I was born in Surabaja, Indonesia on September 30, 1940 before my father left. He was in Singapore when the Japanese invaded Indonesia. He had escaped by ship and entered the US as a seaman. He got off the ship in San Francisco and found his old friends to help him. So, he joined the Army and was given citizenship for service during the WW II.

As a child, I lost my hearing when a bomb blew up near me in the war.

In 1948, he remarried an American wife, Carolyn, who was a buyer for R. H. Macy’s in New York City. He was associated with the Indonesian Consulate in Negotiations with the UN after WW II.

As you see, above left is a picture of my mother Sri and me as a child. She asked me to forgive her for leaving me when she remarried another man. They sent me to stay with his mother. Later in time, she (my stepgrandmother ) became cruel to me. She’d never treated me well enough. Sometimes I was starved but went out looking for the mangoes from the trees and the junk food from the garbage. I ate a lot to make me feel good, but she did not see it that way. Constantly, I was dressed in clothes of rags for years. My mother, Sri, wrote the letter to ask my father, Imam to give me more education in United States. He agreed to. He and his wife, Carolyn returned to Indonesia and found me in rags with the help of their old friends. They brought me with them to the United States into a strange world.

In 1951, I came to New York City when I was 11. We lived in an Apartment on 72nd Street, between Madison and Fifth Avenue. They introduced me to my new stepbrother John, and we shared a room. He was 5 years older than I was. At first, my stepmother Carolyn took me out to the Public School for the Deaf in New York City. I was awkward as my teacher started to teach me how to write the simple words on the blackboard. With the help of my hearing aid, I was learning to read lips and speak from the beginning. My stepbrother flew back to Colorado where he stayed with his grandmother Dorothy. So he could go to school for several years.

In 1957, we moved out to Stony Creek, Connecticut. I went to Branford High School for two years before I joined the American School for the Deaf in West Hartford. I was graduated from the school in 1961. I started to study art correspondence from Famous Artists School for 3 years while working as an apprentice at a small printing company in New Haven. After I finished my art school, I went to New York City looking for a job. I found it doing paste-up and mechanicals on various magazines for Reese Publishing for seven years. I became very bored and decided to quit the job in 1973.

In 1972, my father retired from the Indonesia Embassy. So, they moved to Bali, Indonesia. They built a house overlooking the Indian Ocean, a little way from the airport in Denpasar, Bali. A year later, I went to visit them and stayed there for two months. They resided there for many years. They spent time traveling around the world on various business ventures.

In 1973, I started to work doing pasteup and mechanical for Forbes Inc for 10 months. They laid me off work in 1975 because of slow business. For about 3 years, I could not find a job, I was depressed and frustrated. My father wanted me to go back to Indonesia when my money ran out. I refused so, but I did not give up looking for work. It happened that I found a job in a small book publishing company through the New York Times. I was doing past-up and mechanicals for juvenile books for several years while looking for another job by mailing resumes out. Macmillan Publishing Co. called me and I showed my portfolio to some people in the School Division.

In May, 1979 they hired me as staff artist despite my hearing problem. From the start I was doing paste-up and mechanicals, designing and doing some illustrations for school textbooks which went from Kindergarten to Grade 6.

In the early 90’s Macmillan was purchased by the McGraw-Hill Companies and renamed Macmillan / McGraw-Hill School Division. The company moved to its present location, 2 Penn Plaza, in 1996.

Around the time of the purchase, all employees started to work on computers. Now, instead of doing my illustrations in pen and ink and airbrush, I do my illustrating on the computer. My department is now called EDP (Electronic Design and Production).

Most of the time, I am doing digital illustrations for school textbooks (such as Social Studies, Reading, Math and Science) with a lot of art for the Kingergarten to Grade 6 books.

On the side from my job, I continue to study the 3D animation in cartoon in the evening at Pratt in downtown Manhattan. It takes about 2 years to complete all courses in order to get the Certificates Program in Computer Animation & Video. It is never too late to learn.

Now, I am devoted to bodybuilding. For many years, I have to keep up with my workouts as long as I can. I usually go to workout at the gym 3-4 times a week, just one hour from 5:00 to 6:00 AM. It takes a time to develop the perfect symmetry on my body and mind.

As a member of Sierra Club, I have 4 years of experiences in backpacking, service and base camp across the country (California, Colorado, Grand Canyon, Utah, Montana, New Hampshire, Hawaii and Costa Rica.)

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