Touch of Gray - June / July 2006

Three Generations Climb Mt. Fuji
Law Professor Tells of an Exciting Career in Singapore

Three Generations Climb Mt. Fuji
   "Grandma, would you climb Mt. Fuji with me?" Thirteen-year-old Amanda asked me last fall. Usually, whatever she asked, whether it was buying Girl Scout cookies, or sponsoring PTA projects, or supporting her walk for some good cause, the answer was "Yes." However, this request was a big one, and I answered, "Amanda, let me think about it." Since I am in my seventies I called my physician. After explaining the request of my granddaughter and asking for his judgment on the climb, I was grateful to have Dr. Rubenstein respond that he approved of my accompanying her.

   Wouldn't it be splendid if I could be part of her dreams and memories in her future years! You can buy monetary gifts, but risking one's health and life in this adventure to climb Mt. Fuji with a granddaughter would be a precious gift for this child's future. I firmly decided to make the venture a success for us, both. I began walking six miles each day, especially choosing uphill paths, to prepare fully.

   Mt. Fuji (12,400 feet high) rises from its seaside plains. Because of its snow-capped symmetrical beauty, it is the pride and treasure of Japan. The Japanese people, including myself, hold deep respect and admiration for Mt. Fuji. For the Japanese it is a sacred symbol that provides a personal identity and bond that draws people of all ages to make a pilgrimage to its peak.

   How has Mt. Fuji become known far and wide? In 1820 Hokusai, a Japanese artist in his sixtieth year traveled widely in search of rare and fascinating landscape material. At that time he produced thirty-six views, and later one hundred of Mt. Fuji from surprising and memorable locations. The strength of Hokusai's Mt. Fuji is that he captured the sense of immortality that lay hidden within the very heart of the volcano. Hokusai believed that Mt. Fuji by way of its form maintained the power to remain unchanged in spite of the constant change that surrounds it. For over a century and a half Hokusai's celebration of the great mountain has projected its immortality.

   At five p.m. on the afternoon of August 17, 2000, my son Chris, granddaughter Amanda, and I left home in Tokyo to catch a bus that would take us to the fifth climbing station on the mountain, which is midway in the climb to the top. Mt. Fuji is located sixty miles west of Tokyo in Yamanashi prefecture. After riding two hours and passing through towns and forests we arrived at the fifth station of Shimoyoshida Trail. There our first act was a purchase of a commemorative hiking stick. Each cost $15. The stick was made of solid wood, was six-feet long and several inches in circumference. Around this square-sided stick at each of the succeeding stations that we reached would be stamped with a hot iron the name of that station in order to commemorate our climb.

   The months of July and August are the only two months of the year that the mountain is open to the public. During the rest of the year the dangerous winds, cold and snow have made it unwise to attempt to climb even for competent hikers. We learned that it is better to climb at night because during the daylight hours the great number of climbers makes the road crowded and dusty. As many as 10,000 men, women and children are said to climb Mt. Fuji each day.

   Those who later heard about or questioned us about our climb invariably asked, "Did you take any pictures?" Needless to say, under the dark skies a small flashlight gave barely enough light to guide our steps, a situation in which no flash photo would illuminate any but the nearest objects. We walked always looking upward toward the dim light at the next rest station with the stars above lifting our eyes beyond. The beginning steps beyond the fifth station brought distinct differences. After midnight my body weight seemed to increase and my head operation to decrease, tending toward sleep. The approach to the sixth station saw a narrowing of the trail that added to the uneasy feeling. I later learned that this climb is five times higher than the Empire State Building, which is 1,250 feet high and with 102 stairways. Thus, we were climbing 510 steps of one Empire State Building, one after the other. As we talked or murmured encouragement mixed with some doubt we were also certain that there would be no going back.

   Whether because of my hypertension, the altitude, or sheer tiredness, I was breathless most of the way. We were told that a number of heart-related tragedies had happened on the trail. We thought it wise not to wait for such a fatal event and decided it best to buy a can of oxygen at the next rest station. One 12ounce can of oxygen cost $25, and we found that the cost for it increased at each successive station. Among the three of us we shared and sniffed oxygen, immediately finding that breathing came easier and with it new strength.

   The changes in elevation and temperature were severe. As we ascended past the seventh station we encountered the most difficult spot. No trail was evident, only two boulders. Nature was on our side; the temperature was in the sixties, and there was absent all traces of rain, snow, wind, thunder and lightning.

   Because of the enduring clouds we were unable to see the famous sunrise as we neared the summit, and so we turned to descend. The trail down was a different; separate one from that we had taken up. It was covered with volcanic dust, and each step I took seemed to gather and lift some three to four inches of those ashes.

   We walked continuously for eleven hours. Now our bodies were punished with numb and ineffective movement. Gradually as the sun emerged we began to see close and far some of the vistas of grandeur that altitude presents. Safely arriving once again at our starting point; the fifth station, we had a hearty breakfast, stretched our bodies, and rested on the floor of the small building. We assured one another that from this point, at least, there would be less energy demanded and no surprises as we would soon be boarding our bus.

   At whatever stage we find ourselves, in our life journey, each segment is very precious. At every stage we share happiness, sorrow, doubt and fear. On the Mt. Fuji trail three generations walked quietly together forging ahead with some undiscovered path in front. But both stars and the forward stations assure us of the success beyond. -- Shio Northup, Resident

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Law Professor Tells of an Exciting Career in Singapore
   The time was 1958. Harry Groves, who now lives at Carolina Meadows, was busy at Harvard researching and writing about the constitution of the Federation of Malaya, which had been adopted a year earlier when the country achieved its independence from the British Empire.

   “My research was published in 1959. The University of Singapore was looking for an American visiting professor to come out and teach Malayan Constitutional Law at the time. I was certainly the only American who had written on the Malayan constitution and possibly the only one who had even read it,” Groves said.

   The University of Singapore had secured funding from the Asia Foundation for a two-year assignment for the visiting professor. While he would be fully subject to the University’s administration, the vetting, hiring and financing were left to the Asia Foundation. “In my case, after interviewing both me and my wife, and being satisfied with my credentials, the Foundation had asked the University if a Negro (our designated term then) would be acceptable. I learned (after reaching Singapore) that the British founding dean had given a resounding ‘yes’, stating that my race might be a distinct advantage in very multicultural Singapore and Malaya.”

   The Foundation asked Groves to write a monthly report summarizing his work and experiences to the Foundation’s representative. “It occurred to me that perhaps these reports might find their way to the State Department,” said Groves, “which I thought not inappropriate. The Foundation also asked me, during my teaching vacations, to travel in Southeast Asia, evaluating requests from law schools for libraries, fellowships, etc. I was delighted and gained considerable experience in India, Pakistan, Burma and Ceylon as a result.”

   The pay and benefits offered by the Foundation were substantial. Groves, and his wife Evelyn, received one of the University’s furnished houses in the compound reserved for professors and top administrators. To give them time to adjust to driving on the left side of the road, a driver hired for our first quarter, and again all expenses were covered.

   “When asked the source of Foundation funding for all this, I was told that it came from corporations doing business in Asia, other foundations and wealthy individuals interested in Asia. This seemed plausible,” said Groves. It was not until five years later, after they had returned to the States, that Groves read in the New York Times an expose revealing that the Foundation was funded by the C.I.A. “Not only had I, but also the University, been misinformed of the funding source. I felt used and was therefore infuriated! Of course I had not spied on the University or the government but I wasn’t sure what the University might believe. There was nothing secret or not to be shared in my monthly reports. I excoriated the Foundation’s Singapore representative, with whom I had become very friendly. He had returned to the U.S. and was abject in his apologies. We have remained friends. This was the only dark spot in our whole experience.”

   The Groves were uncertain about what conditions they might find upon arriving in Singapore. As it turned out, “It was not the primitive country we thought it might be. In fact, it was the only Asian country, outside Japan, where we could drink the water straight from the tap,” comments Groves. Restaurants served excellent European, Chinese, Indian and Malayan cuisine. The majority of the Singapore population was Chinese, the rest were Indians, Pakistanis, Ceylonese, Malays or British. “In Singapore and Malaya people wore wonderfully colorful clothing, especially the women who wore native chong sams, saris and sarongs,” Groves remembers.

   In addition, they found a highly sophisticated university. “My classes were as good as any I had experienced in the States. Surprisingly, there was a larger percentage of women in law school there than in the U.S. at that time.” The university housing separated the Groves from the 500-member American community, business people and members of the consulate who lived and socialized in close proximity. Foreign children were not admitted to Singapore schools, so both Great Britain and America maintained their own schools including children of other nations. Evelyn Groves, who holds a University of Chicago library science degree, became the librarian at the American School. Most of the teachers there were American wives. Later on Evelyn was asked to work in the much larger University library where she remained for the rest of their stay.

   “Socially, our lives were much more interesting and certainly more varied than we had experienced in the segregated South and even in the North. I happily discovered that a Professor (full professor in the States) enjoyed very high social status, as in Britain and Europe,” said Groves. On occasion, they were dinner guests of the Governor General (earl and countess) and the Prime Minister regularly invited them to attend luncheons at his seaside estate. The Chief Justice became a very good friend and entertained them frequently at his black tie dinners. “I do not recall seeing another American at any of these dinners or luncheons.” Grove remembers.

   “We did encounter fellow Americans at the home of the Consul General, our highest ranking
diplomat. The Consul General was always interested in questioning me, not too subtly, for information from the broad professional and social circles in which we moved. For reasons best known to him, the Consul General seemed to consider us the poster couple to introduce to important visiting Americans. At dinners, we met, to name a few: Estelle Frankfurter, sister of the Justice; Jesse Unrah, Speaker and most powerful politician in California; and Jeanette Rankin, first woman in the U.S. House of Representatives. Either Evelyn or I were always seated next to the distinguished visitor and we made it a custom to invite the person to our house for tea or lunch. The most interesting American was Sargent Shriver, who was on a fast trip around the world gathering ideas for his upcoming Peace Corps.”

   As Groves second term neared an end, the Asia Foundation, preferring short-term appointments, would not again extend his stay. Not wishing to lose such a valuable person, the University of Singapore offered Groves a permanent Chair position at the Law School, which would be effective after a three-month return to the States. At that time however, bad political blood was developing between Singapore and the Federation. Not even the Prime Minister thought Singapore could make it as an independent country, the British having left upon giving it independence. “As we prepared to leave for the States, rioting had broken out between Chinese and Malays. The day of our departure the entire city had been ordered shutdown. No traffic, no pedestrians were on the usually busy streets. We had to be taken to the airport by armed police escort,” remembers Groves. “Once home in the States, I decided Singapore was just too volatile to tie our lives to the fate of that country. Reluctantly, I resigned my Singapore appointment.”

   In 1989 the Groves retired to Carolina Meadows. Eleven years later the couple decided that they wanted to be closer to their grandson and family, so they moved to Washington, DC. Given the Equity Program offered by Carolina Meadows, such a move was easy to do. Upon arriving in DC, Groves was surprised to find that there were no laws addressing Continuing Care Retirement Communities. “I decided to write a law giving protection to residents, based on the NC law I had written in 1988. A young, ambitious member of the District Council introduced my legislation which was enacted within a year (considered blinding speed),” remarks Groves.

   Just recently Harry and his wife Evelyn returned to Carolina Meadows where they once again enjoy the amenities, friends and comfortable North Carolina retirement living.” -- Harry Groves, Resident & Dick Ballard, Resident

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