Going to Misawa, Japan, was not one of my expectations for teaching.
Our son Curt went thru his senior year of high school and told us one day, he was not ready for college. He was going to the Navy. He tested well and when a billet opened he was off to boot camp in Orlando, ‘A’ school in Memphis, Tennessee and to Pensacola, Florida for flight training. He became an airborne radar operator in a Navy P-3 squadron stationed in Guam, a flying billet that took him all over the Near and Far East.
At the same time, I returned to my old alma mater and after two years was certified to teach history and social studies, the humanities and visual art. Clarice and I put our heads together to see if we could get hired by DoDDS. First I needed a year of teaching experience. I was hired in a local district school teaching 4th, 5th, 7th, and 9th grades visual art. We went to a hiring seminar and a short time later, we got an offer from DoDDS to go to Germany. Unfortunately, we took a short vacation and we were not home when the offer came! So, we applied again and the next year, Clarice received an offer to teach in Japan. I could go along as her spouse but there was no job for me except the occasional substitute teacher replacement slot.
We packed up and went to Misawa, way up in the north of the main island of Honshuu. It was an air base staffed with a fighter squadron, search and rescue squadrons, and other military assets.
The short story is, we stayed 12 years! Eventually, Misawa added a second elementary school and the high school and the other elementary school was renovated. Clarice began teaching English and taking responsibility for drama productions. Her major field was speech and she excelled. We lived in beautiful base housing, a fifth floor apartment that gave us a view of the distant Pacific.
I substituted 52 times the first year, one stint last two months; I got a full time position teaching visual art the following year. The schools were well provisioned and the big budgets created many teaching opportunities. I saw a big difference between teaching in the Department of Defense (DoD) and at home in Iowa, where budgets were stretched and thin. Other than money issues, another major difference was rotation. Each year a number of teachers got transfers to other foreign assignments, some administrators rotated as well. And, the student population also moved as military and DoD contract parents changed locations. This gave the school new ideas and challenges every year. Coming back to work after a summer was inviting!
After a few years, I attended Michigan State University through their GSEO program. I take a Master of Arts in Curriculum studies. It took two summers at the International School Bangkok campus, two months of highly concentrated teaching and study. The school and living facilities were gated and I only left the campus once during those two summers- a tour with fellow teachers to see a few local sites. One broadening aspect of the program was meeting teachers from India, Indonesia, Egypt, Tiawan, the Philippines, Java, and of course the DoD had a number of teachers from across the spectrum. It was quite comforting to sit with these professionals, most with at least five years of teaching experience. In most cases, we knew as much or more about the classroom, but the subject matter seemed to transcend our experience; we were drawn into a strong education setting. I consider my Michigan State graduate degree to be the highest experiencial treat.
Each DoD school in Japan had a Host Nation element, teachers who were part of the specials curriculum. These teachers were dedicated Japanese educators. Their work was professional and they did a good job of giving the student population a real taste of Japanese culture. Apart from this, there were after school programs in flower arranging, and other Japanese specialities. An International Club offered membership to our teachers and that further consolidated a Far Eastern flavor to our school. I enjoyed wood block printing and I was able to learn the process from several local artists who came to our school, and a few who came to us from the Tokyo area. Toshi Yoshida is now a National Treasure in Japan; he and his wife visited our school twice while I was there. He instructed our students in wood cut techniques; he pulled many prints in my art room at Sollars Elementary, and through his wife I was able to converse with Mr. Yoshida on occasion. I still make wood block prints.
I think the administrative folks at our DoD school were adequate; occasionally a principal came along like Scarlet Rehrig. She was a dynamo, visiting every classroom every day! That’s the truth. She carried her office in her pocket, a cellphone. If there was an administrative duty to solve, she was informed by telephone by the office seccretary, Vicki Walbruch or Leslie Leigh. They worked in tandem. Ms. Rehrig was seldom in her office. Office work and paper shuffling were handled beginning at 0600! She and the secretary would be alone to do the paperwork and map out the day. Ms. Rehrig and several core staff members like Robin Evans brought a National Teaching Award to Sollars Elementary.
Winters in Misawa were snowy but mild. We averaged about 120 inches of snow a year. There was very little road snow removal and with that much snow, the ditches became high mounds of ice and snow. The Pacific Ocean mitigated the temperatures. There were a lot of wintertime activities. I did cross country skiing. A rice paddy was just across the street and I made a trail. A few friends joined me from time to time. We lived on the base for five years and then moved onto the economy, as we called it. We learned to drive on the left side of the road and activities away from Misawa were easily reached by train, car or airplane since the local airport shared the airbase runway facilities.
During this period, 1988-2000, we came home for summer vacation. We had sold our house in Cedar Rapids, IA. Clarice’s parents were retired in Ida grove, IA, and my folks were in Escondido, CA. We drew a line between the two cities on a map and half way between these locations was Boulder, CO. That’s how we came to live in Louisville, then Estes Park, and finally Loveland, our final retirement location. During summer, we tried to visit both sets of parents and relatives. It worked out pretty well.
Currently, Clarice and I both volunteer; Clarice gives time to the FoodBank and the Estes Park quilters, and I volunteer at the CSU library archive two mornings a week. We are only 25 miles from Rocky Mountain National Park. We have a good dog, Maggie, to keep us company and the surrounding area of northern Colorado is grand. The mountainscape is pretty much beyond description. You just have to come and walk the trails and enjoy seeing the wildlife and the early morning and late evening vistas. These mountains are spectacular.
Our daughter Kelli works in customer service in Utah and our son Curt works in Tokyo. Clarice and I try to get the family all together in Honolulu once a year for a good week of kicking back vacation. We’ve been able to do this several times. Curt and Mai have two boys and they like the beach lifestyle.