My Best Wishes,
Steve Converse, AIA
Class of 1976

I hope you’re listening during my nightly prayers when I call on you to intercede with the Lord to keep me on the straight and narrow. It’s pay-back time for the kak tau of food I took to you and got you in trouble with the hospital staff.

With love (and to Aunty Bea and Uncle Mac as well), Cousin Pat

What a wonder that each baby born into the world is utterly unique - Michael McDougall was no exception.

Long live Rastus P. Higgins!

I’m sorry i couldn’t be there to celebrate your dad’s life and love of life. My heart goes out to all of you. now your dad has joined my mom and they are both watching over us in peace.

with love,

Lisa Baptista

Where does one begin when someone like Mike makes his final exit. A standing ovation, of course.

Michael and I co-taught a series of studios in city planning and urban design for over a decade, both of us retiring from CalPoly the same summer. It was an exceptional partnership for me, helping to focus my interest in planning education and the vital role that urban design training plays in preparing new generations of planners to assume various roles in both city and regional planning.

My relationship grew beyond that of colleague, extending to a friendship that placed me on the edge of being family. I know that was true for many of us.

Michael, superb in so many things that he accomplished, had to be admired. One of those things is that family of his. What crown jewels they all have become with Dawnna being that rare diamond in the collection. There, also, will always be the students whose life he touched in so many ways that went beyond formal academic learning.

So, one can understand why when I learned Easter morning that Michael was gone, the following poem immediately came to mind:

Funeral Blues

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum,
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He is Dead.
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the woods;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

— W. H.. Auden

The power of the poem is the immediate and complete emptiness felt at the loss of Michael. Recognizing the fullness of his life, however, and the contributions he made to so many of us and the profession of which he was a part, makes one realize that the stars are still out there — one may have his name on it, that we are still blessed by the sun most mornings of the year, that the ocean continues to pulsate with life, and that the woods remain a sanctuary serving our individual journeys. Oh yes, there is much good yet to come, in part, because someone like Michael moved among us, sharing his inner riches with everyone and with the institutions that he loved.

Sad to see the empty chair at his messy desk with his vertical filing system where only he knew where things are; his beautiful watercolors on the wall above. Such a void to not have him there. On the kitchen table was a warm pizza delivered from dear grandfriend Joe Kourakis.

Alex, Mom and I spent the week looking at old photos, sketchbooks, paintings as well as pouring over the many thoughtful notes and cards from friends and family from around the globe. These treasures and lifelong friendships are evidence of a life well lived.

Thursday the 19th the three of us returned to San Francisco as Alex and I had to return to Minneapolis the following day. Before departing, Deanna had arranged a birthday dinner for me, the first birthday party I have had with family in eight years. So marvelous to sit down over a nice meal with my extraordinary and loving family.

This week Deanna has been in San Luis Obispo with mom. This weekend Marina and her family will join Mom.

*************************************************

Dear Ted:

What a wonderful surprise to hear from you after all these years! Thanks for the pictures. Who could have predicted, 50 years ago, that both of us would settle in California? So much has gone on in our lives that can’t be easily summarized in a letter; we’d have to get together. Come up and see us. We have a house with three empty bedrooms, a huge collection of classical and jazz recordings. My wife Dawnna is a good cook. We can visit the wineries or the beaches, listen to music, talk about old times, and catch up with one another’s lives.

You mention that you used to drive up to San Luis Obispo from L.A. to attend our Mozart Festival in the late 70s; Dawnna used to work as staff member for the Festival from 1990-95. Although we’ve attended the festival regularly for many years, we haven’t gone lately. Part of the reason is that the Festival has dropped the opera and the choral music, the latter usually played in our old mission; the other part is that we have often been out of town at the time of the Festival — we have three children and two grandchildren in San Francisco. You may know that Cal Poly, the City of San Luis Obispo and a private foundation joined forces and built a new performing arts center on the Cal Poly campus. Mozart Festival has had a new home.

Two of our four children—the eldest girl, Leslie, and our youngest, Deanna, are graphic designers who got their degrees at Cal Poly. Our eldest and only son, Eric, received a four-year degree architecture at UC Berkeley but did not practice, but has done well as an events planning consultant for Fortune 500 hi-tech companies including Apple, H-P, Microsoft, Cisco, and others. Our middle daughter Marina has a degree in English from UC Berkeley. and a master’s in documentary film from Stanford. Marina spent her third year studying film at the Sorbonne, Paris. She is a part-time mother and part-time professor/curator at the California College of Arts & Crafts.

After I graduated from HKU, I worked for a year and a half for Eric Cumine, studied at the A.A. London on a British Council scholarship, came to the States on another scholarship, this one from Cornell where I got a degree in city and regional planning, then I went to San Francisco to work for John Carl Warnecke to get some American experience with the intention of returning to HK. But I met my wife, and was offered the once -in-a-lifetime opportunity of planning a brand new community, Foster City, (now 95% complete,) from the ground up. So I stayed. Worked with various planning, architecture, and engineering firms for about 13 years including 5 years on my own, before going into teaching here at Cal Poly where I taught for 20 years. I retired in 1992. Though I’ve designed buildings, my expertise is in urban design. I also designed the entire graphic sign and street furniture system for a city.

I had some serious health problems which included prostate cancer, arterial sclerosis, and failed kidneys. But a radical prostatectomy, a double cardiac by-pass, five years of dialysis, and finally a kidney transplant have allowed me to live on borrowed time like a bionic man. Apart from the pains and aches of growing old, I feel pretty good to be alive.

We recently visited Australia on a most enjoyable four city tour — my first long trip abroad in 13 years. In Sydney we had tea with some HKU architecture alumni. In June we will be going to Positano near Naples to attend our son’s wedding. He and his fiance know too many people in the Bay Area so they are “escaping” to Italy, yet they will have some 100 attendees. After a week in Italy, we will be going on to England to visit our 96-year old aunt who lives in Worthing, and have already contacted Eddy Khoe who live about an hour away. He and his wife Laurie have previously visited us in California.

So given these long trips, I’m not sure we’ll be going to HK for the Gordon Brown reunion.
But, in the meanwhile please come and visit us. Soon.

Regards,

Mike

*************************************************

After exchanging several more e-mails working out the details, on that picture perfect spring morning of the Memorial Day weekend Mia and I took off northbound with the car loaded with everything we needed to cook a couple of Chinese dishes that I promised. Around eleven we pulled into the McDougall driveway and there were Michael whom I had not seen for 52 years and lovely Dawnna whom I was meeting for the first time. Dawnna started our visit with the comment that although we were meeting for the first time she felt as if we had known each other our whole lives. For the next three days we reminisced, cooked, ate and reminisced some more in the beautiful big house Michael designed for themselves. One of the highlights was the chicken curry Dawnna made.

Now that Michael is gone, I felt that the whole Gordon Brown Reunion thing was almost designed just for me to see Michael again. That Memorial Day weekend was really memorable. Thank you Michael. Thank you Dawnna.

Ted and Mia Wu, Los Angeles

(scroll up to see pictures from this wonderful reunion - ed.)

Dear Eric,

May I introduce myself - my name is Frank Correa and I have known your family, particularly your father for 60 years, it is a precious friendship maintained through intermittent loss of contact due to the Pacific war and migration. Mike is more of my vintage whilst his brother Gerry is much younger - the difference in years in those days meant that I did not know him as well as your Dad. In the FM community, as friends, we invariably admired Mike’s integrity, keen intellect, sense of humor, and many talents especially as an artist. He undertook any task with dedication and thoroughness, the many episodes of the Lusitano bulletin an example of the high standards he set for himself.

My wife, Vivi and I were so delighted to meet your mother and father when they visited Melbourne recently - what a great couple they make together, their ‘joie de vivre’ was contagious. We went to a Chinese dinner together with my brother, Bosco and his wife, Marilyn at one of our good local Chinese restaurants, typically food being a vital FM focus.

I had not seen Mike since the 1960s and did not have the pleasure of meeting Dawnna until that night so there was so much catching up to do in our lives.
When we met, it was as if the years had not intervened, the synergy was immediate, what we call ‘mateship’ in Australia could define the bond of the FM community which transcends time and boundaries.

Our animated conversations touched on so many subjects and we learnt about their lives and work, their obvious devotion and pride in their family, Mikes’s continuing interest in art, the community where they lived, their involvement with the FM diaspora and their genuine interest and compassion in humanitarian affairs. They were really looking forward to seeing the rest of Australia and particularly spending time with his sister in Perth and cousin in Brisbane. What a memorable night we spent together so we can imagine how much you will miss your Dad. Our heart goes out to your mother and no doubt you and your family will be of great support to her in the sudden passing of your father and her soul mate.

A righteous man has gone to be in God’s Gentle Hands - we celebrate his life and legacy.

I have attached an old photo of the Homantin Braves which won the Hong Kong Softball Junior League in 1950. The Braves were a close knit bunch who had great fun playing softball at King’s Park in Kowloon. It was a wonderful time of our lives, we were young and carefree, ready to take on the brave new world that was unfolding after the turbulence of a war which had torn our lives apart just a few years earlier. You will recognize your Dad in the back row, from memory not the most talented of players, but typically Mike made up for this with unbridled passionate enthusiasm and practiced diligently for his team. I will be pleased to include the names of the other team members if you wish to include them in the website, unfortunately many of the former players are also no longer with us.

You would be aware that there was a large Macaense (FM) community in Hong Kong in those days before the big push for immigration to the US where most of the FMs finally settled. The diaspora is now spread all over our global village - you can find minchee/rice in the four corners of the world.

Vivi joins me in extending to you and your wonderful family our very deepest condolences.

Frank Correa, Melbourne.

alone

we see him instead

as one-half

of a unique pairing

forming the foundation

of a special family

* * *

his life was full:

of the love

and the closeness

of family,

of the affection

of friends,

of the respect

and admiration

of colleagues

worldwide

innumerable

* * *

talented, gifted

worldly, dignified

generous, caring

erudite, witty —

the words come

trippingly

fittingly;

we knew him

* * *

strong character,

strong views

strongly held,

clearly expressed

and unafraid

* * *

teacher,

historian,

editor,

author,

painter,

world traveler,

and yes,

gourmet,

and epicurean

* * *

and beside him

always there

always the love

of his life,

the other half,

Dawnna

- Jorge Remedios