He wanted more and more books, of course, more people involved with the Jack London effort--a rebuilding of a Wolf House, a re-creation of the Snark, restoration of the Ranch--a Jack London University.

--James Bankes

I know he wanted the research center to go on and on and to become a place where fans as well as scholars could sate themselves.

--Dan Dyer

Russ in his letter to me was ever of the present: Dealing with the endless minutiae of curatorship and scholarship demanded most of his time; but then a close attention to the past in the present ensures its future.

--Loren Estleman

Russ never discussed this with me personally, but it wasn't hard to see that the Foundation was the thing that kept him going, especially during the last years. Even when his health was failing him, he talked about rebuilding Wolf House, and turning it into a museum . . . or of organizing an effort to pin down the fate of the Snark, and to do it all in the name of the Foundation. He did mention that he wanted to leave knowing he'd presented Jack London to the world as more than just another writer.

--Andy Flink

During conversations, Russ always casually mentioned the names of people who were related to Jack London's Japanese servants and places where Jack London visited. He was interested in Yoshimatsu Nakata and his birthplace. I visited Dr. Nakata, a dentist, who was Jack London's servant, and his son. Russ had tried to contact Dr. Nakata and his son Edward, without success. Russ was also curious about where Jack London stayed when he was entangled with the Japanese authorities in Shimonoseki, Moji, and Kokura, when he came to Japan as a Russo-Japanese war reporter for the Hearst Syndicate. He also talked about completing his master thesis about "Jack London's Theological View on Christianity" and submitting it to Baylor University, with which my university has a sister university relationship.

--Haruo Furukawa

Russ and Winnie are leaving everything to the Foundation in their wills. Back in 1985, Russ's dream was to buy the property upstream from Wake Robin Lodge and that would have meant we could have year-round seminars, symposiums, classes, etc. The property includes the houses Jack rented when he first came to Glen Ellen. He built the apartment for Becky, knowing one day it would be the Foundation's Research Center where scholars could work without feeling they were imposing on him. He wanted his research materials available for future generations, and that dream has become true. That is a fine research facility where people can live and work. I know of no other like it.

--Jacqueline Koenig

Russ was a very modest gentleman. He never discussed his vision of the future for Jack London studies: he just wanted more and more people to "discover" Jack London, that is all. I don't think he was the sort of man who would worry about the Jack London Foundation after his death; he was too modest for that. Russ knew that the Foundation would carry on; it was his brain-child, but he knew that others would keep the flame alive. I think Russ wanted to write the "definitive biography," but he knew that not even he, the expert, would have the time to do so, not when he was writing to me, and scores of others. I have a "rarity" from Russ--an unsigned copy of A Pictorial Biography of Jack London.

--Victor R.S. Tambling

A genuine caring for other people.

--James Bankes

What disturbed me a little about Russ was that he seemed to live life by proxy. Jack London's life was his Holy Grail quest. He took a camper trip to Oregon to retrace Jack London's horse-drawn buggy trip, etc. Sometimes I wished Russ had lived more his own life.

--Claude Chapuis

Russ resembled Jack in this regard: Both wanted to be experts--Jack in everything; Russ in Jack.

--Dan Dyer

Preservation.

--Loren Estleman

I think Russ was motivated by being as full of life as possible and following Jack London's meteor theory and surrounding himself and Winnie with friends. I think in many respects Russ was living a life similar to Jack London's.

--Bill Kelly

His thirst for knowledge and his dedication to the truth.

--Darwin (Jon) Kingman

I think Russ always wanted to serve God. His God was compassion, patience, justice, truth.

--Susan Nuernberg

The thirst to know more and more, and still more. Knowledge, I suppose. He liked to know what made people "tick." Russ loved people; he could--and would--listen to what people said (or wrote). He listened to what people said.

--Victor R.S. Tambling

Russ was motivated by his desire to help others; to help the underdog especially; to support, assist, and strengthen those who came his way. He had no biological children, but dozens of children who could easily call him Dad.

--Earl Wilcox

Curiosity and a determination to get as close to the truth as humanly possible.

--Dale L. Walker

I think Russ wanted to provide useful education. (In the field of research, he has done so with the Jack London theme.) Russ enjoyed what he was doing. He learned as he went through the process of providing for the Research Center. The old saying--"You can't teach an old dog new tricks"--applies to many older people, but not Russ. He plowed right in an conquered. That's motivation, and he never lost it.

Russ's father gave him two gems of advice he always tried to follow in life:

1. "Russ, always remember that if you keep your mouth closed,
nobody will ever know how ignorant you are," and
2. "Whatever you decide to do--know more about that project than anybody else in the world."

I think Russ accomplished No. 2.

--Warren and Toby Watson

Russ did not write me "stories," exactly, but his letters were as good as stories because of his colorful and gusty language; and often he was quite funny. For example, he kept urging me to visit Jack London country even though I was afraid to fly; he told me, "The airplane was first flown in 1903 and to date not one single plane has failed to come down." (November 27, 2023) He could be quite hilarious when describing college professors, even though I was a college professor, as when he wrote:

"The academic world is full of knot heads. They go through our store with their minds still in their cars. Now and then we get a live one, and that is like running into an iceberg in Death Valley. For some unknown reason the brain-dead ones are college professors." (July 21, 2024)

--Joanne Jefferys Amberson

I'm not good at remembering such. If he really liked you, he subjected you to insults with that wickedly brilliant mind.

--James Bankes

He liked to make fun of pompous scholars and pretentious intellectuals. He also laughed a lot about politicians.

--Claude Chapuis

I remember one time I asked Russ for advice on pricing used books. He replied by starting off with, "The pricing of used books is always a problem. Too low and you'll make lots of friends; too high and you'll lead a lonely life."

--Richard Dixon

I don't know if it's particularly humorous, but he once told me the reason he never wore rings. During the Second World War, he said, while maintaining bombers, he would slap the cockpit to let the pilot know everything was complete, then slide off the wing before the plane took off. Once his wedding ring caught on a rivet, and he was nearly carried to his reward before he could get loose. I remember also how much enjoyment he got out of the confusion of Jack's Japanese translators over his American vernacular.

--Loren Estleman

A sense of humor? Yes! His jokes were groaners, and usually on the corny side but fun nonetheless. His humor seemed more in line with a good-natured put-down of his friends. If he liked someone, that someone was usually the butt of his humor.

--Andy Flink

The one that comes to memory is the time he told about setting his desk on fire after lighting his always present pipe.

--Bill Kelly (fireman)

(1) On January 12, 1985, at the annual Jack London Birthday Banquet, Russ told this story in recognizing Becky London:

Becky's mother was rather prudish, rather Victorian; but I'll tell you this, Becky is far from it. She went to the doctor the other day, who's also a psychiatrist, and said, "Doctor, I want my sex drive lowered." The doctor looked at her and he said, "How old are you?" She said, "I'm eighty-two." He looked back at her, and he says, "Ma'am, it's all in your head." She said, "Well, that's why I came here."

(2) Russ once told me that he and Winnie were engaged and married within a few months after they met. Russ said half the church was against it and the other half threatened him to marry her, since he was a sailor with a girl (or two) in every port.

(3) Russ told me that on their wedding anniversary on Jack London Square in 1969, they were in a wine tasting room eating cheese, and Eddie Albert and his son, Edward, were there too. To celebrate their anniversary, Eddie Albert wanted to take them around the Square, toasting at each establishment. Russ and Winnie turned down the actor and kept their twosie dinner reservation on the Square.

(4) A tale of the Klondike expedition is of Ralph. Russ said Ralph kept dipping up snow along the trail, and he kept asking, "Why is the snow up here salty?" After the umpteenth time, Russ answered, "Well, Ralph, if you reach out a few more inches, you would be out of dog pee." This is Russ's "yellow snow" story.

(5) At the 1989 Banquet, Russ's joke was that the good news is that we still have Ten Commandments. The bad news is that Adultery is still one of them.

--Jacqueline Koenig

Only the time in Pensacola, Florida, when he was building a new church and the Catholic priest offered him a donation. He told the priest that he was surprised that he would want to contribute to the building of a Baptist church. The priest then said, "This contribution is not for your building fund; it is to help pay for the expense of tearing down the old church."

--Darwin (Jon) Kingman

Russ once said had he named the bookstore Russ Kingman's Bookstore instead of the Jack London Bookstore, he doubted its success.

--Victor Sabo

Russ always had a great sense of humor. Like Charmian typed Jack's manuscripts, so Winnie typed Russ's. Russ wrote his Pictorial Life by hand and Winnie transcribed it. One day while Russ was reading the typescript, he started laughing so hard that tears came to his eyes. Winnie rushed in to see what was the matter, but Russ couldn't tell her--he was still laughing too hard. Instead, he handed her a page of typescript and point out where to read. The particular portion concerned the claim that some writers made that there was more than just a platonic relationship between Jack and Anna Strunsky. In refutation, there on the typed page was: "Actually, if anybody really wants to know the truth of their relationship, he need only look at the litters they left behind them." Of course, this typo should have read "letters." Just for fun, Russ left the typo in and sent copies to both Earle Labor and Dick Weiderman, pointing out the little glitch and asking impishly if we should leave it in. "Sure, go ahead," responded Dick, appreciating the humor. But Earle, to hear Russ telling it, was horrified, and with shock streaming from his voice, emphatically stated, "Definitely not!"

Russ and Earle were always roasting each other in fun. I actually believe that Russ's place could also be called Earle Labor's West Coast vacation home. One story Russ liked to tell on Earle concerned Earle's copy of The Mystery of Jack London by Georgia Loring Bamford. Soon after this book was published, it was suppressed by the London Estate. Only a few copies got into circulation, and therefore it became a difficult to obtain. Earle was the proud owner of one copy which he purchased for (I believe) something like $45; no dust jacket, and not in the best of condition. Russ thought it was great fun to rub it in to Earle that he got a brand new copy of the first edition in dust jacket for only $5--and that anyone else who wanted could get one also. I believe it was the Holmes Bookstore in Oakland that had, in the 1970's, obtained the entire remaining stock that had been stored in a basement all these years and started selling them in their bookstore at $5 per copy.

--David Schlottmann