Two Into One: The Lives of Russ and Winnie Kingman (The World of Jack London)

The second one was also at the Sea Wolf. This time we all went to the Oakland Public Library to see the newly opened Jack London Room. From then on we had a speaker each year. From 1971 through 1978, the banquets were held at the Sea Wolf, including the big Jack London Centennial Banquet in 1976. From 1979 through 1982, we met at Goodman's in Jack London Square as we had outgrown the Sea Wolf. In 1983, we moved to Glen Ellen. Goodman's was being torn down. We had two banquets at the London Lodge. However, this was unsatisfactory, and in 1985, we moved to Sonoma Golf Club where we have been [since]. The Jack London Birthday Banquets are an important function of the Jack London Foundation. Following this short history and the program are thumbnail sketches of Speakers and Man of the Year recipients. [See Appendix A which lists a chronology of the Jack London Banquets and Profiles of Speakers and Man/Woman of the Year Award winners, with an update from 1996 to present].

In addition, The Wolf-'95: We're Still Hungry (Olympia, Wash: London Northwest and Carefree Arizona and Fish Camp, California: Koenig Enterprises) contains a complete narrative of the events of the banquets through January 14, 1995. This narrative, written by David H. Schlottmann is the most complete discussion to date of the importance of the banquets for London studies.

Dr. Franklin Walker, author of San Francisco's Literary Frontier and Jack London and the Klondike, was a new and important acquaintance for Russ in 1971, and Russ found him a wonderful scholar--just a nice man. Franklin's wife, Imogene, however, was terribly stand-offish, giving airs that she was above everyone else. On November 9, Oakland held a reception for Jimmy Smith, Commissioner of the Yukon, in connection with the cabin. Franklin's wife came up to Russ and asked him what he was doing there. Russ replied, "Madam, I'm here because I am the person who wrote the guest list and invited you."

Russ and Winnie continued to build relationships with other London aficionados in 1972. On June 23 at 7:30 p.m., Russ held a pizza party at Shakey's Pizza Parlor in Oakland, sending out 200 invitations. (Space was limited to 150.) This is where he first met Dick Weiderman, soon to be publisher of Wolf House Books. Also in attendance at another dinner party in the summer were Earle Labor and wife Betty, Jim Sisson, Becky and Percy Fleming, Tony Bubka, Bert Erbentraut, Sal Noto, Franklin Walker, and Dick Weiderman. At this time Russ was buying a lot of books and other materials for the bookstore and museum, making trips in and around San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Russ and Winnie's first meeting with Earle Labor was the beginning of a friendship as close as any could be. Earle had secured a grant for a month of research on Jack London at the Huntington Library. He and his wife Betty decided to drive to Oakland for the pizza party at Shakey's. Previously, Sal Noto had mentioned to Earle that Russ was someone he should get to know. Russ was well aware of who Earle was because of Earle's publication of "An Open Letter to Irving Stone," dated October 24, 1969, and published in the Jack London Newsletter, Vol. 2, No. 3 (September-December, 1969), pp. 114-116, in which Earle took Stone to task for plagiarizing sections of London's novels for his "biography" of London entitled Sailor on Horseback: The Biography of Jack London. Earle also berated Stone for not giving proper credit to other Jack London scholars and for perpetuating falsehoods about events in London's life. (As a result of Earle's public and scholarly chastisement of Stone, Stone changed the subtitle in a reissue of Sailor on Horseback to "A Biographical Novel.") Russ, who always demanded attention to details and fidelity to truth in all human enterprises, was immediately impressed with Earle's candor and courage to fly in the face of a famous author. Russ and Earle liked each other from the first handshake. In a taped response to my questionnaire, completed while Earle and his second wife Gayle were on their honeymoon, on a train from King's Cross Station, London, to Inverness, Scotland, Earle remembers his first impressions of Russ and Winnie this way: "Russ had a forceful personality, dynamic energy, and a natural charm that put one immediately at ease. Winnie was a perfect complement to Russ with her great elegance, and ease of conversation." Shortly after their first meeting, Russ offered Earle an opportunity to purchase many of Jack London's books that Jack had inscribed to his mother, Flora Wellman. Russ, an already avid London collector, had started Earle on a collector's journey which continues to this day. Over the years Russ and Earle consulted frequently on their individual London projects. Almost every week they exchanged letters or phone calls. According to Earle,

Russ's insights were often a tremendous enhancement to my own academic pursuits. There were a lot of the same personality traits in Russ that were exhibited by Jack London. They were both geniuses--full of the zest for life. He had a tremendous vitality for both living and learning; he was a true scholar, unlike many in academia today who call themselves that.

In terms of Russ's business sense, Earle feels that Russ possessed a strong sense of the New England work ethic and that he exhibited horse sense when it came to striking a business deal. Russ and Winnie never grew wealthy in the usual sense because they were both so generous with what they had. In Earle's words,

They were wealthy in their materials and what they shared. They were both Christian in the broadest sense of that term. They had a human and loving attitude about others, and for that reason had grown slightly disillusioned with organized religion. They lived a Christian life in everything they did, such as their rescue of Becky from her unlivable situation in Oakland and the tremendous effort on Russ's part to build Becky an apartment. Russ had dug out part of the mountain with pick and shovel for this project. In fact, when I was visiting in the summer, Russ gave me the honor of wheeling the last load of dirt to the stream bank.

Earle likens the perfection of Russ and Winnie's marriage to that of the Monarchs, characters in a Henry James short story, "The Real Thing." No one in the story could figure out how two people could be so content. James ends the story by saying the answer is "a nut for pessimists to crack." The Monarchs had the "real thing," just like Russ and Winnie. They were the Monarchs in the world of Jack London. Their "evangelical spirit" was a constant inspiration to members of the London circle: Milo Shepard and his father Irving; Herb and Gladys Greene; Becky London; Mary Boyle, Rudy Ciuca and Joe Lawrence, board members of the Jack London Foundation; Waring Jones; Sal Noto, Dick Weiderman; and scores of others. Earle's fondest memories include the cookouts at the fireplace Russ built in the Redwoods, going out to elegant restaurants and watching the look on the waitress's face when Russ ordered his favorite meal of hamburger steak, the moral support Russ and Winnie gave when his first wife Betty passed away in 1989, and Russ's evening phone conversations during which he would rehearse impressions of visitors to the bookstore or discuss new discoveries in his London research. To Earle, "Russ was one of the best telephone conversationalists I have ever known. His phone conversations were just as good if not better than his letters." When something wasn't going quite right, Earle says that Russ would always offer his moral and philosophical advice to whoever needed it: "No experience is so painful that something can't be learned from it."

Several things that were extremely painful for Russ, and that would cause rare outbursts of anger, says Earle, were ". . . any kinds of phoniness, academic dishonesty, social injustice, or mistreatment of animals." According to Earle, Russ saw red at the publication of two biographies of Jack London: Andrew Sinclair's Jack: A Biography of Jack London (1977) and John Perry's Jack London, An American Myth (1981). Russ very laboriously redlined the hundreds of factual errors in each biography and would denounce shoddy scholarship at the slightest mention of the name of either biographer. Earle's final statements about Russ in the taped question-response sum up how many people felt at Russ's passing:

Russ had a certain priest-like quality about him. He was a father figure to many, though he had no children of his own. He always had a willing ear and sound advice for anyone with emotional or other problems. Bob Fritschi and Ron Anderson are two people that I know of who owe Russ a lot for their emotional well-being. And when my spirits were sometimes low, Russ could always say or do something to uplift me. I sorely miss him; but when Rudy Ciuca called me with the news of Russ's passing, I felt a sense of release. He suffered terribly in his last days. Russ was a great man in many senses. In echo of a famous quotation: Russ, too, used his time.

The following year, 1973, Russ delivered a Jack London Lecture at the University of Nevada, Reno. Richard Etulain who saw the notice, attended Russ's session and developed a long-lasting relationship with him. Etulain, who wrote Jack London on the Road, later became a professor at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.

In April, 1974, Russ and Winnie had completed the move from the Grist Mill to the new location in an empty antique store across the street. Because Russ and Winnie decided to stay in their new location for a long time, Russ built the famous barbeque area behind the Redwood grove, between their house and the store. Russ dug out the area with pick and shovel and by hand laid each stone that he had gathered from Asbury Creek, a stream flowing behind the Kingman house, under Arnold Drive, and into Sonoma Creek below the Grist Mill. It is at this outside hearth that many of Russ and Winnie's friends remember their fondest cookouts and conversations. Russ became famous for his ability to cook steaks just right. His not-so-secret ingredient to produce the Kingman flavor came from breaking twigs of fresh bay from the bay tree in front of their house and putting them on fire for smoke flavor just before serving.

It was during the time of the move of the bookstore that Russ and Winnie made the acquaintance of Herb and Gladys Greene (now married 57 years). The meeting was both humorous and fortuitous. Herb (b. June 11, 2024) and Gladys (b. September 20, 2023) are two New England stalwarts who moved to Glen Ellen from New Hampshire in 1972. After Herb retired from a long career doing research at M.I.T. in the Laboratory for Nuclear Science and Engineering and Gladys retired as a public school teacher and librarian, they moved to California to begin new careers as shopkeepers. Herb has the knack to fix almost anything worth fixing--jewelry, china, watches, and whatever else anyone could carry into his store. They had rented a space in the Grist Mill, where Russ had established his first Jack London museum and bookstore. When Russ decided to move the store across Arnold Drive to its present location, Herb noticed a man laboring hard and working up a sweat carrying armloads of books. When Herb offered to help, Russ noticed the New England accent immediately. Russ said to Herb, "Where are you from?" Herb answered, "New Hampshire." Russ's quick retort was, "Well, I'm from Vermont, and we Vermonters don't talk to people from New Hampshire." Herb then turned to walk away. Russ immediately added, "Oh, can't we be friends until you help me get the books moved?" From that day Herb and Gladys became part of the Kingmans' extended family of friends. Shortly after Russ moved his museum and bookstore, other merchants were having rent disputes with the owner of the Grist Mill. When Russ found out, he offered to build a shop for Herb and Gladys beside the Jack London Bookstore. Bob Fritschi, owner of the land, helped Russ and Herb do the building. Again displaying his generosity, Russ offered the new shop, "The New England Yankees," at no rent. All Herb had to do was pay the utilities and help tend the grounds. The Greenes and the Kingmans always helped each other and treated each other with mutual respect. After Russ passed, Herb and Gladys Greene became an immense help to Winnie, helping to run the bookstore so that Winnie would have time to keep up with extensive correspondence and Foundation business. On January 15, 1996, Herb offered these remarks about Russ and Winnie in a taped interview:

In addition to the fact that both Russ and I came from New England, I felt quite a special bond with him. The Christian values exhibited by Russ and Winnie coincided with what Gladys and I believe. Russ and Winnie never turned people away, regardless of how busy they were with other things. Russ's respect for life is reflected in his love of animals--chickens, raccoons, dogs, and especially cats. I remember one time just after some animal had eaten some new plants that I had put in along the road. Winnie was somewhat upset. Russ replied to her that animals had to eat, too, and they couldn't go to the store like people to buy what they need. Another characteristic that I admired in Russ was that in a business transaction, he would go halfway or more. There was a Yankee shrewdness about him, but after a deal [for books] was struck, he often would throw in several additional items for good measure. Nobody can fault either Russ or Winnie when it came to generosity. When our old Toyota broke down, Gladys and I couldn't afford to replace it. Russ and Winnie handed us the keys to their spare car, not as a loan, but as a gift. That's just the way they were. Another thing I admired about Russ was his philosophy that if something is worth doing, it is worth doing right. He practiced this in writing his books, building additions on his house, or laying the stones for the retaining wall and picnic area. I helped him dig out part of the mountain for the picnic area. He wanted a place for people to sit and relax. He even told customers in the store to eat their lunch there. When Russ died, humanity lost one of its best. I miss him, but I didn't want to see him suffer. I sometimes think I hear him calling "Hobba," an endearing nickname he used instead of saying Herb or Herbert.