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Interesting family history....

Posted: Mon May 14, 2012 10:05 am
by The Annoyed Man
http://oralhistories.library.caltech.ed ... te_OHO.pdf

This is a link to my mother's memoirs on the Caltech website. Fascinating reading.......at least to me. Keep in mind, when she says "Islamist," she means someone in academia who studies the historical/cultural/religious aspects of Islam, not someone who is a radical Muslim.

When you read how exotic my mother's life was, you'll maybe have a much better appreciation for why I am as crazy as I am. :mrgreen: When you get to this part:
ASPATURIAN: So in Morocco you had a baby. But then you came back to France?

SMITH: We went to America. But first we came through France to say goodbye to my family. David had bought an MG in England; and so in 1953 we crossed France, then America, in an MG with a six-month-old baby in the little compartment in the back.
....that baby is me.

Anyway, for your reading pleasure.....

Re: Interesting family history....

Posted: Mon May 14, 2012 10:35 am
by mamabearCali
What an amazing story!

Re: Interesting family history....

Posted: Mon May 14, 2012 10:36 am
by G26ster
The Annoyed Man wrote: David had bought an MG in England; and so in 1953 we crossed France, then America, in an MG with a six-month-old baby in the little compartment in the back.
Then you bounced around on the rear shelf in the back of one like this (my '53 MG TD), most likely TAM. No wonder you're "annoyed" :biggrinjester:

Image

Re: Interesting family history....

Posted: Mon May 14, 2012 10:53 am
by hi-power
Wow! What a life your parents had. And a great sense of humor.
I especially liked the stories about your dad protecting your mother from the Polish poet :boxing and of how some of his ashes ended up on the glasses of a dentist from Genoa. :lol:

Re: Interesting family history....

Posted: Mon May 14, 2012 10:55 am
by JeepGuy79
I see MG and I think machine gun. LOL. I was about to ask if he form 8 or 10'd it or whatever that you could do way before my time if you were awesome enough.


That MG is boss. Love the color!!! Is it a Right side drive?

Re: Interesting family history....

Posted: Mon May 14, 2012 12:19 pm
by The Annoyed Man
I'm still reading the PDF. It has brought back so many memories. Max Delbrück was a wonderful man, truly a renaissance man. Peter Fay of course was the famous historian whom you often see quoted on WW2 documentaries on the History Channel. He died in 2004. The descriptions of Richard Feinman are hilarious. He once showed up at a costume party dressed as Queen Elizabeth II. There's a lot of stuff I had forgotten about.