Archive Record
Images
Metadata
Title |
Oral History of Peter Rhodes |
Collection |
Oral History |
Scope & Content |
Born on January 22nd, 1920 in Manchester, England, Peter Rhodes began his career in America at the tender age of 7, selling newspapers on the tramcars that ran down Fillmore Street in San Francisco. Peter grew up to become a dedicated athlete, business owner and lover of languages who prided himself on a lifetime of hard work. Peter's first awareness of Mill Valley came from the town's Great Fire in 1929, whose smoke he recalls seeing from the top of his newspaper route. Despite this - or perhaps because of it - Peter's family relocated to Mill Valley shortly thereafter, where he both attended Mill Valley schools and continued contributing to his family's income by selling newspapers along the train route between Mill Valley and Sausalito. Peter went on to play football for Stanford University, where he was one of the famous "Vow Boys" of the 1930s who swore never to lose a match played against their newfound rival, the University of Southern California. Peter's football and college career were interrupted for a time by the onset of World War II, but his service in the U.S. Army saw work with German prisoners of war in Texas and valuable experience with the German language. Peter eventually graduated, learned the ropes of the export business and became a successful family business owner with many international connections. Peter recalls all of these experiences throughout his oral history, as well as his admiration for the diversity and integrity of Tamalpais High School, the layout of downtown Mill Valley, the town's many areas for sports recreation and the Japanese community that lived there prior to internment during World War II. Editor's note: The first several lines of this oral history transcript are not reflected in the audio recording. |
Audio and Transcript |
Click here to hear recording. Click here to read the transcript. |
Dates of Creation |
2007-12-16 |
Interviewee |
Rhodes, Peter |
Interviewer |
Devlin, Bill |
Extent and Medium |
Transcript: 11pp Recording: 00:35:09 |
Search Terms |
Armed forces Athletics Business - Mill Valley Ethnic groups - Marin County Fay, Anita Marcus Fay, Paul "Red" Burgess, Jr. Football Grocers Grocery stores Gustafson, George Jense, Bob Military personnel Plamondon, Marshall Prisoners of war Rice, Condoleeza Shaughnessy, Pete Shibata, Tsuru Sports World War II |
Object ID |
2016.062.001 |
Object Name |
Recording |
Copyrights |
Transcript and recording copyright Mill Valley Public Library, 2007. Materials are made available for research purposes only; all rights are reserved to the Mill Valley Public Library. Requests for permission to quote for publication or for any other usage must be obtained from the Library. |