Re s i de n t
Spo t l i gh t
The Pinecone
|
September 2013
• 7 •
John was born in Oakdale, Nebraska on May
3, 1925
to Theo Burner and Elmer Carl Malm.
John is a bachelor and is uncle to his sister’s
four children. His mother was a homemaker.
His father was a Pharmacist, having graduated
from Omaha’s Creighton College. During
World War I, his dad served as an ambulance
driver; but in peace times the small town of
Oakdale relied on the Malm Pharmacy, 3
grocery stores, 2 gas stations, a bank and
several small businesses. During the 1930s
and 1940s Oakdale was one of thousands
of small towns across America that endured
migration of its children to large cities with
more options for education and careers.
In 1939, John moved to Dallas and began
his college education at the U. of Texas, first
majoring in Architecture and then switching
to English. He received his B.A. degree and
taught English for three years. In a “twist of
fate” and without his future M.A. degree in
School Administration, he was promoted to
Principal, Chillicothe Elementary School.
John Malm, Sen Sei –
During World War
II, each service component (e.g., Army, Air
Force) established a program to educate
children of active-duty military serving in
foreign countries. The U.S. Army’s program
called U.S. Department of Army Civilian,
advertised teaching positions in Germany,
Japan, and other countries. John applied
and was accepted to teach in Japan. Prior to
sailing for Japan for his one-year term, John
received a call from the Pentagon telling him
that his teaching assignment was changed to
School Principal. Naively, he turned the offer
down but was told that it wasn’t an option. The
Pentagon spokesperson said that even though
he had only applied for a teaching position,
he had the highest positive recommendations
of all of the candidates who had applied for
the Principal position. So, he sailed to Japan,
landed in Tokyo Harbor, took a train to Osaka
and on to Kobe. For three years he served
as Principal of the Rocco Heights American
School, grades K-8. Rocco Heights was
known as the Garden Spot of Japan. He was
given housing in a Frank Lloyd Wright Hotel
for armed services; he also was given a driver.
Diverse postings of Embassy officials, senior
military personnel, and a highly educated
Japanese community in Rocco Heights gave
John a natural environment for expanding
and polishing his social skills. Three years
later, he returned to the United States to earn
a Masters Degree in School Administration.
In 1957, he again went to Japan and was
assigned to a school in Yokohama, overseeing
grades K-6. Yokohama could not compare
to Rocco Heights as a Garden Spot of Japan;
John resigned from the Department of the
Army program and returned to the United
States in 1958.
His interest in teaching continued when he
returned to the United States. He taught
school for several years in Long Island, N.Y.
During that time he began to collect sea algae
and fashion them into beautiful art forms; and
his work in this area began to attract attention
and interest. He loved to travel and sea
cruises were his favorite way to visit far-flung
destinations. On a Christmas cruise, he was
approached by a person who was fascinated
by his algae works of art, and invited him to
join the Total Eclipse cruise to Africa. On that
cruise, his assigned table mates included the
Astronaut Neil Armstrong, Dr. Branley from
the New York Planetarium, and the Science
Editor of the New York Times. Each of them
gave lectures on their areas of expertise for
the other passengers. Another table mate
was Harriet Adams, author of the Nancy
Drew books. She invited John to visit her
home in New Jersey and asked that he apply
his architectural acumen to designing a large
empty space into a multi-room office. Later,
he learned that her office was indeed built to
Malm’s specifications. John is pleased that the
friendships with this small circle of colleagues
has continued throughout the years.
In 1981, John retired, and moved to Kirby
Pines in 1997. In addition to a prized picture
signed by Vanna White, his apartment reflects
the years in Japan with a tall decorative
screen, pictures, and many other objects of
beauty. He writes poetry and is a member of
the KP Poetry Group. He has established an “I
Don’t Understand File” – when he’s thinking
about a problem, theory, or trying to recall a
past event, he writes it down and puts it in
a folder. Periodically, he has an “Ah-Ha”
moment and the sought-after answer comes to
him, representing a quite Freudian concept of
the workings of the Unconscious.
In our culture, as in most cultures, a man’s
sense of self is linked to his working years.
“
What did you do” is a common follow-on
when one is introduced to a retired man. Men
continue to see themselves as who they were
before retirement. And so it is with John
Malm. When he retired, John Malm did not
return to the life he knew in Oakdale or Dallas.
Instead, because he was influenced by the
vast literal and experiential distance between
Nebraska and Japan, and by scientists and
artists encountered on the Total Eclipse Cruise
to Africa and other travels, his sense of self is
grounded in his professional life. John Malm
continues to be what he was.
John satisfies his love of teaching through his
poetry, his frame art displays of free-form sea
algae and mega-size butterflies, preparation
of a manuscript for future publication, and
sharing stories of his travels and of persons
of intellectual accomplishment who are
his colleagues. Kirby Pines benefits by his
presence and honors his contributions that
enrich the Kirby Pines social networks.
John Malm’s Sea Algae Art
–
Jacqueline Besteman,
Resident
John Malm
