Dr. Robert Lee “Chuttee” March ~ Class of 1967

Bob March ~ Class of 1967

Arrived ~ 4/12/1949

Departed ~ 11/11/2018

Tribute Video

Dr. Robert Lee “Chuttee” March III

Bob (Chuttee) was born on April 12, 1949 in Urbana, Illinois to Robert Lee March, Jr. and Janet Louise Searles March. He passed away at home in Wheat Ridge, CO on Sunday, November 11, 2018 after several years of struggling with COPD. In 2006, he survived a battle with stage 4 throat cancer, and was acutely grateful for the life he enjoyed subsequent to that time.

Following, in his own words, is his obituary.

I am survived by my wife of 47 years, Christine “Sina” Seehausen March of Wheat Ridge, CO, daughter Emily of Denver, son Robert IV of Wuhan, China, sister Meredith (Jeff) McNamee of Payton, CO, brother Jonathon of Medford, Oregon. Brothers and sisters in law, Alice (Sato) Iwasa of Harvard, Mass, Sylvia (Joe) Szucs of Houston, TX, Alden (Mari Loria) Mudge of Berkley, CA, Richard (Ann Finneran) Seehausen of Hurleyville, NY, Mary (Jon) Bresler of Bow N.H., Jared Mudge of Ellenville, N.Y., Jill Mudge of Sarasota, FL. Nephews and nieces, Charles (Teri) McNamee, William (Andrea) McNamee, Megan March, Ben (Liz) Bresler, Sam Mudge, Liz (Grayson) Miller, Aron (Alissa) Szucs, Adam (Emily) Szucs, Gina (Glen) Reed, Nina Seehausen, Isabelle Mudge. Great nephews and great nieces, Ava, Ella, Noah, Esmie, Nolan, Andrew, Oliver and Forrest. Last but not least, the Marches of San Diego. I am blessed with many friends who greatly enriched my life.

I lived in the South Chicago/North Indiana area until age 7. At that time, my father, an accountant and tax specialist took a job as a consultant with Public Administration Services. This was a consulting firm that, through contracts under the auspices of the United States agency for International Development, provided technical assistance to foreign government services. This job would lead the family on a journey through the world to over 25 countries spanning the next 15 years. So, from age 7 to 18, I lived with my parents and my sister, Meredith in Burma (now called Myanmar) from 1956-1959, in Afghanistan from 1959-1962, and Thailand from 1963-1969. I attended British and International schools during those years and was a 1967 graduate of the International School of Bangkok (ISB). My younger brother, Jonathan, was born in 1961 while we were living in Afghanistan.

Leaving my family, who would stay in Thailand until 1969, I returned to the U.S. to attend Rockford College in Illinois. The time from 1967-1972 was a period of great personal, as well as global, disruption with the year 1968 being particularly difficult. Coming back to the United States in 1967, after being overseas for the majority of eleven years, was a very difficult personal adjustment. The course of my life and world events would converge to form a personal path in the summer 1968. It started with the assassination of Reverend Martin Luther King Jr on April 4, 1968. His death set off rifts and destruction in cities across the country. With this as a backdrop, I left the U.S. in the middle of May that year to return to Bangkok to visit my family over the summer. Returning to Bangkok was a real revelation as the Tet Offensive was in full swing. There were over 16,000 American deaths that year and was the deadliest of the Vietnam War. It was apparent in the year I had been away that the situation had changed for the worse. If that weren’t bad enough, news came that Robert F Kennedy had been assassinated on June 6, 1968. That hit me very hard because I had volunteered for his campaign in Indiana. He won that primary and gained momentum going into California. I was never involved in a political campaign again and maintained my unaffiliated status for the rest of my life. Later that summer, I left Bangkok with two friends to return to the U.S. via Europe. We went to Frankfurt, Germany to meet an old high school friend. While we were there, the Russians invaded Czechoslovakia on August 20, 1968. All military personnel were placed on high alert and I quickly left to return to the U.S. I went to Hammond, Indiana, where my maternal grandparents lived in preparation to return to Rockford College for my second year. That year, the Democratic National Convention was held in Chicago from August 26 to August 29, 1968. There were riots and total chaos in the streets. I was not directly involved in the riots but those events deeply effected me. In early September, I returned to school for my sophomore year. At the end of the fall semester, I had failed out of school due to poor grades.

This was clearly the low point in my life. However, out of this wreckage came two events that would change my life for the better for the rest of my life. The first was the discovery of psychology as a course of study and a career. The second was meeting Christine “Sina” Seehausen and marrying on August 21, 1971.

After flunking out of Rockford College, I enrolled in a community college and got my grades up to the point to where I was able to return to Rockford College and finally graduate in 1972. I had changed my major from political science to psychology and got a job on a psychiatric unit as a psych technician at Swedish American Hospital in Rockford, Illinois. Working with the confusion in my own mind and working with other people in extreme states of mind and emotional trauma, I found I had an ability and a degree of comfort for working with people diagnosed with severe and persistent mental illness. I had never considered psychology as a field of study or a career prior to this time but found I had a passion and great curiosity for understanding human behavior and emotions. After earning my BA in psychology from Rockford College, I set out on a course of discovery and a career of 43 years in the field of community mental health. I subsequently earned my MA degree in mental health administration from National Graduate University in Washington D.C., and my doctorate in psychology from the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colorado. I worked in both private and public settings in Illinois, Washington D.C. and Colorado. While in Washington D.C., I interned at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, which is the first federally operated psychiatric institute in the country. I spent 38 years working in the Colorado mental health system, 5 years at Southwest Denver Community Mental Health Center and 33 years at the Mental Health Center of Boulder and Broomfield counties. I developed expertise working with clients and their families who suffered from severe and persistent mental illness. I also developed a group therapy program for men who were court mandated to treatment due to wife abuse. Over a period of 22 years, I came to believe that assaulting one’s significant other is the most insidious form of terrorism. To summarize my career in community mental health; I did what I loved to do with people, both staff and clients, whom I loved.

The second event that changed the course of my life was meeting and marrying a fellow classmate at Rockford College, Christine “Sina” Seehausen. We married on August 21, 1971 in her hometown of Oxford, N.Y. After our graduation in 1972, we moved to Colorado which would become our home for the next 41 years (with the exception of two years spent in Washington D.C.) Sina and I had two children, Emily and Robert IV. She was a fantastic mother in addition to having a 36-year career with the phone company. She started in the 1974 at Mountain Bell, through US West and on to Qwest. She survived all the corporate transitions and, as I like to say, “She went from the mailroom to the corporate suites” on the 50th floor of the Qwest building at 1801 California St., Denver. Sina earned degrees in fine arts and interior design and is a fantastic painter. She comes from a family of talented artisans, and upon her retirement from the corporate world, she has dedicated herself to her craft which has earned her recognitions and awards in the mountain west. As talented as she is, she is a better person. I am forever grateful for the love and dedication to family she displayed throughout her life. I can’t imagine what my life would have been without her and I am eternally grateful that she never gave up on me and cared for me to the very end.

It all starts with parents, and I had the best. Along with my beloved sister, Meredith, my brother, Jonathon, and my grandparents, I was blessed with great friendships and relationships throughout my life. Music was always important to me. I attended the Woodstock festival, and many other concerts, and enjoyed playing music with my friends. Sports were also an important part of my life. I was a multi sport athlete in high school and played college baseball for one year. Golf was a life long pursuit that I enjoyed. I followed all the major sports and was an avid Broncos, Rockies and Nuggets fan. I had a lifelong interest in International Relations Theory and American Foreign Policy and spent the last 5 years of my life attempting to write and gain a deeper understanding of the subject. I love Colorado and was grateful to have found a home after wandering the world in my youth. I leave with the knowledge that I fully explored the inner and outer world.

-Robert Lee March III, PsyD

1977 ~ ISB Class of ’67 ten year reunion -Beaver Lake, AR.

Charles “Chuck” Byrd ~ Class of 1966

Chuck Byrd ~ Class of 1966

Arrived ~ 7/1/1946

Departed ~ 05/25/1968

K.I.A. S. Vietnam

https://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/7269/CHARLES-BYRD/

I will always remember Chuck Byrd, fellow Classmate at ISB (International School of Bangkok, Thailand). We also ran on the same Cross Country team with Roger Sanders in the Singapore Games for the International School of Bangkok, 1966 season. Chuck and I played Rugby together with Jim Yoder. I remember Chuck as a quiet guy, I always thought he looked like Sal Mineo in Rebel Without a Cause. I spent a lot of after school hours with Chuck on the fascinating and sometimes dangerous streets of Bangkok, where the school kids grew up fast. He was always a loyal friend. He gave his wonderful life so that we could be free and live to an old age. I will not forget his sacrifice.

Bill Clarke ’67

Please send pictures (old and new), anecdotes, articles, stories, and tributes to isbeings at gmail dot com or visit us on Facebook at ISBeings

Richard Burton Dick Clarke ~ Class of 1968


Dick Clarke ~ Class of 1968

Departed ~ 5/14/2019

Complications related to Parkinson’s

Posted by brother Bill William Clarke  67′:

My wonderful brother Richard Clarke passed from life at approximately 3 am in Toulouse, France on 5/14/2019, from medical complications (Parkinson’s related) after a heroic struggle to recover over the last 2 and a half months in the hospital, he was 68 years, 3 months and 14 days old. He attended ISB from 1965 until he graduated with the class of 1968. He will be sorely missed by his family, his spouse and soulmate Christine Caminat, and his many friends in America and in Europe, where he spent so much of his life working in France and Germany. I will be posting more pictures from his life later, here is the last picture of him, he had this made for his passport renewal last year 2018. I will remember him always as the kindest brother of all, he was always gentle with people, never a mean word, he had a gentle soul, so handsome in his youth, played in a band at school called the “Soul Remains.” as I recall, with his brother David Clarke and others at ISB, God and the angels will take care of him now.

Roger Brady ~ Class of 1968

Roger Brady ~ Class of 1968

Departed ~ 06/16/1991 ~ Car accident

 

 

Remembering Roger Brady by Bonnie Geilfuss ’68

Roger Brady. It was over 30 years ago since last seeing/knowing Roger but I will never forget him nor things about him..

He and a number of others were part of the families evacuated from Vietnam. He and Peppy Doggett entered the classroom I was in, and ISB became alive for me.

I think I was one of the first of our class to get to know Roger. A spark of interest crossed between us in that classroom and I’m glad he pursued it. He was full of life, confident, fun, attentive and caring….but all guy, winner of the Golden Gloves title in the US, tough guy, liked by most. I think back and feel really fortunate to have had some time to really get to know Roger.

Roger wasn’t there our senior year, Sept. ’67 – June ’68 and he was missed. Many, many years later, just when I was starting to find some of my ISB friends, I learned in 1992 that he was killed the year prior in an auto accident. Its so hard to accept the loss of departed classmates. My ISB years had been 30 years prior, and yet they are more a part of me than so many of the years I have spent in the States since returning. My ISB classmates/peers are very dear to me. Roger and I remained good friends, even after we stopped seeing each other. He never stopped looking out for me. He was always there for his friends. A memory of such a time happened in ’67. We were all down at Barbo’s in Pattaya and I had had a drink or so. Roger and Marybeth came to my rescue. Roger came up and took me away from whoever I was with, saving me from my clouded judgment. He knew me and knew I was not being myself and not totally in control of my actions. He and Marybeth escorted me out of Barbos and back to where I was staying. As I’m sure many of his friends would attest to, Roger was there for you at the times when you needed him. I miss you Roger and I am so sorry we didn’t have the opportunity to reconnect through our wonderful ISB Network that so many of our classmates have put so much of their time/money/energy into to make so great.

The picture of Roger in the stance is a picture he gave me when we first started seeing each other. It was taken in Saigon prior to their evacuation.

 

 

 

 

John Stephen “The Chiebe” Dammon ~ Class of 1969

John Dammon ~ Class of 1969

Departed ~ 2/3/2012 ~ Heart Failure

Former board member John Dammon ’69 passes away suddenly

John was visiting his brother, James ’68 in Mississippi on his way home from his Dad’s funeral in Louisiana. John’s wife is Babette Trout Dammon, ’72.

John and Babette both served on the ISBN board for a number of years. John was the ISB Network’s first treasurer after incorporation. He not only took us to a good place financially, but also started our official database. John brought to the board common sense financial knowledge, and leadership.  Having John on the board was one of the best things to happen to the ISBN.

Ironically, John and Babette both worked for Blue Cross and Blue Shield in the DC area, and worked in the same building. They never met in Thailand, nor the states, until the 1988 ISB Network reunion in Boston. John had recently divorced, and his brother James encouraged him go to the reunion. He and Babette met and the rest is history. They were married a year later on August, 12 1989.

After leaving the board, John remained a strong supporter of the ISB Network and maintained his membership from the 1980s until his death. Lasting friendships that John started at ISB were strengthened during the reunions and endured until the day he died.

A service was held February 6th in Mississippi where he was cremated. There will be another service held on Friday February 17, in Annapolis, MD.

He will be missed by all who knew him.

We extend our condolences to Babette, Jamo, Lee and Samm with love and appreciation. 

Daaave

“The Breath You Take”

He looks up from second base, dad’s up in the stands
He saw the hit, the run, the slide, there ain’t no bigger fan
In the parking lot after the game
He said, “Dad, I thought you had a plane to catch?”
He smiled and said, “Yeah, son, I did”

But life’s not the breath you take, the breathing in and out
That gets you through the day, ain’t what it’s all about
You just might miss the point trying to win the race
Life’s not the breaths you take but the moments that take your breath away

Fast forward fifteen years and a thousand miles away
Boy’s built a life, he’s got a wife and a baby due today
He hears a voice saying, “I made it son”
Says, “I told you dad, you didn’t have to come”
He smiles and says, “Yeah, I know you did”

But life’s not the breath you take, the breathing in and out
That gets you through the day, ain’t what it’s all about

You just might miss the point trying to win the race
Life’s not the breaths you take but the moments that take your breath away

Just like it took my breath when she was born
Just like it took my breath away when dad took his last that morn

Life’s not the breath you take, the breathing in and out
That gets you through the day, ain’t what it’s all about
Just might miss the point if you don’t slow down the pace
Life’s not the breaths you take but the moments that take your breath away

Michele “Mikki” Ann Blatti ~ Class of 1968

Mikki Blatti ~ Class of 1968

Departed ~ 12/2012 ~ Cancer

Oh Mikki how you will be missed. The sad news came to me from Michael Blatti this morning. My condolences to the Blatti family. You must be devastated by this tragic loss. Michele (Mikki) Blatti, ISB Class of 1968, was a dear friend of mine. We often met for a meal in Geneva whenever we both were there. These “micro reunions” kept us in touch of each other’s activities and helped maintain the ISB link. Her activities as you can see in Michael’s post on ISB friends, were a constant source of fascination for me. She was amazingly modest about her humanitarian career. She was a giver expecting nothing in return. The photos below were taken at a ceremony marking my mother’s passing last June. Mikki spoke on behalf of all the ISB students that had my mother as a teacher, and more broadly of the ISB family that knew her and my family. Her contribution was a most memorable highlight of the ceremony. I will miss Mikki. Geneva wont be the same without her. Rest in peace my friend.

By: Peppy Doggett