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RS: Then I got a call from Kansas. And it's just when I was ready to sign a contract at Wisconsin, Whitewater. And the chair of the art department called me and says, "We want you to come for an interview at the University of Kansas." And I said, "First of all, I never applied for a job there. I don't know where Kansas is." And he says, "Well, we're looking at the letter," and he described it, and sure enough it was one of those blanket letters I sent out. And I said, "Well, I'm really not interested, but thanks anyway." And he says, "Well, okay," and so hung up and that ended it. So I begged off from signing this contract at Whitewater because another possibility came up at Delaware. And so several weeks went by and I'm trying to make up my mind where I'm gonna sign a contract to, and I get a phone call from Peter Thompson, again, at Kansas. And he said, "Listen, we've brought in two candidates, we don't like either one. We really want you to come." And I said, well, the only reason I would come there is 'cause I've never been to Kansas. And I wouldn't mind coming down. And he says, "Okay. We understand that." Well, I find out at that point that one of my friends at Kansas that teaches there said, "You know, one of my best friends teaches, if it's in Lawrence, that's where he teaches. His name is Voss Pulos." And he said, "I think you guys would really get along." And so that sort of gave me this sort of incentive, at least I'll know somebody there, having no idea what a huge painting program that they had at Kansas, or anything else about it.

And so I fly down there and first thing that impressed me was, we, I got there in the evening and there was a reception, a faculty reception. And there were seven motorcycles parked outside of this building. I thought, wow, this place, you know, sounds like a pretty good attitude or something. And I go in there and first person I meet is Voss Pulos. And we hit it off. And, I mean, we really hit it off. And we just had the greatest time and looking around and it was a room full of all the other, twelve painters, fourteen painters, and it really got me to thinking about, maybe this place wouldn't be so bad. And Lawrence was nothing like I expected. It was this hilly place with trees, Victorian homes, and, so I left with a real good feeling about it.

And then Peter called and says, "Everything's great. Everyone liked you. We wanna offer you the job and here's the money." And I said, "Well, I can't do it for that money." And so he said, "Well, let me see if I can get some more." And so he called back in a few days and says they got a little bit more money and -- just enough for me to say, "Well, okay, I'll take it." And I thought well, I can go there for one or two years. And so that summer I go there, Bea and I drive from Seattle. And we get to Kansas, and we pull in there, and the first thing I asked the chair of the department, says, "Where does Voss Pulos live? What's his number?" And he said, "Voss quit." And I said, "Voss quit? Why did he quit?" And he said, "Because we had to pay you more than we were paying him." [Laughs] And so, talk about biting off your nose to spite your face. One of the reasons I went there just disappeared. But, anyway, so we're in Kansas.

AI: Right, right.

<End Segment 41> - Copyright © 2003 Densho. All Rights Reserved.