I remember Kim Richmond-Jeffers needed to move her things out of her Bookstore Manager's apartment, because, she said, he had sexually assaulted her. I told her I would help her, and, went with her to a small apartment. I remember that she showed me that he had marijuana sitting on an end table, near a picture of his daughter. This man was divorced from his wife, and, the daughter was a young toddler - pre-school. She took his stereo, a music system, from there, as collaterol, until he paid her back her rent money due her.
She put her clothes in the back of her car, and, left for where she was from, Indiana/Chicago, because she didn't know where to go with her things after my roommates didn't want her in their apartment/duplex. The Bookstore Manager was her employer, on the campus of Pratt Institute, in Brooklyn, N.Y. I had very little money most of the time I was in Brooklyn or New York, and, had returned the book that was recommended to us, written by Isaac Victor Kerlow, M.S., the Chair of the Computer Graphics program at Pratt. This book was in introductory primer to the subject, including terms used in Computer Science in reference to hardware, software, animation, graphics. But, I had never used this book for a class, and, thought the book had outlived its usefulness for me. I had driven four other Computer Graphics grad students to Boston, and, we had shopped at the M.I.T./Harvard bookstores in Cambridge, which were much more useful and informative. In New York, books had to be ordered which were useful, or, try to find something in Manhattan.
At that time, Kim Richmond-Jeffers was engaged to be married to Andrew Wallace, who was working in Chicago, and, I understood, was employed by an Illinois elected official, while in school there. She told us, when we were asked in class, by Isaac Victor Kerlow, that she intended to move to Washington, D.C., with Andrew, when she graduated. I have no idea what she was doing living with her Bookstore Manager, and, I never knew the man, who was an Hispanic, enough to remember his name. I saw him when I returned Isaac's book in 1990, before I finished on October 1, 1990. This moving of Kim's things happened shortly after, in mid-October, 1990, and, I was on campus, at that time, because I still had not had a thesis exhibit, which was a requirement, usually. But, I was the first single-nationality American to finish this new program, and, had not received my diploma and didn't know what to do. My roommates, in fact, appeared in the Computer Lab in the ARC one day, just sitting with the Macintoshes. I heard them talking about the cost of having to buy a new Computer, and using the student discount, before they finished their traditional program and were done with their thesis exhibits. I had nothing to do with the fact that no other Pratt students didn't use the ARC Computer Lab. I don't know how many students who lived in campus housing knew that the ARC Computer Lab was there, and, wanted to use that, but, were unsure what was happening there. Many did not know the Computer Graphics program existed, I am sure. I came in in January, 1988, and was finished in October, 1990 - I had entered with enough money to study for two years, and, had gone past that in January, 1990. I was getting phone calls from student loans collection agencies in October, 1990, which disturbed me, since I did not even have a diploma, had not talked to any recruiters and had not had a thesis show. The Financial Aid Dept. on campus was no help. They didn't know anything about the Computer Graphics program, mainly, because all were foreign students, and had to be liquid and self-supporting in order to allowed into the U.S. The four fellow CG grad students, whom I had driven to Boston, were from Seoul, South Korea. One had a brother who was a Medical student, working in the Boston University Medical system. Three of these, I believed, had finished with me, on October 1, 1990. But, according to others and the Alumni Directories, only two finished with me, and, both returned back to Seoul, South Korea. Because I had nothing on paper, at that time, I approached them, and asked them their addresses in South Korea, and, they gave this to me. I don't know what they thought I was going to do with their addresses, but, I have seen only one of them since, and, that was in 1991, in Las Vegas, Nevada, at the ACM-SIGGRAPH conference. This one was employed, I was told, by a SGI reseller in South Korea, a company that had brought her to the conference. I did not ever get verification that was true. About 1996, Isaac Victor Kerlow, M.S., moved to Los Angeles, with another one of those - the one that had a brother studying medicine in Boston. From what I can gather, the new Computer Graphics program was established, at that time, under Rick Berry, and, Tsy-Wei, or Lawrence Huang, was finished with his thesis, and, Isaac left to work for Walt Disney with Lawrence, as his Assistant. Kim Richmond-Jeffers married Andrew Wallace and moved to Centreville, Virginia, and, was employed by Autometric BAE, or Boeing, in 1996. I do not know what happened to my two roommates that did not want Kim to move into our apartment/duplex in 1990. I did everything I could to help everyone I could, and, was expected, as an American, to do with without pay and with a smile. I did not have to help Kim Richmond-Jeffers, in any way. I did not have to drive anyone anywhere, but, did this, with a smile and without pay. I don't know what was expected of me, after finishing in October 1, 1990. Kim, apparently, had money to attend graduation in May, 1991, and walk with other graduates. I was without a car until June, 1991, and, again, without a car from June, 1997-June, 1999. Kim told me she had paid off her car, in May, 1991. Tsy-Wei, or Lawrence, bought a new car while still a student, on campus, in 1989 or 1990, and, I was told he was given this money by the school, and, he was given work as an Assistant to Isaac. Kim Richmond-Jeffers came in as a new Computer Graphics student, in summer, 1988, and, she finished in January, 1991. She was working for a company in Chicago, in Spring, 1991, and, living with Andrew in an apartment. I interviewed at this company in Chicago that she was working for, but, was not hired, and, she recommended a hotel that I could stay at that evening. This hotel that she recommended was a drug dive, not anything I would ever go to again, and, she said, that the company would reimburse me for my interview expenses, but, I have never seen the money. I knew at the time that she was lying. This company had her model a candy gum drop machine, which she showed me, completed, on her computer. She was working with another woman, about her age, and, an older man, who was her boss, and, who we went out to lunch with that day. I never hurt this woman, never did anything to her, never knew anything about her previous to having her in classes at Pratt, and have never seen her again, outside of this interview in Chicago, at a conference in Chicago (both in 1991) and, another time at the ACM-SIGGRAPH conference in New Orleans in 1996. She was at the ACM-SIGGRAPH conference in Las Vega, in 1991, although I don't remember seeing her - just knew she was there, with her employer, who had paid her way.
I talked to McDonnell-Douglas in 1991, on the phone, since they have a location in St. Louis. I was told the company had software doing 3D modeling and animation, but, these were all guys, and, laugh, if you want to come by and look, you can. I understood these men were fully employed and there were no openings. I was told, by Kim, that she had studied Supervision, at Purdue University, and, that she had been her class Valedictorian, in Indiana. At that time, this other CG grad student who was with us, at that time, believed her. I did not, being an American, myself, and, the other was from Columbia, South American. She, also, told us she had previous computer graphics experience at Purdue, but, if you check, she has an Associates degree, prior to another Bachelor's degree, similar to a Business in Technology degree. I do not understand how a Valedictorian would go on to an Associates degree. All those that I knew my undergraduate years, who came in with Associates degrees, were with those because they were not top students, and, not encouraged to go on to full-time 4 year college degrees. I turned the other way, immediately, seeing Kim Richmond-Jeffers, on campus at Pratt. Her frequent trips to "see Andrew", we were told, by car, were necessary. But, when she had a death in the family, she sat at the ARC Computer Lab doors until those there understood she needed money and help, to go back to her family in Indiana for this funeral. Andrew came, one time, to visit us, on a field trip to Kim's employment with Sonya Haferkorn, at 4-D, in Manhattan. Sonya Haferkorn, like Kim, had long hair, to the middle of their backs, like they had never had a haircut. Sonya Hakerkorn was our Instructor for one class in 1988, located in the School of Engineering. About 1994, Sonya changed her last name to "Shannon", with the help of some Attorneys on Madison Avenue in Manhattan. I still do not know why, or, where this last name came from, since she married a divorced man named Timothy Binkley, Ph.D. I do not know when Kim married Andrew. I saw a picture of two kids, a boy and a girl, on her www.facebook.com page, last year, in 2014, and, saw them named in an obituary for Kim's grandmother, in Indiana. Kim was using the name "Kim R-J Wallace" on a business card in 1996. I have never met her family, and, this is all I know about the woman.
Additional: on March 23, 2015
This is Kim's Grandmother's obituary: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nwitimes/obituary.aspx?n=sylvia-richmond&pid=149054275
See my other posts, dated March 23, 2015.
Thursday, March 12, 2015
Kim Richmond-Jeffers, married name "Wallace" and Purdue University, computer graphics and me
Labels:
engineering,
Kimberly,
New York