Lawrence (Larry) Daks

Larry Daks Page 2
Family
Our two great kids. Jennifer, 37, is married to Robert Strach, an aerospace engineer. They've given us
grandkids Nicholas and Noah and, by the time you get this Memory Book, our third grandson is likely to
be a reality. The Strach family live in Issaquah, Washington.
Mitch, our son, has braved winters in Minnesota for half of his 34 years. A graduate of a broadcasting
school, he has gone from on-the-air Deejay to the world of computers. Mitch's company is called
"Behind the Scenes," and that's where he is, supporting systems, designing software and engaging in
myriad types of troubleshooting. Mitch and his girlfriend, Mariah, live in St. Louis Park, Minnesota.
Highlights Since Leaving Thailand
But I've gotten ahead of myself. When we returned from Thailand in April 1965, I found a job with the
Office of the Solicitor of the Department of Labor. Immediately upon arrival in Washington, DC, I
started contacting government offices to see if anyone was looking for a Thai instructor. As a result,
Nongkran wound up teaching for the Department of State, and my eyes were opened to a new career.
However, I'm also a beneficiary of one of life's wonderful accidents. While Nongkran's job got me
interested in the Foreign Service, my introduction to public diplomacy occurred because I went to the
wrong room for an interview. I was amazed when the conversation began, "So you want to work for the
United States Information Agency," since I'd never heard of the organization and had no idea what it
did! However, there was talk of a job in Laos, so I nodded in the affirmative. A year later, I abandoned
law, spending 30 years doing press and culture work. To quote Dave Barry, "I'm not making this up."
Our tours took us to China, Laos, Taiwan and Thailand along with several stints in Washington, DC,
and the ultimate golden handshake, 18 glorious months at the East West Center in Honolulu. Each place
we lived and worked contributed to a career that became a complex Asian mosaic. From day-to-day
contact with Thai students who were my contemporaries in age but not life experiences, more mature in
many ways, and yet insular in others, to directing a large language school in Bangkok that is one of
American public diplomacy's most successful partnerships; from allowing myself the delusion that, I
could help present the Royal Lao Government with a face that would somehow stem the revolutionary
tide of change, to a few years later being a first-hand witness to that change; and from the privilege of
living on both sides of the Taiwan straits, where the two authoritarian societies we first experienced,
have both undertaken significant reforms, in one case making the transition to democracy, and in the
other case, moving-despite the communist party's choice of labels-steadily closer to a free market
economy and, albeit gradually, some personal breathing room for 1.2 billion Chinese. I'll let others
judge the merit of this, but when the choice was career or fun, we usually took the fork in the road that
led to continued job satisfaction. I stayed in Asia, where we wanted to be, and in one case even returned
to the same job a second time. We've also maintained contact, and friendships, with people in each of
the countries where we've worked.
I retired in March 1996, and now work part time as a consultant on projects that relate to China.
However, as my career is winding down, Nongkran's seems to be just beginning. I could no longer ward
off her entrepreneurial instincts with the excuse that we had an upcoming overseas assignment. In 1999,
Nong's dream became a reality, when she opened up the Thai Basil Restaurant in Chantilly, Virginia. In
her "spare time," Nong writes cook books, teaches cooking, and caters. She also manages an annual trip
to Thailand and still finds opportunities to spoil our grandsons. (Several members of Group III have
made it out to the Thai Basil, but we look forward to welcoming more of you. Just give us some