|
He was over fifty years old. About two years prior to my introduction to Bart Abbott, the grandson of Jack London, he was involved in an accident and forced to retire. One day before our meeting, he informed me he would wait for me at the International House. I would recognize him, he said, by his gray hair and large figure. Actually, I immediately found him at the entrance, a fine gray head of hair outlining his sunburned face.
We warmly greeted each other. Bart had called me in Moscow and sent me an invitation to come and look at the archives of Joan London. He himself had two daughters from his first marriage and three from the last. All of them lived separately. The youngest, Tarnel, was 21; the next, Chaney, was 23 years of age. Chaney resembled her great-grandmother, and wife of Jack London, Bessie, but she also resembled her great-grandfather. She took an active part in the radical student movement and its struggle for peace.
Disappointed with the results of her efforts, Chaney and her boyfriend Jerry tried to leave the United States and settle in Canada. During the period of the United States involvement in the Vietnam War, as a sign of protest against the unjust action of the leaders of their country, more than 50,000 young people fled the country. Tarnel also came to the International House with her little boy Riley. Darcy was there too; she was 26, and strongly resembled Joan London. Darcy actively worked in the trade union.
| 
