Lehal Library

I was born and received a quite good formal education -- not because any special efforts were taken to provide it, but because during my youth education was still being competently delivered. I graduated with a BA degree in 1955, having carried a double major in biology and art. I did well in both subjects because they deeply interested me. Had my life been completely my own in 1955, I would have gone on to obtain a MA degree in bacteriology, and ultimately to attempt a Ph.D. in genetics and genetic research. Art was my other vivid passion, but I planned to pursue it only as an avocation. But because of my memory of exceptional experiencing, I was deeply interested in all such matters -- but only intellectually so. However, in 1955, the life of young males in these United States was not theirs alone. The circumstances of military preparedness prevailed and intervened. All males were required to spend two years in military service and their lives could not proceed until that service had been rendered. Because of this, I enlisted in the US Army, spending most of the tour of duty in Korea and the Far East. After basic training, I volunteered for Korean duty, much hated by most other soldiers, because I wanted to go to Asia and this was my first chance to do so. It was in Korea, which I loved and adored, that I took the decision to go to New York and become a painter.