|
Larry Motz
Charles Choi
Po Chiu Mar
Hiroshi Murata
Jeff Peacock
Bill Tsui
Sally (Wang) Chow
CHARLES CHOI
23 August, 1960: Left Tokyo for the USA; joined with my two sisters to attend Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois in September, studying for my Bachelor's degree in Fine Arts. In the fall of 1963 I was accepted into the Cooper Union School of Art and Architecture under full scholarship to achieve my Bachelor of Architecture. While fully matriculated I worked for various architectural firms up and down the East Coast beginning in 1961 until completion of my thesis and subsequent departure for Colorado Springs, Colorado in 1968. Have been based in this state ever since.
Married in 1966 in Connecticut, had first of four children in 1971 while living in the mountains surrounding Colorado Springs: three girls, Regan, Kristin, and
Brenna, and lastly a boy named Cullen who is now finishing his third year at the United States Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, Long Island, New York. His sisters are spread out through Utah, Colorado, and New York.
In 1973, the practice in Architecture and Planning was begun under the name of Architects and Planners International, Inc. By 1978, with a name change to
C.Y. Choi & Associates, P.C., the practice had grown to be branch officed in San Francisco, Manchester, England, and Denver, serving projects spanning several continents…from Abu Dhabi, to Brazil and the Philippines, as well as within the USA.
Although continuing limited professional engagements as a consultant, as of August 1998 I have relocated to Lakewood, Colorado where I reside in semi-retirement. As such I am engaged in various civic activities such as serving on the Planning Commission, Boards of Directors of several Metro Districts and Projects, and spending as much time as possible skiing and mountain biking and as back-up to my wonderful children.
PO CHIU MAR
Since graduating from MIT with BS/MS degrees in 1965, I've worked for various small and large companies in New York City, Tokyo/Yokohama, Washington D.C., and Hong Kong. I married Christine Wong of New York City in 1965, and we raised a son Erik, now 33 years old, who works as an architect in Los Angeles, and a daughter, Pamela, 30 years old, who is spending this year getting her master's degree at the London School of Economics. Erik attended MIT and he is now married and the father of a two-year-old boy. Pamela is still single and graduated from Yale University. After 28 years of marriage, Christine and I divorced in 1994 because we both had changed too much. I have been doing my own business since 1985, and will probably spend the balance of my life in Hong Kong.
People who know me say that I am semi-retired, but to pay the bills I run my own business shipping motors from China to Japan. This business is possible due partly to the fact that I speak Japanese, because my Japanese partner speaks only Japanese, and over the years we have developed our trust in each other. The source of that language knowledge and appreciation for Japan and the Japanese is evident.
My life now seems more active and fuller than ever in the past 57 years, and much of what I do and enjoy today have their roots from my days in Japan and at ASIJ. Two years ago I started to learn to play the piano, and one source for that desire was the play "Our Town" of our senior year, when I was miscast as the family uncle who was a musician. (Don Berger taught me a few notes of "The Blue Danube" to play on the xylophone, and to this day I still remember the sequence of notes.) Because my life partner, Olivia Mak of Hong Kong, is very much into ballroom dancing, I started lessons two years ago, and I now can do all the ten ballroom and Latin dances. I play tennis twice a week, and I find that my love of sports came from the from the intramural class leagues in football, basketball, and softball that were taught to us by Charlie Swindell, Al Smith, and James East.
I want to take this opportunity to say "Thank you" to all of you who came out to Yokohama to say goodbye to me when I boarded that small freighter the day after our graduation 39 years ago. And finally, I want to say how very much these special teachers at ASIJ-Mrs. Kunkel of my 5th grade, Les Crandall of 7th grade, Mrs. R. Smethurst of Latin, and even William Spooner, the science teacher-have nurtured and helped me develop my love of languages, technology and science, humanity, and business.
HIROSHI MURATA
After graduating from ASIJ, I attended Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, RI with my senior year spent in Rome, Italy, and graduated in 1964. Also in 1964 I married Nancy Silvia, a classmate, and we both went to the Yale University School of Art and Architecture for graduate study.
I have been active as a visual artist since the mid-60's and also taught at Western Michigan University and the College of New Jersey until 1990. For the past ten years, I have happily been working independently as an artist and have completed several large commissions for public buildings in New York and New Jersey.
Nancy and I have two daughters, Aya, born in Tokyo in 1970 and Yuki, born in New York City in 1973. Aya is a Bates graduate currently working on her MA at Harvard in East Asian Studies. She is married and lives in Andover, Massachusetts where she has worked for six years at Phillips Academy. Yuki graduated from Yale in 1995, traveled the world, and now works for an architectural firm in Santa Barbara, California.
There is now time in my schedule for two favorite pursuits-skiing and motorcycle riding! A new interest is mountaineering-last fall I went to Nepal for the classic trek to Everest Base Camp. Now, I am getting ready for a mountaineering course this summer at Mount Baker. It's been fun!
JEFF PEACOCK
Entered the U.S. Army after leaving ASIJ and spent one totally unproductive semester at the Univ. of Florida. In the service I was trained in artillery, missile fire direction control; went to Germany and then was accepted into the Officer Candidate School (OCS) at Ft. Sill, OK. Afterwards, I served as an artillery advisor in Vietnam. While in Vietnam I was shot at by thankfully poor marksmen which convinced me to go back to school.
Obtained a Masters in 1969 from Columbia University in Russian-Chinese International Affairs. Married in 1968 and have a daughter who is now working for Merrill Lynch in Virginia. Joined Dept. of State (DOS) in 1970 and was divorced in 1980. Remarried to my present wife in 1981 and still going strong after 18 years!
Have served with DOS in United Nations (NY), Lebanon (twice), Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Italy, Greece (twice), and Japan. Speak passable Greek and Arabic. Now on rotation to Dept. of Defense in Colorado and will probably retire in Denver.
BILL TSUI
1960-1965: Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio. Graduated with a BS in
Business Administration.
1965-1967: Worked for Procter & Gamble in Hawaii.
1967-1969: Worked for IBM as a System Engineer in Los Angeles.
1969-1973: Worked for Ford Motor Company in the San Francisco Zone.
1973-1976: Established Ford-Lio Ho Motor Company in Taiwan.
1976-1986: Became a General Motors dealer in Sacramento, California.
1981-1986: Added a separate Chrysler/Plymouth/Mitsubishi franchise in Sacramento, California.
1987: Sold both the General Motors dealership and the Chrysler dealership and retired.
1990: Went to Hong Kong for vacation.
1991-Present: Joined Crown Motors Limited, the Toyota and Lexus Distributor in Hong Kong as Managing Director.
Married in 1965 and divorced in 1983: four children (three daughters and one son).
Remarried in 1985: one son (12 years old).
One grandson, and one granddaughter, with a third coming in August, 1999.
SALLY (WANG) CHOW
Looking back I thank God for His grace throughout more than half a century. Life in China, Japan, and the United States is full of precious and treasured memories of good times and difficult times, laughter and tears.
At present I am happy and content, retiring two years ago from Kaiser Hospital, where I worked as a blood banker or medical technologist. My husband of thirty-four years, Thomas, after having been a college math professor and a successful entrepreneur, is now a pastor of a Chinese Church in San Jose, California. We have two married children, a daughter and a son.
We look to the future with hope and anticipation of the bright new world.
LARRY MOTZ
After saying sayonara
to Japan in the summer of 1961, my family returned to Arlington, Virginia where
I graduated from Wakefield H.S. in 1962 and entered Arizona State University. In
1966 I joined the U.S. Navy and served four years, most of it on board the U.S.S. Sterett (DLG-31). For the last two years of my tour, the Sterett was
home, ported in Yokosuka, Japan. After leaving the Navy in 1970 I returned to
Arizona State University and graduated in 1973. For the next five years I worked
for the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum helping with
the restoration of airplanes and spacecraft and setting up of displays going
into the then new Air and Space Museum. The next 20 years were spent working as
an illustrator for several companies in the Washington D.C. area and overseas.
Six years ago my life
changed dramatically. I met and married the perfect woman and have now been
married for four-and-half wonderful years. About the same time I decided it was
time for a career change so I quit work and went back to school. At the present
time I am working for Computer Sciences Corporation as a Network Engineer.
Back to Homepage
|
