| |
|
|
Zoom Out |
August Traber III ("Gus")
November, 2001, Mendocino
Gus was born in 1935, in Rheineck, Switzerland. He was sick much of the time for his first 18 years. He had bad allergies from the beginning, much like his grandson Googie. Gus got beat up by other kids a lot. He developed a healthy anger response, and often fought back with a stick or shovel (but rarely a morning star or halberd), or whatever other efficient implement was at hand.
He remembers life before and during primary school as pleasant, despite his ailments. Rheineck was a veritable paradise for kids, back then.
He had a dominant mother, and his father was gone much of the time, training kids and adults in gymnastics. Gus wasn't athletic, so he didn't participate. He would often watch the other kids training, though, and dreamt of becoming an acrobat one day. He thinks his father must have been very disappointed that his only son wasn't up to it. Susy's dad (Susy is Gus's current wife) learned gymnastics from Gus's dad, and had a very high opinion of him.
In late primary and secondary school, Gus had after-school jobs. One was making deliveries for a tobacco shop; another was picking up and delivering Electrolux vacuum cleaners. His mother let him keep the money, so he usually had more money than his peers. His mother worked as a salesperson herself - mostly clothing - so the family wasn't hurting for money after World War II, anymore.
Gus graduated secondary school at age 15. His mother encouraged him to follow an academic path; he refused. He also refused public service jobs (railway, post office, telephone, customs, etc). He felt that the people in these fields were too sedate. He decided to go for a freight forwarder and custom house broker apprenticeship.
Gus ran away from home several times, and explored neighboring countries by bicycle. He was underage, so the authorities would look for him. He recalls once eating his lunch beneath a pub window, and hearing his name and description reported on the radio inside. (He left the premises with despatch).
Gus never finished his apprenticeship, which became a strong social stigma. He was nothing more than a "Hilfsarbeiter" (help-worker); a social class that was known to breed appreciably more criminals than the nation's academic segment. A former secondary teacher suggested he try a volunteer work camp in Holland, to hone his social talents.
He left home in 1955. His mother dropped dad's father shortly thereafter and married Tony Imholz . Dad went to the work camp, met Lucy Harper, and proposed almost immediately. He was 18 at the time. Lucy didn't accept right away. Gus worked for 3 months at the camp and went back home. Lucy continued her travels through Europe and then went back to the U.S. She returned to Switzerland in 1956.
Gus married Lucy in Basel in 1957. For their honeymoon, they rode bicycles to Yugoslavia (taking the occasional train and ferry.)
Gus applied for a U.S. immigrant visa in Hamburg, but it took too long. He got a tourist visa, then together with Lucy took a ship to the U.S. by the name of "Esther Schulte". They ran into the tail end of a big storm -- the same storm that sank the German sail training ship "Pamir". The ship that Gus and Lucy were on hauled brown coal from Philadelphia to Bremen, Germany, and returned to Philadelphia on water ballast. A couple of days into the Atlantic, the Esther Schulte had to turn off its engine to save the propeller, and flew a flag that advertised "Ship out of control". From Philadelphia to San Francisco, they continued by air. Many of Lucy's Oberlin College classmates had come to Berkeley. Gus and Lucy lived with her sister Molly briefly, on Alcatraz Avenue.
The International Institute office in Oakland arranged for Gus to travel to Vancouver B.C. by Greyhound bus, pick up an immigrant visa, and re-enter the country. Upon return he worked for the Ski Hut in Berkeley, and then Dymo, also in Berkeley. It was here that Gus developed his career as an International Freight Forwarder & Customs House Broker.
In later years, Gus hired on with Bechtel. He disagrees vehemently with their politics, but, as he likes to say, "I can put their money to better use than they can." Bechtel jobs took him around the world -- Brunei, Colombia, Saudi Arabia, and France.
Gus is now retired and living with Susy in Fruemsen, Switzerland.
In the days to come, he intends to flesh out the following categories with some anecdotes and other tidbits. Stay tuned!
Characters
Heroes
History
Places
Wars
Work
Work: Volunteer
Non-Profit Organizations
Public TV and Radio
Aviation
Railroads
Seafaring
Travelogues
Gus likes the idea of racing across Russia.
Dreams
Therapy
Spirituality, Life After Death
Art
Basler Fasnacht
Books
Collections
Films
Food
Hobbies
Humour
Languages
Music
Photos: Mine
Photos: By Others
Science (General)
Astronomy
Ecology
Ornithology