stones, of course. I asked when the cave was discovered. In the 1700’s by the French. And the story? It had been handed down from ages past, but nobody knew where the cave was. After the French discovered it and the Vietnamese entered it, they were positive it was the correct one because of the dragon, etc. etc. inside. The cave is a very huge room with various stone features. But that is it. It is only one room. We were happy to get back on the boat. It was a rainy slippery day. Day three we went to see Ho Chi Minh. His body is embalmed in a large mausoleum. Every year the place is shut down for 2-3 months so experts can come in and care for the body. The shutting down would take place in four days, so everyone and his hound dog was there that day to view him. Well, no dogs, but endless children with either their parents or their teachers. Ho
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 240 Chi Minh is their father. They love him. We snaked along a lot of passageways to get our turn to go inside. The endless line moved surprisingly steadily. I have to say, his body looked pretty good. He was very recognizable. His wish was to be cremated and his ashes divided into three parts to be spread in the north, central and south sections of the country. But the leadership decided to embalm him instead. He refused to live in the presidential palace left by the French. He had a smallish house built named 54, because he moved there in 1954. Then they built a house on stilts for him where he lived for a few years. When it became difficult for him to walk up and down the stairs, they built another house that was all ground level. These three moderate sized houses are all close together. He sounds like the nicest possible person from the stories they tell. It is hard to fit that in with what we remember about him from our history. I do admire that he stepped down from being president several years before he died. Oh, that all presidents would follow suit! The guide said that Vietnam is communist, but the front of the mausoleum says, “Long Live the Glorious Socialist Republic of Vietnam.” Of course, we couldn’t read that, but the guide translated it. So, is it
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 241 communist, or is it socialist? We didn’t get a good answer. FINALLY, we got to go to lunch. This was billed as the most special meal, in a restaurant that is the most desirable in Hanoi—an international buffet. From my experience in Asian buffets, there would be two vegetarian dishes and everything else meat. Unfortunately, I was right. Gobs of people were there and lots of serving areas were in view, but they led us to a table and told us to wait. And wait, and wait… The meat-eater among us went up and filled her plate, returning to tell us we would not find anything if we went to look for our own food. Eventually a few cold boiled sweet potatoes and two small pieces of cold corn on the cob were brought, then white bread to dip in sweetened condensed milk. They obviously had no idea what to do with us. An older man came apologetically with a nice plate of very good sushi and one other salad. That was about it. I can’t remember anything else. Gastronomically, it was the low point of the trip. That afternoon we were supposed to be able to go shopping, but somehow that never happened. We were dragged from one uninteresting building/temple to another. The 36 ancient wards and streets advertised in
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 242 our itinerary never showed up. At last, the dreary day was over. Day four was Friday and we headed to the airport to fly to Ho Chi Minh City many kilometers to the south. Hanoi is the political center and capital. Ho Chi Minh City—still called Saigon by most people—is the commercial center. We were met by another tour guide who we immediately decided we didn’t like as well as the one we had in Hanoi. Twelve million people and seven million motorbikes keep the roads full at all hours. By the time we got settled in our hotel it was close to sundown. A Big C—like a 7-11—was almost next door, so we found some snacks to eat. Sabbath we went to church for the international service. The Vietnamese service starts at 7 am when it is still somewhat cool. The international service starts at 10:30. The building is beautiful inside and out and has a membership of 600. We heard that somewhere in the city there is also a Chinese church. Maybe 40 were there for the service we attended. A Korean pastor led out and several others also seemed to be Korean. Ellen Gee went to school years ago with a lady who lives there, so she met us and took us out to lunch to a
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 243 vegetarian restaurant. We sat on little cushions on the floor around a very low table. She had pre-ordered all the food ahead of time so we could try out lots of authentic Vietnamese dishes. It was a wonderful meal. And we had a lovely time visiting with her and her two young daughters. We kept wishing we could go eat there again. There were many things on the menu that we didn’t get to taste. When it was time to go, it took three people to pull Virginia up off the cushion!! She was embarrassed! Hip surgery does that to people. For years our dining table was just like that, and we loved to sit on the cushions with our feet pulled under us to the side. What a toll time takes. Day 7 we had already discovered that this hotel didn’t know zip about vegetarian/vegan food. Once again it had a huge array of dishes available—all of them meat. We asked about tofu, but they never produced any during our stay. One day they brought us a big plate of totally tasteless vegetables. The next day we instructed them to use garlic and onion and seasoning. Again, it was taste-free, despite the garlic and onions. For the last two days we discovered how to make delicious food by coating bread with olive oil, then piling on the cucumbers and little tomatoes from the salad bar along
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 244 with beautiful fresh greens that were on offer for the Pho, the quintessential Vietnamese soup. Back to day 7. We drove to the Mekong Delta and boarded a boat to cross the river and visit the islands on the other side. We left the bigger boat and boarded two very small sampans that wove through the narrow channel among the little islands. The first stop was to buy tea and honey. The second stop was to buy coffee, the third stop was to buy something else. The last one was to buy coconut candy. We were paraded like prisoners through all these places we did not want to see. Then we went to another island to have lunch. As was mostly typical, it was a banquet with lots of different dishes of good food. Virginia had seen all the temples she could stand, so she deliberately wore shorts in order to have an excuse for sitting out in the garden instead of hearing more about the gods and the different Buddhist denominations. On the eighth day, Dr. Amanda had to give a presentation to an ASEAN council meeting by ZOOM, so we went to the Chu Chi tunnels without her. In Virginia’s case it was a lot of foot dragging. She really should have just stayed home. Those particular tunnels are a maze of 250 kilometers of underground tunnels
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 245 that the Vietcong dug and used in the “Anti-American War.” Virginia absolutely refused to watch the video about how they killed the Americans. It depressed me (Calvin), but I felt impelled to follow whatever the tour guide said to do. That included stooping low to walk through some of the tunnels. Virginia had no such compunctions. All around the area are bombed out American tanks, jeeps, planes, helicopters, etc. Given that we are viewing the same thing on the news now from Ukraine, it was horribly sad to think of all the Americans who suffered and died there. Not to mention the 3 million Vietnamese who died, most of them killed by the Vietcong. Close by is a huge, beautiful cemetery for only the soldiers from the north. They are national heroes. The soldiers from the south are not put there and are not heroes. Our lunch was in an open-air pavilion by the Saigon River. With Virginia’s bad attitude of the morning, she wasn’t expecting much in this military place. Surprisingly, the meal was as good as any we had had. Once again, lots of different dishes. And nice cool breeze blew on us from the river. It was delightful. We heard a lot said about the glorious liberation of the south. What were they liberated from? Virginia asked. Not the Americans, because the war continued for two
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 246 more years after the Americans left. I had to provide my own answer: from democracy and from their chosen way of life. The tour guides were very careful what they told us. It was humorous that the stories differed a lot between the north and the south. But essentially, it was all praising communism. The father of the tour guide in the south was a soldier in the southern army. He was sent to Shepherd Air Force Base in Texas for six months of training, and then to New Jersey for another six months. Then he returned to Vietnam and spent the rest of the war basically doing some kind of engineering job. He could have escaped to the USA but chose not to because he is the oldest son of the family and therefore responsible to maintain the connection with the ancestors. When the south capitulated, he burned every shred of anything that linked him to the Americans. But he was sent to a reeducation camp for three years anyway. His job was to care for and use the oxen and cows. He spoke to them only in English, so when he got to go back home, nobody else could control the animals. That amusing story was the only personal rebellion we heard about. The north closed the borders of the country and stopped any importing or exporting for ten years.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 247 Everybody had to belong to a commune. Then, about 1991, they reopened the country. Now the politics is communist, but the economy in Saigon, at least, is capitalist. We saw numerous car dealerships, including for Rolls-Royce. In the afternoon we visited some beautiful French built buildings and the market that was three buildings from our hotel. People come to Vietnam to buy clothing. Both Ellen and Amanda were eager to shop for clothes. Not Virginia or me. We have more than enough. But we went to see the market anyway. Virginia bought three outfits and is enjoying wearing them. Throughout the trip, both north and south, we were awed to see the lush and beautiful scenery. There is so much water, everywhere. All of it seems to be filled with innumerable small islands and cliffs. Day nine we headed to the airport for the flight back to Bangkok. We didn’t have a dong to our name. That’s the money in Vietnam. We spent most of it in the market and gave away the rest as tips. We were back “home” by 11:30 am. Then, Amanda introduced us to her favorite Bangkok restaurant, Vegenerie Concept. There
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 248 we had one last, fabulous meal as sort of a culminating event. By 7:30 pm we were back in our guest room at the university. If you want to go to Vietnam, I recommend you use Vietravel. They did a great job for us, and now that they know more about vegetarians and vegans they will be able to do even better. We have been there. Ellen is planning to go back. We didn’t see any of the central part of the country. Amanda is thinking about going with her. The four of us bonded tightly on this trip, but we’ll sacrifice and let them go alone.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 249 Thailand Mystery Story Here is a mystery story. At the end the mystery will be solved. Really. Back in 1977 when Virginia and I and Jennifer and Darcy spent a month in Thailand as part of our furlough because her folks lived here then, it was our first visit to this beautiful country. Mom and dad met us at the plane in Bangkok and we spent a few days there before we moved on to see other parts of the country. While we were staying in a guest apartment on the Mission Hospital campus, we had the privilege of meeting Gertrude Green who started the midwifery school. One of the nursing school buildings is named for her. Somehow, we got on the subject of Jim Thompson. She loaned us the book about him and told us to come back and see her when we finished it. Here is the story. Jim Thompson was in the US military during WWII. Before the war started, the Thai king and his family, including two sons who would ultimately be the next two kings, moved to the United States and stayed there until the war was over. When it became obvious that Japan was on its way to take over southeast Asia, the interim Thai government told the
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 250 Allies exactly what they were doing, then invited the Japanese in to “liberate” the country. The Allies had put a few people out in the boonies to keep a watch on what happened. Jim Thompson was one of them. The father of our dear friend, Nancy Bassham, was then governor of Bangkok, and he was the one who invited in the Japanese. Very smart. Thailand did not lose any of their treasures. While Thompson was out in remote places, he happened across lots of ancient artifacts that he recognized were very valuable. But they had been thrown away by people who didn’t appreciate their value. As soon as the war was over, Jim Thompson went home to Texas and found that his wife had divorced him. They had no children. So, he turned around and headed back to Thailand. Gertrude Green got to Thailand about the same time. She was one of the very first Adventist missionaries to come in after the war. Since she and Thompson were both single Americans, they became well acquainted. During the war, Thompson had discovered that there were a few families far from Bangkok who had traditionally woven silk cloth in their homes for the