My parents were assigned to Nakhon Ratchsima (Korat), Thailand for language training, which would last two years. While learning Thai, my Dad also taught English to the cadets who were learning to fly F-86 jets at the Korat Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) Base. My Dad had a knack for names and remembered all of his students; even years later when they became the top officers in the military, and one became governor of Bangkok (then the owner of the Rose Gardens, a popular tourist attraction an hour west of Bangkok). When Mom was pregnant with me, she needed a doctor who turned out to be Dr. Supoch, an army doctor from the local base. Dr. Supoch eventually rose in rank to become the Surgeon General and one of the King's doctors. When my parents retired ... read more

For the Chinese and many East Asian countries, a month after a baby is born the child is one year old; the point where the child is considered viable, having gone through the highest risk periods of infant mortality with life beginning with conception. As I was conceived in China, I am beginning this story of my life's journeys with the marriage of my parents on January 11, 1949. My parents William Donald (hereafter referred to as Dad) and Edna Dorothy (known simply as Bonnie since her college days, and hereafter referred to as Mom), were married at the mission station in Labrang, Gansu Province, China, in what is ethnographically Tibet. Labrang (Chinese name is Xiahe) is a major Tibetan religious center, with a monastery which at the time had over 5000 monks, but let's back ... read more