Been to Vegas several times, once with Mike on our way to Palm Springs to hang out with my older brother. Went to Tahoe with my other brother and we saw BB King under the influence of a powdery substance and hit the casinos. Flew into Tahoe from Salt Lake after seeing an old friend of my brothers', who was an international student from Tehran. They met in high school. Zia was the son of an elite class in Iran and his family owned a shipping company. His parents fled to Switzerland in 1973 and he and his sister came here as students. He became part of the family, joining dinners, birthdays, holidays, and always was an intriguing figure because of our cultural difference. Had the body of an Andy Reid. We learned alot about his culture. I still have a gold coin he game me pre IRG and a couple of old stone marbles. Imagine a family table with parents, 7 kids, and he just always was there. When he starged classes at KU, we were surrounded by the Iranian students in Lawrence, doing to the Eldridge, drinking champagne, and no shortage of funds for anything they wanted. It was a growing community there in Lawrence. Zia took a job in Salt Lake and then moved to Los Angeles, and when I graduated high school, I and my littlest sister flew to LA to see Zia (and her first flight), and he dropped us off at Disneyland, then we flew to Palm Springs to see my older brother, who by then had done well with his hot tar roofing company (yes he worked 6 months doing roofs in Palm Springs), apply named JAYHAWK ROOFING. His motto was, Here For A Reason. Not Just A Season. I have one of his cards. He bartendered at a bar during the other 6 months. Something called ............Parrot. He had bought a house and had a pool. He gave me a pink matchbook with Gerald R. Ford inscribed on it. He was the one who turned me onto Bob Marley. He traveled with a friend extensively to Bogata prior to moving in with me in Leavenworth in 1977 for a year before he went off to Palm Springs. I still have his antique bedroom suite he was so proud of and didn't want to risk it being shipped. I lost him when he returned home from work and entered the back sliding door and when he opened the door, the air ignited the flames that were inside the walls, and he was found at the front door, died from smoke inhalation. That happend in 1981. Just 30 years old.
