He likes to tell people he was born in 1819 - that is to say in the house at 1819 Kilborn Street, Seattle, Washington. His father was teaching at the University of Washington when he was born August 22, 1909. His birthplace is now actually part of that campus. His mother came from a wealthy family in New York and had done a "grand tour" of Europe as a young woman in the late 1880s. She spent several years caring for her disabled father before marrying and starting a family.
For a significant part of his childhood he lived on a ranch near Ellensburg in central Washington. He actually did ride a horse to school through the snow. Later the family moved to Southern California and he graduated from Redlands High School in June 1926.
"In 1931 I received a B.A. degree from Pomona College and went to the University of Oregon for an M.Ed. and to obtain a teaching credential. One hundred and twenty-five students obtained their credentials and just twenty-five found teaching positions," Darb told an interviewer from a professional organization.
"I was one of the lucky ones and received a contract as principal of the school in Antelope, Oregon. There was an upper-grade classroom and a primary- grade classroom and two experienced teachers. I was the entire high school faculty. For the next two years I taught all the courses necessary for high school graduation and had one student go on to college. My salary was $1260.00 -- per year." It was the depth of the depression and the school district paid with warrants as it was over a year behind on tax collections. "It was necessary to discount the [payroll] warrants by 10 or 15 percent to get cash," he recalls. "After two years in Antelope I was hired as principal and basketball coach at a much larger school in Kent, Oregon." Both of these schools have now been closed for many years and the towns are practically ghost towns, although Antelope was briefly famous as the home of the Rajneesh sect.
He returned to California and taught at Redlands Junior High School for one year then moved to Grossmont High School. At that time it was the only school in the district and had 600 students. "The next year I was Director of Adult Education for the Grossmont High School District and Principal of a high school in a Civilian Conservation Corps camp near Jamul. The boys in the school were all Negroes (the word used at that time). We had an integrated staff of teachers -- the first in San Diego County." Themes of opportunity and equality continued throughout his personal, professional, and political life.
December 7th changed everything. "The CCC camp and the school were closed, and I joined the Army in July as a buck private. In infantry basic training I became an expert with the machine gun, then an instructor, and then was sent to Officer Candidate School in Fort Benning, Georgia. After graduation I was assigned to Company A, 15th AIB in the 5th Armored Division, and stayed with the company until we reached the Elbe River in Germany three years and five major campaigns later." He could tell stories about some of his experiences but he mainly spoke of the people he fought alongside. In his mid-thirties, he was the "old man" to a lot of 18-20 year old boys. He became company commander when he was the only officer left. Relationships formed during training and combat continued through the decades that followed. For all this he received three purple hearts and a bronze star.
"When I returned to San Diego in November of 1945, I was asked to take a temporary position as Assistant Superintendent for Business Services in the San Diego County Department of Education." He stayed until 1973. "This was a period of great growth and need for schools and buildings in California. For four years I was chairman of a state-wide committee on school buildings and in 1965 I was elected president of the Council of Educational Facility Planners International."
In 1967 he took a year's leave of absence to accept a foreign assignment with United States Agency for International Development working on a school building projects in Jordan. The Six-Day War interrupted his project and he took a temporary assignment in Afghanistan establishing a life-long connection with that country. It also began a pattern of summer family vacations spent on driving trips in Europe.
After retiring from San Diego County, Darb went to Brasilia, Brazil for two years with a team of San Diego State University Foundation team of educators. Upon his return, he took another assignment back to Kabul, Afghanistan.
"We enjoyed our travel so much we bought and operated a travel agency for ten years." With his wife and son, Darb bought Pathfinder Travel and Tours, Inc in the College neighborhood of San Diego and served as President. In addition to management and operations, he organized groups for special events like the Oberammergau Passion Play and for the early cruise ship departures from the Port of San Diego. He continued working full time past his 75th birthday.
It was always important to Darb to plan ahead and he took planning his retirement seriously. Darb had designed the home in Del Cerro in which he lived for 40 years (as he has their previous home in Mission Hills) and he enjoyed the swimming pool and large garden with a few fruit trees. He supported others staying in the homes they wished to live in by driving a delivery route for Meals On Wheels well into his 90s (when he was older than all the people he delivered to!). Several times he and Louise considered moving into a senior community but abandoned plans when they discovered that they weren't ready (or old enough yet) to make the change. "In December, 2000, I finally retired and we moved to Casa de Las Campanas where the lifestyle is probably the best," he says.
Darb enjoys eating dinner with friends in the Norte dining room. His service on the Casa Library committee reflects his life-long interest in reading. He's also served on the Casa Building committee. He loves playing bridge, participating in several groups (one for over 40 years) for the fellowship involved. Darb eats a piece of chocolate - preferably dark chocolate - every day.
Darb and Louise celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary in 2004. "My wife Louise and I have two grown children--a daughter Barbara (Sister Marietta, HPB at the Cor Jesu Monastery in New Mexico) and a son Lee (an instructor at Naval School of Health Sciences who lives with his wife, Sandy, in La Mesa)." Darb helped sponsor Mohammed Samim Ezzat to come to the US as a refugee during the Russian occupation of Afghanistan and considers him to be another son. He's a software engineer with IBM and lives with his family outside Boulder, Colorado.
http://darb.darbyusa.com
UPDATE: In March of 2005, Darb suffered a massive stroke from which he was not expected to survive. He has surprised everyone.
The brain damage from the stroke has changed his life in significant ways. He is paralyzed on the left side of his body and has difficulty with keeping himself centered or directing his attention to the left. He lives full-time in the Health Center at Casa de las Campanas. The round-the-clock staffing assists him with doing the tasks of daily life from a wheelchair.
Darb has met these challenges in the same way he has faced others in his long life – with maximum effort. It can’t be easy having to be hoisted by machine in and out of the bed, the bathroom, the shower, etc. He has progressed to where he can eat most any food normally prepared, and after a lot of working at improvement of his swallowing, he got off the thickened liquids. Still, Darb maintains a positive attitude and is quite popular with the staff assisting him.
While he sometimes has difficulty keeping his attention focused on television or radio programs, he has no such problems dealing with visitors. The speed of his speech (and the lag time from thought to speech) slows his conversations down, but he remains very connected to what’s going on around him, the news of Casa and other residents, friends of all ages from near and far, and the current events of the day. His interest in people remains as strong as ever.
Darb usually attends several activities each day, from exercise class to Bible study, from films to live music programs, and from bingo to trivia games. He loves the visits from pets and therapy animals so much that he’s gone to the regional dog park a few times just to watch them play. Some activities are more enjoyable to him than others, but he needs things to do to keep himself busy. Some of his favorite pastimes – reading and card playing – are now quite difficult for him. Louise spends a lot of time at the Health Center from late morning to early evening (they often finish the day watching Millionaire on the TV).
He likes to make phone calls and he likes to receive letters. Be sure to ask him about the Airedale who writes to him from Northern California. The walls of his room are partly decorated with cards, photos, and children’s artwork.
Darb especially enjoys having people come to visit. His visitors will find that his memory is in fine shape (although sometimes, like the rest of us, he can remember the 60’s better than this morning). His hearing and vision are excellent, which is pretty rare for folks at 97. His speech is usually clear – you just need to give him a little extra time to put his thoughts into words. It helps to be in position directly in front of him so he doesn’t have to twist his head around. He does better on some days than others, but fortunately his good days far outnumber his bad ones. In addition to family members, Darb’s visitors come from many sources. Old friends, people he has worked with, fellow church members, former neighbors, and Casa residents come by to see him. Children and pets are especially entertaining to someone who lives in a senior facility.
UPDATE: Louise Darby passed away on July 22, 2007. It has been a major blow to Darb after being married for 53 years, but he is working hard to continue. He attends as many activities in the Health Center as he can, and he enjoys having visitors more than ever. It is, of course, not possible to completely fill the void.
Information on Louise and her memorial service can be found at http://louise.darbyusa.com along with links to a guestbook.
http://darb.darbyusa.com