Baxter, Norman interview
Item
Title
Baxter, Norman interview
Description
Former president of Fresno State speaks about working with Leon S. Peters on the university's Board of Governors, President's Club and Board of Governors of Agriculture.
Creator
Baxter, Norman
Richter, Bud
Relation
Leon S. Peters Legacy Collection
Coverage
Fresno, California
Date
9/18/2009
Format
Microsoft Word 2003 document, 7 pages
Identifier
SCMS_lspl_00005
extracted text
>> Bud Richter:
you, and we can
life. Could you
we come to know
It's
talk
tell
you,
a real privilege for me, Norman, to be able to speak to
a little bit about you and how Leon Peters affected your
us a bit, Norman, exactly how you -- who you are, and how
and a little bit about why we have you here today.
>> Norman Baxter: Well, I was president of Fresno State from '80 to '90 -- is
that right?
>> Bud Richter: '70 to '80.
>> Norman Baxter: '70 to '80. That you can -- you can correct.
[Laughter]
>> Bud Richter: '70 to '80.
>> Norman Baxter: '70 to '80. And during that time and as -- in that role, I
became acquainted with many, many community leaders, but probably none more
intimately and dependent upon anyone than Lee Peters. Lee Peters was that kind
of a person that you were glad to have.
>> Bud Richter: Norman, what were some of the most fond memories that you have
of your time with Leon?
>> Norman Baxter: Well, they were varied and always very interesting. We
traveled together, and we went backpacking together and staying in the Sierra
for seven nights each year, and then he was so intimately involved in the
university with the Board of Governors, with the President's Club, with the
Board of Governors of Agriculture, and just about every facet of the university.
He was so well known in the community that whatever you needed -- wherever you
needed to make a contact, Lee could make that contact for you. He was just an
invaluable aid to every project that was going on really.
>> Bud Richter: Do you have any particular stories or special memories of those
areas where you worked with Leon that you'd like to share?
>> Norman Baxter: Well, I remember one time we were in the middle of the Bulldog
Stadium fund drive and we had a small group together for dinner at a Chinese
restaurant, and as you know, you have Chinese fortune cookies [laughter] and
everybody would read -- each person would stand up and read what was on there.
And when it came Lee's turn, he read very solemnly -- you can see him -- "The
stadium will be built." [Laughter] And, of course, after they were surprised for
a minute but then everybody, of course, roared, and it was -- but that's an
indication of how his enthusiasm and his persistence and his vision would catch
on. He -- just by saying that -- if I said it, you said it, no, but if Lee says
it, people listened, and as you know, that stadium drive along with the help
from the other members like Bud Richter and Bob Duncan and Lew Eaton and Russ
Giffen put that thing together and raised an enormous amount of money -- highest
I think at that time -- for Fresno State from private sources. And it's been a
turning point, I think, in Fresno State athletics, because the stadium was upto-date and very attractive, and it was, I'm sure, I've heard the coaches say
that it was a good recruiting tool when the players in the area could come and
imagine themselves playing on that field with Mom and Dad in the stands.
>> Bud Richter: So your vision as you told me and you told others was to try and
-- by having the stadium built on campus, it started to bring the community out
to the campus. Could you share a little bit about that, what you and Leon
thought about that?
>> Norman Baxter: Yes. Lee was a very community-organized person -- communitydirected person. His first thought was a project perhaps, but then it was always
encompassed in thought about the community. How does this fit to the community?
How does it help? That was his vision when he was in the Community Hospital
leadership. He knew that there were burgeoning populations, and then he knew
that the numbers of beds available is one standard you can use, and so that -when he perceived that community need, he stepped in to fill it, and I think the
community sensed that, and that's why they would respond to his personal appeals
as well as public appeals for -- for funds.
>> Bud Richter: Did Leon S. Peters have any impact on your life?
>> Norman Baxter: Oh, yes. He lived down the street from me, and often after
dinner, I would get on my bike and ride down and sit down for an hour or two in
his -- in his den there on Van Ness and discuss anything that concerned the
campus: People for membership in the President's Club, or how we could approach
so and so about a gift for this or that, or anything at all that affected the
university, he was just a wonderful person -- very wise man to bounce it off and
see -- see your problem or your need from another point of view. Just had an
intuition for that kind of insight in helping people.
>> Bud Richter: You talk about his insight. Are there any particular qualities
or values in Leon's life that you think best describe him?
>> Norman Baxter: If I had to use one word about Lee as I knew him, it would be
the word "persistence." There's a little story that I -- that happened to us,
the Ernest and Julio Gallo from Gallo Vineyards were good friends of Lee and
Alice Peters, and they invited the Peters and the Baxters and some other close
friends to Hanford to the Imperial Dynasty -- some of you will remember that.
And Ernest Gallo was the chairman of the evening or the presiding officer, and
told the story of how he and Lee first got together in their -- in their
business deals. It was right after prohibition and the Gallo people had
anticipated that that was coming and had made a great deal of wine and stored it
someplace and were ready for it to be distributed whenever the time was right.
Lee had heard this so he went to see Ernest Gallo, told him that he had just
what he needed, and that was the pumps, he could supply him the pumps that would
pump that wine to bottles or jugs or to the other vats or whatever it may be,
and Ernest Gallo said, "I told him I wasn't interested. I had some other plans
in mind." And according to Mr. Gallo, Lee stayed around because Lee knew at the
time that there was that wine out there had to be in -- the sooner the market
the better, so he stayed and he stayed and he stayed all day until Mr. Gallo
said, "All right. What's your price?" And that was the beginning of that
relationship which is, we all know, had far-reaching implications for the
Valley, for the Gallos, for the wine industry, for viticulture all up and down
the Valley and really, in effect around the world. But I -- I can see Lee doing
that, very gentle but he knew his ground. He knew that Gallo needed those pumps,
and he just waited it out. And we all know the rest of that and I would not like
to think of the Valley without that -- that meeting and what followed from it.
So I think of -- I think of Lee as very persistent. And when you think of all of
the influence he had for the Community Hospital and for other projects, that,
I'm sure, was a key because people respected Lee enough to know that he wasn't
just going to ask and leave. If he didn't get what he wanted, [laughter] he
would persist in his kind, kind way.
>> Bud Richter: Persistence is a great virtue especially when you have integrity
->> Norman Baxter: Yes.
>> Bud Richter: -- to go with it. How about Lee's integrity, did you ever happen
to witness anything in that regard?
>> Norman Baxter: Um, well, there was one -- one case -- there was an Armenian
man who had come directly from the old country. He had some success in growing
some fruits and vegetables, and he wanted to give some money to Fresno State for
scholarships, but he wanted to be sure that they went to Armenian or Armenianinterested students, for the language and for the history and the culture. And
he said -- and I had to tell him, of course, that you cannot write [laughter]
scholarship contracts that way. You have to write them in a very general way and
it's not possible to designate an ethnic group. So he was puzzled by that, Mr.
Patigan [phonetic] was, and I said, well, how about, and then we later flew up
to Medford, Oregon to see him, Lee and I did. I said, "How about if you talk to
Lee Peters about this?" And so as I said, we went, enjoyed our time out there
just outside of Medford, and Mr. Patigan was convinced that if Lee Peters said
it was okay, it was okay. It was just that simple. That was his reputation, and
you can't imagine how far that goes when it comes to -- to influencing people to
give or not to give.
>> Bud Richter: And while you're talking about Leon's ability to lead -- and he
was a significant leader there at your campus, at the university as well as at
Community Hospital and other places -- but do you -- besides persistence and
integrity, are there any leadership qualities you experienced with him in
different activities you'd like to share that others can learn from this?
>> Norman Baxter: Lee was the kind of person that when he was in a meeting -let's say he was chairman of our Board of Governors of the Foundation for most
of the time I was there, and he knew -- he had a sense of how to preside at a
meeting so that everyone there felt that whatever he has on his agenda that day
had been clearly thought out, and the objections that they might have or that
the questions they might have or whatever else might come up, that Lee would be
prepared to handle that. And I always thought that was a mark of good
leadership. You never felt as you left a governors’ meeting, that that was
botched, or that I'm sorry that happened today, or I'm sorry that was said. Lee
had the -- I guess the ESP to anticipate where some objections might be or some
problems might be. It's -- it was amazing how quickly people coalesced behind
him when they sensed that Lee was in command of the subject and was doing it for
the best interest of everybody concerned. I think that's -- that is what I came
away from knowing him as far as a leadership -- as far as being a leader.
>> Bud Richter: Very good. Fresno and our valley have a lot of people coming in
and moving out, and how do you think you would best describe Leon S. Peters to
somebody new coming into the Central Valley and what Leon means to this valley
that they can really significantly appreciate?
>> Norman Baxter: Lee Peters to most people I think who live here and have lived
here for some time have a real appreciation of what he had done, what he had -what he did do for -- for all of us. To somebody new, I think it would be a very
good way to approach them if they came, let's say, by the route of the Armenian
community because he was an example of that. He was from the farm, he had worked
the farm, he -- every Saturday he still went to the farm and talked to the -his brothers and his nephews that were running the operation. Until you
appreciate what had happened with the Armenian people here and then saw what was
going on now, and with people like Lee Peters as sort of the model of -- of what
could happen to them, it seems to me that that is a theme that should be used
more in our multicultural society: How the Armenian people came, denied
residences in certain areas of the city. Lee himself bought his own house on Van
Ness through a third party, and that was the way, but because it was Lee Peters,
that was accepted. Nobody would think to question it today, but the before-andafter of those, let's say, 50-year span that he was fully active here in town,
it seems to me that that is the -- what I would try to emphasize with some
newcomers. Appreciate what it was and appreciate what it is and how it got
there.
>> Bud Richter: Thank you, very, very good. Why do you think Leon was so
committed to education?
>> Norman Baxter: Well, he himself was the first to say he regretted that he had
not had anything beyond high school -- any education beyond high school. I think
always in little things that he would say, not much, but little things, you knew
that he -- he sensed that, and he didn't want to see that repeated
unnecessarily. If there were any way to find -- and that's why he has endowed
scholarships at Fresno State, etc. -- and he wanted that opportunity which he
had missed but made up for far more than most of us, but he wanted people to
have that because he knew exactly what it had meant in his life by way of not
being there.
>> Bud Richter: He certainly impacted Fresno State.
>> Norman Baxter: Yes.
>> Bud Richter: What other ways did he impact Fresno State; would you say
enforcing education?
>> Norman Baxter: He was -- he was a person that if the Board of Trustees of the
whole system were meeting and Governor Deukmejian was there and presiding, you
can be very sure, and you can also be very sure in the case of the trustees that
the Chancellor before he took any final action about things, would be in touch
with Lee. He didn't -- Lee didn't talk about that but you heard that from the
other end, that, "Well I talked to Lee, and this is what had he said about that.
What do you think about that, Mr. President," and so on. So he -- let's say he
had his -- his hand -- his fingers out there. He did.
>> Bud Richter: People in this valley see a lot of the philanthropy which ->> Norman Baxter: Oh, yes.
>> Bud Richter: Leon and Alice Peters had given to their foundation and to their
family. Do you have any thoughts about why Leon was so interested in
philanthropy and giving back to this community?
>> Norman Baxter: Well, I think that ties in to what we were saying a minute
ago, and that is that he -- he knew that he had been given some God-given gifts
both in finances and in other ways, and he was determined to see those utilized
by as many people, to benefit as many people as possible. So he would have the
Armenian Home or he would have this or that, so many projects were under his
great big umbrella, and therefore, I think that he -- he told me once that he'd
encouraged one of our noted philanthropists now, to give. This man had never
given. And he had -- he came to Lee one day, he said Lee, I'm glad you -- you
talked to me about supporting the project that he did, and Lee got a great -- a
great satisfaction out of that, that by his talking to Mr. X, and Mr. X
contributed, and then Mr. X comes to him and says, "Lee, that was the best thing
I could have done. I've got more joy and more return and -- from that than
anything I've ever done." Now, that made Lee happy. He knew it would happen if
they would give, and so he was motivated -- I am sure he never said that -- but
I'm sure he was motivated in part by what happiness he knew that would bring
others, and it did, at least in that one case that I know of. [Laughter]
>> Bud Richter: I was about to ask, but you had a chance to travel, you said,
with Leon and Alice and mountain rides for a week. How did Leon have fun? Did he
have fun? He looked pretty serious most of the time.
>> Norman Baxter: Well, he and I tented together -- that means that we slept in
the same tent ->> Unidentified male: [Inaudible] your mike.
[Laughter]
>> Norman Baxter: -- and so ->> Unidentified male: You might want to answer the question again from the
beginning.
>> Norman Baxter: Yes, please. You ask it.
>> Bud Richter: Oh, the –
>> Norman Baxter: Thank you.
>> Bud Richter: - you talked about how Leon wanted to give to this community,
and -- but you also shared with us a little earlier about how you travel -- you
and your wife, Wilda, traveled with Leon and Alice and how you traveled also
went for a week-long at a time up in the mountains on horseback. Leon always
looked so serious to many people who saw him. Did he have fun?
>> Norman Baxter: Well, [laughter] if you saw Lee on a horse for -- all day for
20 miles, and you know he was short and his horse -- they always gave him the
biggest horse that they had, [laughter] I don't know why. But he would look just
the way he always did, sort of somber, and I wouldn't say glum or gloomy, but,
you know, it wasn't a happy time to be wracking your old bones on that -- on
that saddle. But you knew that he was there because he enjoyed that group, and
come to nightfall and after dinner, and after-dinner drinks, Lee, I won't say
was the life of the party, but that is when he was the most mellow I have ever
seen him was just in conversation, lots of the people were his age and there
were lots of men, so he enjoyed swapping stories and -- not necessarily about
himself but just about things that had happened in Fresno. He was -- he was a
Fresnan, and he enjoyed sharing the history of the place and the events of the
place that he was in touch with other people, and it would go back and forth,
back and forth, and it was -- it was great for in effect an outsider, not a
Fresnan at all, for me because I learned so much. But Lee -- Lee enjoyed that
part of the backpack. I'm not sure about the 23-mile ride. [Laughter]
>> Bud Richter: How about dancing? Earlier you talked about dancing.
>> Norman Baxter: Well, [laughter] if you're on a cruise ship, you know, there's
always dance floor and there's always an orchestra, etc., and, you know, they
play some different tunes and so on, but Lee and Alice being the same height,
would go out on the floor and just in their very quiet way would do their -- do
their dancing to the tune that I guess must have been in their head, but
everybody else would be "Whoopee, whoopee," and there were Lee and Alice just
[laughter] it was such a contrast that you knew that they -- they were by
themselves, they were in another world, and they were content. It really was an
amazing scene. I loved it. [Laughter]
>> Bud Richter: Norman, you've been very generous in sharing your thoughts and
memories of Leon, and do you think in the legacy that Leon left this community,
this valley, that there's anything else you should share with us about that
legacy you haven't done yet?
>> Norman Baxter: I expect that there's probably a great deal that Lee did that
is not known, probably to Alice but not necessarily, and I think that those are
the things that gave him great satisfaction. A helping hand here and a word of
encouragement there. An uplift when it was needed. I think in his personal
relations, if you speak to his employees, speak to his brother Pete, and so on,
you'll find Lee -- Lee is more than we ordinarily think of him as Lee. Lee was
out there in almost any possible nook and cranny of this community with a
helping and a very generous hand, and I can -- and I can't identify those, but I
have an idea that that's -- that's probably what he might tell you that was the
-- that was the greatest thing of all.
>> Bud Richter: He was very, very humble, wasn't he?
>> Norman Baxter: Very humble man, nonthreatening. He came into the room; you
wanted to hear what Lee said. Lee would -- have you heard this? Lee, would -what do you think about this. And he would tell you, not mince words, he wasn't
a politician in any sense of -- of mixed message or anything like that. It was
straight out and people listened.
>> Bud Richter: When you were president, you had a President's Club.
>> Norman Baxter: Oh, yes.
>> Bud Richter: And it was, you can tell what it was about, but as I remember
it, enjoyed it we had wore tuxedos and ->> Norman Baxter: Oh, yes.
>> Bud Richter: -- down at Sunnyside Country Club, and you had cigars and the
brandy and all men.
>> Norman Baxter: All men.
>> Bud Richter: Now, that -- what caused that to change? How did Leon -- was he
involved with that at all?
>> Norman Baxter: Well, that was right at the end of my time. I think that came
about -- when they admitted women for the first time -- after I had left. But I
could tell you without any hesitation that Lee would have -- if he had been -he and I had been together at that time when that vote was taken, he would have
been for that. He was that progressive. He had seen enough change and he knew
that change was coming in that area or another area and would not resist it. He
was wise in that sense. So I'm sure you could put him down as, if you want to
call it that, "social progressive" [laughter] in the very best sense of that
term.
>> Bud Richter: Is there anything else that we haven't asked you about that
you'd like to go ahead and share?
[Silence]
>> Norman Baxter: Well -- Lee was the kind of person that Alice would call and
say, "Wilda, we're having lamb shanks, and Wendy’s [inaudible] tonight, come on
over." And when you would do that, it was informal, it was in the kitchen or
part of the kitchen, and it was just Lee in his shirtsleeves. Can you imagine
Lee without his coat on? [Laughter] And then the conversation was so relaxed
that he knew how to balance what was business, what was friendship, what was
time to work, what was time to play, and that spirit rubbed off on us, and Wilda
has said to me many, many times that we're grateful to see Leon Peters any time
because of the graciousness and the kindness of his spirit, and I would leave
you with that as far as the intangibles are concerned. A great benediction to
the Baxters.
>> Bud Richter: Thank you.
==== Transcribed by Automatic Sync Technologies ====
you, and we can
life. Could you
we come to know
It's
talk
tell
you,
a real privilege for me, Norman, to be able to speak to
a little bit about you and how Leon Peters affected your
us a bit, Norman, exactly how you -- who you are, and how
and a little bit about why we have you here today.
>> Norman Baxter: Well, I was president of Fresno State from '80 to '90 -- is
that right?
>> Bud Richter: '70 to '80.
>> Norman Baxter: '70 to '80. That you can -- you can correct.
[Laughter]
>> Bud Richter: '70 to '80.
>> Norman Baxter: '70 to '80. And during that time and as -- in that role, I
became acquainted with many, many community leaders, but probably none more
intimately and dependent upon anyone than Lee Peters. Lee Peters was that kind
of a person that you were glad to have.
>> Bud Richter: Norman, what were some of the most fond memories that you have
of your time with Leon?
>> Norman Baxter: Well, they were varied and always very interesting. We
traveled together, and we went backpacking together and staying in the Sierra
for seven nights each year, and then he was so intimately involved in the
university with the Board of Governors, with the President's Club, with the
Board of Governors of Agriculture, and just about every facet of the university.
He was so well known in the community that whatever you needed -- wherever you
needed to make a contact, Lee could make that contact for you. He was just an
invaluable aid to every project that was going on really.
>> Bud Richter: Do you have any particular stories or special memories of those
areas where you worked with Leon that you'd like to share?
>> Norman Baxter: Well, I remember one time we were in the middle of the Bulldog
Stadium fund drive and we had a small group together for dinner at a Chinese
restaurant, and as you know, you have Chinese fortune cookies [laughter] and
everybody would read -- each person would stand up and read what was on there.
And when it came Lee's turn, he read very solemnly -- you can see him -- "The
stadium will be built." [Laughter] And, of course, after they were surprised for
a minute but then everybody, of course, roared, and it was -- but that's an
indication of how his enthusiasm and his persistence and his vision would catch
on. He -- just by saying that -- if I said it, you said it, no, but if Lee says
it, people listened, and as you know, that stadium drive along with the help
from the other members like Bud Richter and Bob Duncan and Lew Eaton and Russ
Giffen put that thing together and raised an enormous amount of money -- highest
I think at that time -- for Fresno State from private sources. And it's been a
turning point, I think, in Fresno State athletics, because the stadium was upto-date and very attractive, and it was, I'm sure, I've heard the coaches say
that it was a good recruiting tool when the players in the area could come and
imagine themselves playing on that field with Mom and Dad in the stands.
>> Bud Richter: So your vision as you told me and you told others was to try and
-- by having the stadium built on campus, it started to bring the community out
to the campus. Could you share a little bit about that, what you and Leon
thought about that?
>> Norman Baxter: Yes. Lee was a very community-organized person -- communitydirected person. His first thought was a project perhaps, but then it was always
encompassed in thought about the community. How does this fit to the community?
How does it help? That was his vision when he was in the Community Hospital
leadership. He knew that there were burgeoning populations, and then he knew
that the numbers of beds available is one standard you can use, and so that -when he perceived that community need, he stepped in to fill it, and I think the
community sensed that, and that's why they would respond to his personal appeals
as well as public appeals for -- for funds.
>> Bud Richter: Did Leon S. Peters have any impact on your life?
>> Norman Baxter: Oh, yes. He lived down the street from me, and often after
dinner, I would get on my bike and ride down and sit down for an hour or two in
his -- in his den there on Van Ness and discuss anything that concerned the
campus: People for membership in the President's Club, or how we could approach
so and so about a gift for this or that, or anything at all that affected the
university, he was just a wonderful person -- very wise man to bounce it off and
see -- see your problem or your need from another point of view. Just had an
intuition for that kind of insight in helping people.
>> Bud Richter: You talk about his insight. Are there any particular qualities
or values in Leon's life that you think best describe him?
>> Norman Baxter: If I had to use one word about Lee as I knew him, it would be
the word "persistence." There's a little story that I -- that happened to us,
the Ernest and Julio Gallo from Gallo Vineyards were good friends of Lee and
Alice Peters, and they invited the Peters and the Baxters and some other close
friends to Hanford to the Imperial Dynasty -- some of you will remember that.
And Ernest Gallo was the chairman of the evening or the presiding officer, and
told the story of how he and Lee first got together in their -- in their
business deals. It was right after prohibition and the Gallo people had
anticipated that that was coming and had made a great deal of wine and stored it
someplace and were ready for it to be distributed whenever the time was right.
Lee had heard this so he went to see Ernest Gallo, told him that he had just
what he needed, and that was the pumps, he could supply him the pumps that would
pump that wine to bottles or jugs or to the other vats or whatever it may be,
and Ernest Gallo said, "I told him I wasn't interested. I had some other plans
in mind." And according to Mr. Gallo, Lee stayed around because Lee knew at the
time that there was that wine out there had to be in -- the sooner the market
the better, so he stayed and he stayed and he stayed all day until Mr. Gallo
said, "All right. What's your price?" And that was the beginning of that
relationship which is, we all know, had far-reaching implications for the
Valley, for the Gallos, for the wine industry, for viticulture all up and down
the Valley and really, in effect around the world. But I -- I can see Lee doing
that, very gentle but he knew his ground. He knew that Gallo needed those pumps,
and he just waited it out. And we all know the rest of that and I would not like
to think of the Valley without that -- that meeting and what followed from it.
So I think of -- I think of Lee as very persistent. And when you think of all of
the influence he had for the Community Hospital and for other projects, that,
I'm sure, was a key because people respected Lee enough to know that he wasn't
just going to ask and leave. If he didn't get what he wanted, [laughter] he
would persist in his kind, kind way.
>> Bud Richter: Persistence is a great virtue especially when you have integrity
->> Norman Baxter: Yes.
>> Bud Richter: -- to go with it. How about Lee's integrity, did you ever happen
to witness anything in that regard?
>> Norman Baxter: Um, well, there was one -- one case -- there was an Armenian
man who had come directly from the old country. He had some success in growing
some fruits and vegetables, and he wanted to give some money to Fresno State for
scholarships, but he wanted to be sure that they went to Armenian or Armenianinterested students, for the language and for the history and the culture. And
he said -- and I had to tell him, of course, that you cannot write [laughter]
scholarship contracts that way. You have to write them in a very general way and
it's not possible to designate an ethnic group. So he was puzzled by that, Mr.
Patigan [phonetic] was, and I said, well, how about, and then we later flew up
to Medford, Oregon to see him, Lee and I did. I said, "How about if you talk to
Lee Peters about this?" And so as I said, we went, enjoyed our time out there
just outside of Medford, and Mr. Patigan was convinced that if Lee Peters said
it was okay, it was okay. It was just that simple. That was his reputation, and
you can't imagine how far that goes when it comes to -- to influencing people to
give or not to give.
>> Bud Richter: And while you're talking about Leon's ability to lead -- and he
was a significant leader there at your campus, at the university as well as at
Community Hospital and other places -- but do you -- besides persistence and
integrity, are there any leadership qualities you experienced with him in
different activities you'd like to share that others can learn from this?
>> Norman Baxter: Lee was the kind of person that when he was in a meeting -let's say he was chairman of our Board of Governors of the Foundation for most
of the time I was there, and he knew -- he had a sense of how to preside at a
meeting so that everyone there felt that whatever he has on his agenda that day
had been clearly thought out, and the objections that they might have or that
the questions they might have or whatever else might come up, that Lee would be
prepared to handle that. And I always thought that was a mark of good
leadership. You never felt as you left a governors’ meeting, that that was
botched, or that I'm sorry that happened today, or I'm sorry that was said. Lee
had the -- I guess the ESP to anticipate where some objections might be or some
problems might be. It's -- it was amazing how quickly people coalesced behind
him when they sensed that Lee was in command of the subject and was doing it for
the best interest of everybody concerned. I think that's -- that is what I came
away from knowing him as far as a leadership -- as far as being a leader.
>> Bud Richter: Very good. Fresno and our valley have a lot of people coming in
and moving out, and how do you think you would best describe Leon S. Peters to
somebody new coming into the Central Valley and what Leon means to this valley
that they can really significantly appreciate?
>> Norman Baxter: Lee Peters to most people I think who live here and have lived
here for some time have a real appreciation of what he had done, what he had -what he did do for -- for all of us. To somebody new, I think it would be a very
good way to approach them if they came, let's say, by the route of the Armenian
community because he was an example of that. He was from the farm, he had worked
the farm, he -- every Saturday he still went to the farm and talked to the -his brothers and his nephews that were running the operation. Until you
appreciate what had happened with the Armenian people here and then saw what was
going on now, and with people like Lee Peters as sort of the model of -- of what
could happen to them, it seems to me that that is a theme that should be used
more in our multicultural society: How the Armenian people came, denied
residences in certain areas of the city. Lee himself bought his own house on Van
Ness through a third party, and that was the way, but because it was Lee Peters,
that was accepted. Nobody would think to question it today, but the before-andafter of those, let's say, 50-year span that he was fully active here in town,
it seems to me that that is the -- what I would try to emphasize with some
newcomers. Appreciate what it was and appreciate what it is and how it got
there.
>> Bud Richter: Thank you, very, very good. Why do you think Leon was so
committed to education?
>> Norman Baxter: Well, he himself was the first to say he regretted that he had
not had anything beyond high school -- any education beyond high school. I think
always in little things that he would say, not much, but little things, you knew
that he -- he sensed that, and he didn't want to see that repeated
unnecessarily. If there were any way to find -- and that's why he has endowed
scholarships at Fresno State, etc. -- and he wanted that opportunity which he
had missed but made up for far more than most of us, but he wanted people to
have that because he knew exactly what it had meant in his life by way of not
being there.
>> Bud Richter: He certainly impacted Fresno State.
>> Norman Baxter: Yes.
>> Bud Richter: What other ways did he impact Fresno State; would you say
enforcing education?
>> Norman Baxter: He was -- he was a person that if the Board of Trustees of the
whole system were meeting and Governor Deukmejian was there and presiding, you
can be very sure, and you can also be very sure in the case of the trustees that
the Chancellor before he took any final action about things, would be in touch
with Lee. He didn't -- Lee didn't talk about that but you heard that from the
other end, that, "Well I talked to Lee, and this is what had he said about that.
What do you think about that, Mr. President," and so on. So he -- let's say he
had his -- his hand -- his fingers out there. He did.
>> Bud Richter: People in this valley see a lot of the philanthropy which ->> Norman Baxter: Oh, yes.
>> Bud Richter: Leon and Alice Peters had given to their foundation and to their
family. Do you have any thoughts about why Leon was so interested in
philanthropy and giving back to this community?
>> Norman Baxter: Well, I think that ties in to what we were saying a minute
ago, and that is that he -- he knew that he had been given some God-given gifts
both in finances and in other ways, and he was determined to see those utilized
by as many people, to benefit as many people as possible. So he would have the
Armenian Home or he would have this or that, so many projects were under his
great big umbrella, and therefore, I think that he -- he told me once that he'd
encouraged one of our noted philanthropists now, to give. This man had never
given. And he had -- he came to Lee one day, he said Lee, I'm glad you -- you
talked to me about supporting the project that he did, and Lee got a great -- a
great satisfaction out of that, that by his talking to Mr. X, and Mr. X
contributed, and then Mr. X comes to him and says, "Lee, that was the best thing
I could have done. I've got more joy and more return and -- from that than
anything I've ever done." Now, that made Lee happy. He knew it would happen if
they would give, and so he was motivated -- I am sure he never said that -- but
I'm sure he was motivated in part by what happiness he knew that would bring
others, and it did, at least in that one case that I know of. [Laughter]
>> Bud Richter: I was about to ask, but you had a chance to travel, you said,
with Leon and Alice and mountain rides for a week. How did Leon have fun? Did he
have fun? He looked pretty serious most of the time.
>> Norman Baxter: Well, he and I tented together -- that means that we slept in
the same tent ->> Unidentified male: [Inaudible] your mike.
[Laughter]
>> Norman Baxter: -- and so ->> Unidentified male: You might want to answer the question again from the
beginning.
>> Norman Baxter: Yes, please. You ask it.
>> Bud Richter: Oh, the –
>> Norman Baxter: Thank you.
>> Bud Richter: - you talked about how Leon wanted to give to this community,
and -- but you also shared with us a little earlier about how you travel -- you
and your wife, Wilda, traveled with Leon and Alice and how you traveled also
went for a week-long at a time up in the mountains on horseback. Leon always
looked so serious to many people who saw him. Did he have fun?
>> Norman Baxter: Well, [laughter] if you saw Lee on a horse for -- all day for
20 miles, and you know he was short and his horse -- they always gave him the
biggest horse that they had, [laughter] I don't know why. But he would look just
the way he always did, sort of somber, and I wouldn't say glum or gloomy, but,
you know, it wasn't a happy time to be wracking your old bones on that -- on
that saddle. But you knew that he was there because he enjoyed that group, and
come to nightfall and after dinner, and after-dinner drinks, Lee, I won't say
was the life of the party, but that is when he was the most mellow I have ever
seen him was just in conversation, lots of the people were his age and there
were lots of men, so he enjoyed swapping stories and -- not necessarily about
himself but just about things that had happened in Fresno. He was -- he was a
Fresnan, and he enjoyed sharing the history of the place and the events of the
place that he was in touch with other people, and it would go back and forth,
back and forth, and it was -- it was great for in effect an outsider, not a
Fresnan at all, for me because I learned so much. But Lee -- Lee enjoyed that
part of the backpack. I'm not sure about the 23-mile ride. [Laughter]
>> Bud Richter: How about dancing? Earlier you talked about dancing.
>> Norman Baxter: Well, [laughter] if you're on a cruise ship, you know, there's
always dance floor and there's always an orchestra, etc., and, you know, they
play some different tunes and so on, but Lee and Alice being the same height,
would go out on the floor and just in their very quiet way would do their -- do
their dancing to the tune that I guess must have been in their head, but
everybody else would be "Whoopee, whoopee," and there were Lee and Alice just
[laughter] it was such a contrast that you knew that they -- they were by
themselves, they were in another world, and they were content. It really was an
amazing scene. I loved it. [Laughter]
>> Bud Richter: Norman, you've been very generous in sharing your thoughts and
memories of Leon, and do you think in the legacy that Leon left this community,
this valley, that there's anything else you should share with us about that
legacy you haven't done yet?
>> Norman Baxter: I expect that there's probably a great deal that Lee did that
is not known, probably to Alice but not necessarily, and I think that those are
the things that gave him great satisfaction. A helping hand here and a word of
encouragement there. An uplift when it was needed. I think in his personal
relations, if you speak to his employees, speak to his brother Pete, and so on,
you'll find Lee -- Lee is more than we ordinarily think of him as Lee. Lee was
out there in almost any possible nook and cranny of this community with a
helping and a very generous hand, and I can -- and I can't identify those, but I
have an idea that that's -- that's probably what he might tell you that was the
-- that was the greatest thing of all.
>> Bud Richter: He was very, very humble, wasn't he?
>> Norman Baxter: Very humble man, nonthreatening. He came into the room; you
wanted to hear what Lee said. Lee would -- have you heard this? Lee, would -what do you think about this. And he would tell you, not mince words, he wasn't
a politician in any sense of -- of mixed message or anything like that. It was
straight out and people listened.
>> Bud Richter: When you were president, you had a President's Club.
>> Norman Baxter: Oh, yes.
>> Bud Richter: And it was, you can tell what it was about, but as I remember
it, enjoyed it we had wore tuxedos and ->> Norman Baxter: Oh, yes.
>> Bud Richter: -- down at Sunnyside Country Club, and you had cigars and the
brandy and all men.
>> Norman Baxter: All men.
>> Bud Richter: Now, that -- what caused that to change? How did Leon -- was he
involved with that at all?
>> Norman Baxter: Well, that was right at the end of my time. I think that came
about -- when they admitted women for the first time -- after I had left. But I
could tell you without any hesitation that Lee would have -- if he had been -he and I had been together at that time when that vote was taken, he would have
been for that. He was that progressive. He had seen enough change and he knew
that change was coming in that area or another area and would not resist it. He
was wise in that sense. So I'm sure you could put him down as, if you want to
call it that, "social progressive" [laughter] in the very best sense of that
term.
>> Bud Richter: Is there anything else that we haven't asked you about that
you'd like to go ahead and share?
[Silence]
>> Norman Baxter: Well -- Lee was the kind of person that Alice would call and
say, "Wilda, we're having lamb shanks, and Wendy’s [inaudible] tonight, come on
over." And when you would do that, it was informal, it was in the kitchen or
part of the kitchen, and it was just Lee in his shirtsleeves. Can you imagine
Lee without his coat on? [Laughter] And then the conversation was so relaxed
that he knew how to balance what was business, what was friendship, what was
time to work, what was time to play, and that spirit rubbed off on us, and Wilda
has said to me many, many times that we're grateful to see Leon Peters any time
because of the graciousness and the kindness of his spirit, and I would leave
you with that as far as the intangibles are concerned. A great benediction to
the Baxters.
>> Bud Richter: Thank you.
==== Transcribed by Automatic Sync Technologies ====
>> Bud Richter:
you, and we can
life. Could you
we come to know
It's
talk
tell
you,
a real privilege for me, Norman, to be able to speak to
a little bit about you and how Leon Peters affected your
us a bit, Norman, exactly how you -- who you are, and how
and a little bit about why we have you here today.
>> Norman Baxter: Well, I was president of Fresno State from '80 to '90 -- is
that right?
>> Bud Richter: '70 to '80.
>> Norman Baxter: '70 to '80. That you can -- you can correct.
[Laughter]
>> Bud Richter: '70 to '80.
>> Norman Baxter: '70 to '80. And during that time and as -- in that role, I
became acquainted with many, many community leaders, but probably none more
intimately and dependent upon anyone than Lee Peters. Lee Peters was that kind
of a person that you were glad to have.
>> Bud Richter: Norman, what were some of the most fond memories that you have
of your time with Leon?
>> Norman Baxter: Well, they were varied and always very interesting. We
traveled together, and we went backpacking together and staying in the Sierra
for seven nights each year, and then he was so intimately involved in the
university with the Board of Governors, with the President's Club, with the
Board of Governors of Agriculture, and just about every facet of the university.
He was so well known in the community that whatever you needed -- wherever you
needed to make a contact, Lee could make that contact for you. He was just an
invaluable aid to every project that was going on really.
>> Bud Richter: Do you have any particular stories or special memories of those
areas where you worked with Leon that you'd like to share?
>> Norman Baxter: Well, I remember one time we were in the middle of the Bulldog
Stadium fund drive and we had a small group together for dinner at a Chinese
restaurant, and as you know, you have Chinese fortune cookies [laughter] and
everybody would read -- each person would stand up and read what was on there.
And when it came Lee's turn, he read very solemnly -- you can see him -- "The
stadium will be built." [Laughter] And, of course, after they were surprised for
a minute but then everybody, of course, roared, and it was -- but that's an
indication of how his enthusiasm and his persistence and his vision would catch
on. He -- just by saying that -- if I said it, you said it, no, but if Lee says
it, people listened, and as you know, that stadium drive along with the help
from the other members like Bud Richter and Bob Duncan and Lew Eaton and Russ
Giffen put that thing together and raised an enormous amount of money -- highest
I think at that time -- for Fresno State from private sources. And it's been a
turning point, I think, in Fresno State athletics, because the stadium was upto-date and very attractive, and it was, I'm sure, I've heard the coaches say
that it was a good recruiting tool when the players in the area could come and
imagine themselves playing on that field with Mom and Dad in the stands.
>> Bud Richter: So your vision as you told me and you told others was to try and
-- by having the stadium built on campus, it started to bring the community out
to the campus. Could you share a little bit about that, what you and Leon
thought about that?
>> Norman Baxter: Yes. Lee was a very community-organized person -- communitydirected person. His first thought was a project perhaps, but then it was always
encompassed in thought about the community. How does this fit to the community?
How does it help? That was his vision when he was in the Community Hospital
leadership. He knew that there were burgeoning populations, and then he knew
that the numbers of beds available is one standard you can use, and so that -when he perceived that community need, he stepped in to fill it, and I think the
community sensed that, and that's why they would respond to his personal appeals
as well as public appeals for -- for funds.
>> Bud Richter: Did Leon S. Peters have any impact on your life?
>> Norman Baxter: Oh, yes. He lived down the street from me, and often after
dinner, I would get on my bike and ride down and sit down for an hour or two in
his -- in his den there on Van Ness and discuss anything that concerned the
campus: People for membership in the President's Club, or how we could approach
so and so about a gift for this or that, or anything at all that affected the
university, he was just a wonderful person -- very wise man to bounce it off and
see -- see your problem or your need from another point of view. Just had an
intuition for that kind of insight in helping people.
>> Bud Richter: You talk about his insight. Are there any particular qualities
or values in Leon's life that you think best describe him?
>> Norman Baxter: If I had to use one word about Lee as I knew him, it would be
the word "persistence." There's a little story that I -- that happened to us,
the Ernest and Julio Gallo from Gallo Vineyards were good friends of Lee and
Alice Peters, and they invited the Peters and the Baxters and some other close
friends to Hanford to the Imperial Dynasty -- some of you will remember that.
And Ernest Gallo was the chairman of the evening or the presiding officer, and
told the story of how he and Lee first got together in their -- in their
business deals. It was right after prohibition and the Gallo people had
anticipated that that was coming and had made a great deal of wine and stored it
someplace and were ready for it to be distributed whenever the time was right.
Lee had heard this so he went to see Ernest Gallo, told him that he had just
what he needed, and that was the pumps, he could supply him the pumps that would
pump that wine to bottles or jugs or to the other vats or whatever it may be,
and Ernest Gallo said, "I told him I wasn't interested. I had some other plans
in mind." And according to Mr. Gallo, Lee stayed around because Lee knew at the
time that there was that wine out there had to be in -- the sooner the market
the better, so he stayed and he stayed and he stayed all day until Mr. Gallo
said, "All right. What's your price?" And that was the beginning of that
relationship which is, we all know, had far-reaching implications for the
Valley, for the Gallos, for the wine industry, for viticulture all up and down
the Valley and really, in effect around the world. But I -- I can see Lee doing
that, very gentle but he knew his ground. He knew that Gallo needed those pumps,
and he just waited it out. And we all know the rest of that and I would not like
to think of the Valley without that -- that meeting and what followed from it.
So I think of -- I think of Lee as very persistent. And when you think of all of
the influence he had for the Community Hospital and for other projects, that,
I'm sure, was a key because people respected Lee enough to know that he wasn't
just going to ask and leave. If he didn't get what he wanted, [laughter] he
would persist in his kind, kind way.
>> Bud Richter: Persistence is a great virtue especially when you have integrity
->> Norman Baxter: Yes.
>> Bud Richter: -- to go with it. How about Lee's integrity, did you ever happen
to witness anything in that regard?
>> Norman Baxter: Um, well, there was one -- one case -- there was an Armenian
man who had come directly from the old country. He had some success in growing
some fruits and vegetables, and he wanted to give some money to Fresno State for
scholarships, but he wanted to be sure that they went to Armenian or Armenianinterested students, for the language and for the history and the culture. And
he said -- and I had to tell him, of course, that you cannot write [laughter]
scholarship contracts that way. You have to write them in a very general way and
it's not possible to designate an ethnic group. So he was puzzled by that, Mr.
Patigan [phonetic] was, and I said, well, how about, and then we later flew up
to Medford, Oregon to see him, Lee and I did. I said, "How about if you talk to
Lee Peters about this?" And so as I said, we went, enjoyed our time out there
just outside of Medford, and Mr. Patigan was convinced that if Lee Peters said
it was okay, it was okay. It was just that simple. That was his reputation, and
you can't imagine how far that goes when it comes to -- to influencing people to
give or not to give.
>> Bud Richter: And while you're talking about Leon's ability to lead -- and he
was a significant leader there at your campus, at the university as well as at
Community Hospital and other places -- but do you -- besides persistence and
integrity, are there any leadership qualities you experienced with him in
different activities you'd like to share that others can learn from this?
>> Norman Baxter: Lee was the kind of person that when he was in a meeting -let's say he was chairman of our Board of Governors of the Foundation for most
of the time I was there, and he knew -- he had a sense of how to preside at a
meeting so that everyone there felt that whatever he has on his agenda that day
had been clearly thought out, and the objections that they might have or that
the questions they might have or whatever else might come up, that Lee would be
prepared to handle that. And I always thought that was a mark of good
leadership. You never felt as you left a governors’ meeting, that that was
botched, or that I'm sorry that happened today, or I'm sorry that was said. Lee
had the -- I guess the ESP to anticipate where some objections might be or some
problems might be. It's -- it was amazing how quickly people coalesced behind
him when they sensed that Lee was in command of the subject and was doing it for
the best interest of everybody concerned. I think that's -- that is what I came
away from knowing him as far as a leadership -- as far as being a leader.
>> Bud Richter: Very good. Fresno and our valley have a lot of people coming in
and moving out, and how do you think you would best describe Leon S. Peters to
somebody new coming into the Central Valley and what Leon means to this valley
that they can really significantly appreciate?
>> Norman Baxter: Lee Peters to most people I think who live here and have lived
here for some time have a real appreciation of what he had done, what he had -what he did do for -- for all of us. To somebody new, I think it would be a very
good way to approach them if they came, let's say, by the route of the Armenian
community because he was an example of that. He was from the farm, he had worked
the farm, he -- every Saturday he still went to the farm and talked to the -his brothers and his nephews that were running the operation. Until you
appreciate what had happened with the Armenian people here and then saw what was
going on now, and with people like Lee Peters as sort of the model of -- of what
could happen to them, it seems to me that that is a theme that should be used
more in our multicultural society: How the Armenian people came, denied
residences in certain areas of the city. Lee himself bought his own house on Van
Ness through a third party, and that was the way, but because it was Lee Peters,
that was accepted. Nobody would think to question it today, but the before-andafter of those, let's say, 50-year span that he was fully active here in town,
it seems to me that that is the -- what I would try to emphasize with some
newcomers. Appreciate what it was and appreciate what it is and how it got
there.
>> Bud Richter: Thank you, very, very good. Why do you think Leon was so
committed to education?
>> Norman Baxter: Well, he himself was the first to say he regretted that he had
not had anything beyond high school -- any education beyond high school. I think
always in little things that he would say, not much, but little things, you knew
that he -- he sensed that, and he didn't want to see that repeated
unnecessarily. If there were any way to find -- and that's why he has endowed
scholarships at Fresno State, etc. -- and he wanted that opportunity which he
had missed but made up for far more than most of us, but he wanted people to
have that because he knew exactly what it had meant in his life by way of not
being there.
>> Bud Richter: He certainly impacted Fresno State.
>> Norman Baxter: Yes.
>> Bud Richter: What other ways did he impact Fresno State; would you say
enforcing education?
>> Norman Baxter: He was -- he was a person that if the Board of Trustees of the
whole system were meeting and Governor Deukmejian was there and presiding, you
can be very sure, and you can also be very sure in the case of the trustees that
the Chancellor before he took any final action about things, would be in touch
with Lee. He didn't -- Lee didn't talk about that but you heard that from the
other end, that, "Well I talked to Lee, and this is what had he said about that.
What do you think about that, Mr. President," and so on. So he -- let's say he
had his -- his hand -- his fingers out there. He did.
>> Bud Richter: People in this valley see a lot of the philanthropy which ->> Norman Baxter: Oh, yes.
>> Bud Richter: Leon and Alice Peters had given to their foundation and to their
family. Do you have any thoughts about why Leon was so interested in
philanthropy and giving back to this community?
>> Norman Baxter: Well, I think that ties in to what we were saying a minute
ago, and that is that he -- he knew that he had been given some God-given gifts
both in finances and in other ways, and he was determined to see those utilized
by as many people, to benefit as many people as possible. So he would have the
Armenian Home or he would have this or that, so many projects were under his
great big umbrella, and therefore, I think that he -- he told me once that he'd
encouraged one of our noted philanthropists now, to give. This man had never
given. And he had -- he came to Lee one day, he said Lee, I'm glad you -- you
talked to me about supporting the project that he did, and Lee got a great -- a
great satisfaction out of that, that by his talking to Mr. X, and Mr. X
contributed, and then Mr. X comes to him and says, "Lee, that was the best thing
I could have done. I've got more joy and more return and -- from that than
anything I've ever done." Now, that made Lee happy. He knew it would happen if
they would give, and so he was motivated -- I am sure he never said that -- but
I'm sure he was motivated in part by what happiness he knew that would bring
others, and it did, at least in that one case that I know of. [Laughter]
>> Bud Richter: I was about to ask, but you had a chance to travel, you said,
with Leon and Alice and mountain rides for a week. How did Leon have fun? Did he
have fun? He looked pretty serious most of the time.
>> Norman Baxter: Well, he and I tented together -- that means that we slept in
the same tent ->> Unidentified male: [Inaudible] your mike.
[Laughter]
>> Norman Baxter: -- and so ->> Unidentified male: You might want to answer the question again from the
beginning.
>> Norman Baxter: Yes, please. You ask it.
>> Bud Richter: Oh, the –
>> Norman Baxter: Thank you.
>> Bud Richter: - you talked about how Leon wanted to give to this community,
and -- but you also shared with us a little earlier about how you travel -- you
and your wife, Wilda, traveled with Leon and Alice and how you traveled also
went for a week-long at a time up in the mountains on horseback. Leon always
looked so serious to many people who saw him. Did he have fun?
>> Norman Baxter: Well, [laughter] if you saw Lee on a horse for -- all day for
20 miles, and you know he was short and his horse -- they always gave him the
biggest horse that they had, [laughter] I don't know why. But he would look just
the way he always did, sort of somber, and I wouldn't say glum or gloomy, but,
you know, it wasn't a happy time to be wracking your old bones on that -- on
that saddle. But you knew that he was there because he enjoyed that group, and
come to nightfall and after dinner, and after-dinner drinks, Lee, I won't say
was the life of the party, but that is when he was the most mellow I have ever
seen him was just in conversation, lots of the people were his age and there
were lots of men, so he enjoyed swapping stories and -- not necessarily about
himself but just about things that had happened in Fresno. He was -- he was a
Fresnan, and he enjoyed sharing the history of the place and the events of the
place that he was in touch with other people, and it would go back and forth,
back and forth, and it was -- it was great for in effect an outsider, not a
Fresnan at all, for me because I learned so much. But Lee -- Lee enjoyed that
part of the backpack. I'm not sure about the 23-mile ride. [Laughter]
>> Bud Richter: How about dancing? Earlier you talked about dancing.
>> Norman Baxter: Well, [laughter] if you're on a cruise ship, you know, there's
always dance floor and there's always an orchestra, etc., and, you know, they
play some different tunes and so on, but Lee and Alice being the same height,
would go out on the floor and just in their very quiet way would do their -- do
their dancing to the tune that I guess must have been in their head, but
everybody else would be "Whoopee, whoopee," and there were Lee and Alice just
[laughter] it was such a contrast that you knew that they -- they were by
themselves, they were in another world, and they were content. It really was an
amazing scene. I loved it. [Laughter]
>> Bud Richter: Norman, you've been very generous in sharing your thoughts and
memories of Leon, and do you think in the legacy that Leon left this community,
this valley, that there's anything else you should share with us about that
legacy you haven't done yet?
>> Norman Baxter: I expect that there's probably a great deal that Lee did that
is not known, probably to Alice but not necessarily, and I think that those are
the things that gave him great satisfaction. A helping hand here and a word of
encouragement there. An uplift when it was needed. I think in his personal
relations, if you speak to his employees, speak to his brother Pete, and so on,
you'll find Lee -- Lee is more than we ordinarily think of him as Lee. Lee was
out there in almost any possible nook and cranny of this community with a
helping and a very generous hand, and I can -- and I can't identify those, but I
have an idea that that's -- that's probably what he might tell you that was the
-- that was the greatest thing of all.
>> Bud Richter: He was very, very humble, wasn't he?
>> Norman Baxter: Very humble man, nonthreatening. He came into the room; you
wanted to hear what Lee said. Lee would -- have you heard this? Lee, would -what do you think about this. And he would tell you, not mince words, he wasn't
a politician in any sense of -- of mixed message or anything like that. It was
straight out and people listened.
>> Bud Richter: When you were president, you had a President's Club.
>> Norman Baxter: Oh, yes.
>> Bud Richter: And it was, you can tell what it was about, but as I remember
it, enjoyed it we had wore tuxedos and ->> Norman Baxter: Oh, yes.
>> Bud Richter: -- down at Sunnyside Country Club, and you had cigars and the
brandy and all men.
>> Norman Baxter: All men.
>> Bud Richter: Now, that -- what caused that to change? How did Leon -- was he
involved with that at all?
>> Norman Baxter: Well, that was right at the end of my time. I think that came
about -- when they admitted women for the first time -- after I had left. But I
could tell you without any hesitation that Lee would have -- if he had been -he and I had been together at that time when that vote was taken, he would have
been for that. He was that progressive. He had seen enough change and he knew
that change was coming in that area or another area and would not resist it. He
was wise in that sense. So I'm sure you could put him down as, if you want to
call it that, "social progressive" [laughter] in the very best sense of that
term.
>> Bud Richter: Is there anything else that we haven't asked you about that
you'd like to go ahead and share?
[Silence]
>> Norman Baxter: Well -- Lee was the kind of person that Alice would call and
say, "Wilda, we're having lamb shanks, and Wendy’s [inaudible] tonight, come on
over." And when you would do that, it was informal, it was in the kitchen or
part of the kitchen, and it was just Lee in his shirtsleeves. Can you imagine
Lee without his coat on? [Laughter] And then the conversation was so relaxed
that he knew how to balance what was business, what was friendship, what was
time to work, what was time to play, and that spirit rubbed off on us, and Wilda
has said to me many, many times that we're grateful to see Leon Peters any time
because of the graciousness and the kindness of his spirit, and I would leave
you with that as far as the intangibles are concerned. A great benediction to
the Baxters.
>> Bud Richter: Thank you.
==== Transcribed by Automatic Sync Technologies ====
you, and we can
life. Could you
we come to know
It's
talk
tell
you,
a real privilege for me, Norman, to be able to speak to
a little bit about you and how Leon Peters affected your
us a bit, Norman, exactly how you -- who you are, and how
and a little bit about why we have you here today.
>> Norman Baxter: Well, I was president of Fresno State from '80 to '90 -- is
that right?
>> Bud Richter: '70 to '80.
>> Norman Baxter: '70 to '80. That you can -- you can correct.
[Laughter]
>> Bud Richter: '70 to '80.
>> Norman Baxter: '70 to '80. And during that time and as -- in that role, I
became acquainted with many, many community leaders, but probably none more
intimately and dependent upon anyone than Lee Peters. Lee Peters was that kind
of a person that you were glad to have.
>> Bud Richter: Norman, what were some of the most fond memories that you have
of your time with Leon?
>> Norman Baxter: Well, they were varied and always very interesting. We
traveled together, and we went backpacking together and staying in the Sierra
for seven nights each year, and then he was so intimately involved in the
university with the Board of Governors, with the President's Club, with the
Board of Governors of Agriculture, and just about every facet of the university.
He was so well known in the community that whatever you needed -- wherever you
needed to make a contact, Lee could make that contact for you. He was just an
invaluable aid to every project that was going on really.
>> Bud Richter: Do you have any particular stories or special memories of those
areas where you worked with Leon that you'd like to share?
>> Norman Baxter: Well, I remember one time we were in the middle of the Bulldog
Stadium fund drive and we had a small group together for dinner at a Chinese
restaurant, and as you know, you have Chinese fortune cookies [laughter] and
everybody would read -- each person would stand up and read what was on there.
And when it came Lee's turn, he read very solemnly -- you can see him -- "The
stadium will be built." [Laughter] And, of course, after they were surprised for
a minute but then everybody, of course, roared, and it was -- but that's an
indication of how his enthusiasm and his persistence and his vision would catch
on. He -- just by saying that -- if I said it, you said it, no, but if Lee says
it, people listened, and as you know, that stadium drive along with the help
from the other members like Bud Richter and Bob Duncan and Lew Eaton and Russ
Giffen put that thing together and raised an enormous amount of money -- highest
I think at that time -- for Fresno State from private sources. And it's been a
turning point, I think, in Fresno State athletics, because the stadium was upto-date and very attractive, and it was, I'm sure, I've heard the coaches say
that it was a good recruiting tool when the players in the area could come and
imagine themselves playing on that field with Mom and Dad in the stands.
>> Bud Richter: So your vision as you told me and you told others was to try and
-- by having the stadium built on campus, it started to bring the community out
to the campus. Could you share a little bit about that, what you and Leon
thought about that?
>> Norman Baxter: Yes. Lee was a very community-organized person -- communitydirected person. His first thought was a project perhaps, but then it was always
encompassed in thought about the community. How does this fit to the community?
How does it help? That was his vision when he was in the Community Hospital
leadership. He knew that there were burgeoning populations, and then he knew
that the numbers of beds available is one standard you can use, and so that -when he perceived that community need, he stepped in to fill it, and I think the
community sensed that, and that's why they would respond to his personal appeals
as well as public appeals for -- for funds.
>> Bud Richter: Did Leon S. Peters have any impact on your life?
>> Norman Baxter: Oh, yes. He lived down the street from me, and often after
dinner, I would get on my bike and ride down and sit down for an hour or two in
his -- in his den there on Van Ness and discuss anything that concerned the
campus: People for membership in the President's Club, or how we could approach
so and so about a gift for this or that, or anything at all that affected the
university, he was just a wonderful person -- very wise man to bounce it off and
see -- see your problem or your need from another point of view. Just had an
intuition for that kind of insight in helping people.
>> Bud Richter: You talk about his insight. Are there any particular qualities
or values in Leon's life that you think best describe him?
>> Norman Baxter: If I had to use one word about Lee as I knew him, it would be
the word "persistence." There's a little story that I -- that happened to us,
the Ernest and Julio Gallo from Gallo Vineyards were good friends of Lee and
Alice Peters, and they invited the Peters and the Baxters and some other close
friends to Hanford to the Imperial Dynasty -- some of you will remember that.
And Ernest Gallo was the chairman of the evening or the presiding officer, and
told the story of how he and Lee first got together in their -- in their
business deals. It was right after prohibition and the Gallo people had
anticipated that that was coming and had made a great deal of wine and stored it
someplace and were ready for it to be distributed whenever the time was right.
Lee had heard this so he went to see Ernest Gallo, told him that he had just
what he needed, and that was the pumps, he could supply him the pumps that would
pump that wine to bottles or jugs or to the other vats or whatever it may be,
and Ernest Gallo said, "I told him I wasn't interested. I had some other plans
in mind." And according to Mr. Gallo, Lee stayed around because Lee knew at the
time that there was that wine out there had to be in -- the sooner the market
the better, so he stayed and he stayed and he stayed all day until Mr. Gallo
said, "All right. What's your price?" And that was the beginning of that
relationship which is, we all know, had far-reaching implications for the
Valley, for the Gallos, for the wine industry, for viticulture all up and down
the Valley and really, in effect around the world. But I -- I can see Lee doing
that, very gentle but he knew his ground. He knew that Gallo needed those pumps,
and he just waited it out. And we all know the rest of that and I would not like
to think of the Valley without that -- that meeting and what followed from it.
So I think of -- I think of Lee as very persistent. And when you think of all of
the influence he had for the Community Hospital and for other projects, that,
I'm sure, was a key because people respected Lee enough to know that he wasn't
just going to ask and leave. If he didn't get what he wanted, [laughter] he
would persist in his kind, kind way.
>> Bud Richter: Persistence is a great virtue especially when you have integrity
->> Norman Baxter: Yes.
>> Bud Richter: -- to go with it. How about Lee's integrity, did you ever happen
to witness anything in that regard?
>> Norman Baxter: Um, well, there was one -- one case -- there was an Armenian
man who had come directly from the old country. He had some success in growing
some fruits and vegetables, and he wanted to give some money to Fresno State for
scholarships, but he wanted to be sure that they went to Armenian or Armenianinterested students, for the language and for the history and the culture. And
he said -- and I had to tell him, of course, that you cannot write [laughter]
scholarship contracts that way. You have to write them in a very general way and
it's not possible to designate an ethnic group. So he was puzzled by that, Mr.
Patigan [phonetic] was, and I said, well, how about, and then we later flew up
to Medford, Oregon to see him, Lee and I did. I said, "How about if you talk to
Lee Peters about this?" And so as I said, we went, enjoyed our time out there
just outside of Medford, and Mr. Patigan was convinced that if Lee Peters said
it was okay, it was okay. It was just that simple. That was his reputation, and
you can't imagine how far that goes when it comes to -- to influencing people to
give or not to give.
>> Bud Richter: And while you're talking about Leon's ability to lead -- and he
was a significant leader there at your campus, at the university as well as at
Community Hospital and other places -- but do you -- besides persistence and
integrity, are there any leadership qualities you experienced with him in
different activities you'd like to share that others can learn from this?
>> Norman Baxter: Lee was the kind of person that when he was in a meeting -let's say he was chairman of our Board of Governors of the Foundation for most
of the time I was there, and he knew -- he had a sense of how to preside at a
meeting so that everyone there felt that whatever he has on his agenda that day
had been clearly thought out, and the objections that they might have or that
the questions they might have or whatever else might come up, that Lee would be
prepared to handle that. And I always thought that was a mark of good
leadership. You never felt as you left a governors’ meeting, that that was
botched, or that I'm sorry that happened today, or I'm sorry that was said. Lee
had the -- I guess the ESP to anticipate where some objections might be or some
problems might be. It's -- it was amazing how quickly people coalesced behind
him when they sensed that Lee was in command of the subject and was doing it for
the best interest of everybody concerned. I think that's -- that is what I came
away from knowing him as far as a leadership -- as far as being a leader.
>> Bud Richter: Very good. Fresno and our valley have a lot of people coming in
and moving out, and how do you think you would best describe Leon S. Peters to
somebody new coming into the Central Valley and what Leon means to this valley
that they can really significantly appreciate?
>> Norman Baxter: Lee Peters to most people I think who live here and have lived
here for some time have a real appreciation of what he had done, what he had -what he did do for -- for all of us. To somebody new, I think it would be a very
good way to approach them if they came, let's say, by the route of the Armenian
community because he was an example of that. He was from the farm, he had worked
the farm, he -- every Saturday he still went to the farm and talked to the -his brothers and his nephews that were running the operation. Until you
appreciate what had happened with the Armenian people here and then saw what was
going on now, and with people like Lee Peters as sort of the model of -- of what
could happen to them, it seems to me that that is a theme that should be used
more in our multicultural society: How the Armenian people came, denied
residences in certain areas of the city. Lee himself bought his own house on Van
Ness through a third party, and that was the way, but because it was Lee Peters,
that was accepted. Nobody would think to question it today, but the before-andafter of those, let's say, 50-year span that he was fully active here in town,
it seems to me that that is the -- what I would try to emphasize with some
newcomers. Appreciate what it was and appreciate what it is and how it got
there.
>> Bud Richter: Thank you, very, very good. Why do you think Leon was so
committed to education?
>> Norman Baxter: Well, he himself was the first to say he regretted that he had
not had anything beyond high school -- any education beyond high school. I think
always in little things that he would say, not much, but little things, you knew
that he -- he sensed that, and he didn't want to see that repeated
unnecessarily. If there were any way to find -- and that's why he has endowed
scholarships at Fresno State, etc. -- and he wanted that opportunity which he
had missed but made up for far more than most of us, but he wanted people to
have that because he knew exactly what it had meant in his life by way of not
being there.
>> Bud Richter: He certainly impacted Fresno State.
>> Norman Baxter: Yes.
>> Bud Richter: What other ways did he impact Fresno State; would you say
enforcing education?
>> Norman Baxter: He was -- he was a person that if the Board of Trustees of the
whole system were meeting and Governor Deukmejian was there and presiding, you
can be very sure, and you can also be very sure in the case of the trustees that
the Chancellor before he took any final action about things, would be in touch
with Lee. He didn't -- Lee didn't talk about that but you heard that from the
other end, that, "Well I talked to Lee, and this is what had he said about that.
What do you think about that, Mr. President," and so on. So he -- let's say he
had his -- his hand -- his fingers out there. He did.
>> Bud Richter: People in this valley see a lot of the philanthropy which ->> Norman Baxter: Oh, yes.
>> Bud Richter: Leon and Alice Peters had given to their foundation and to their
family. Do you have any thoughts about why Leon was so interested in
philanthropy and giving back to this community?
>> Norman Baxter: Well, I think that ties in to what we were saying a minute
ago, and that is that he -- he knew that he had been given some God-given gifts
both in finances and in other ways, and he was determined to see those utilized
by as many people, to benefit as many people as possible. So he would have the
Armenian Home or he would have this or that, so many projects were under his
great big umbrella, and therefore, I think that he -- he told me once that he'd
encouraged one of our noted philanthropists now, to give. This man had never
given. And he had -- he came to Lee one day, he said Lee, I'm glad you -- you
talked to me about supporting the project that he did, and Lee got a great -- a
great satisfaction out of that, that by his talking to Mr. X, and Mr. X
contributed, and then Mr. X comes to him and says, "Lee, that was the best thing
I could have done. I've got more joy and more return and -- from that than
anything I've ever done." Now, that made Lee happy. He knew it would happen if
they would give, and so he was motivated -- I am sure he never said that -- but
I'm sure he was motivated in part by what happiness he knew that would bring
others, and it did, at least in that one case that I know of. [Laughter]
>> Bud Richter: I was about to ask, but you had a chance to travel, you said,
with Leon and Alice and mountain rides for a week. How did Leon have fun? Did he
have fun? He looked pretty serious most of the time.
>> Norman Baxter: Well, he and I tented together -- that means that we slept in
the same tent ->> Unidentified male: [Inaudible] your mike.
[Laughter]
>> Norman Baxter: -- and so ->> Unidentified male: You might want to answer the question again from the
beginning.
>> Norman Baxter: Yes, please. You ask it.
>> Bud Richter: Oh, the –
>> Norman Baxter: Thank you.
>> Bud Richter: - you talked about how Leon wanted to give to this community,
and -- but you also shared with us a little earlier about how you travel -- you
and your wife, Wilda, traveled with Leon and Alice and how you traveled also
went for a week-long at a time up in the mountains on horseback. Leon always
looked so serious to many people who saw him. Did he have fun?
>> Norman Baxter: Well, [laughter] if you saw Lee on a horse for -- all day for
20 miles, and you know he was short and his horse -- they always gave him the
biggest horse that they had, [laughter] I don't know why. But he would look just
the way he always did, sort of somber, and I wouldn't say glum or gloomy, but,
you know, it wasn't a happy time to be wracking your old bones on that -- on
that saddle. But you knew that he was there because he enjoyed that group, and
come to nightfall and after dinner, and after-dinner drinks, Lee, I won't say
was the life of the party, but that is when he was the most mellow I have ever
seen him was just in conversation, lots of the people were his age and there
were lots of men, so he enjoyed swapping stories and -- not necessarily about
himself but just about things that had happened in Fresno. He was -- he was a
Fresnan, and he enjoyed sharing the history of the place and the events of the
place that he was in touch with other people, and it would go back and forth,
back and forth, and it was -- it was great for in effect an outsider, not a
Fresnan at all, for me because I learned so much. But Lee -- Lee enjoyed that
part of the backpack. I'm not sure about the 23-mile ride. [Laughter]
>> Bud Richter: How about dancing? Earlier you talked about dancing.
>> Norman Baxter: Well, [laughter] if you're on a cruise ship, you know, there's
always dance floor and there's always an orchestra, etc., and, you know, they
play some different tunes and so on, but Lee and Alice being the same height,
would go out on the floor and just in their very quiet way would do their -- do
their dancing to the tune that I guess must have been in their head, but
everybody else would be "Whoopee, whoopee," and there were Lee and Alice just
[laughter] it was such a contrast that you knew that they -- they were by
themselves, they were in another world, and they were content. It really was an
amazing scene. I loved it. [Laughter]
>> Bud Richter: Norman, you've been very generous in sharing your thoughts and
memories of Leon, and do you think in the legacy that Leon left this community,
this valley, that there's anything else you should share with us about that
legacy you haven't done yet?
>> Norman Baxter: I expect that there's probably a great deal that Lee did that
is not known, probably to Alice but not necessarily, and I think that those are
the things that gave him great satisfaction. A helping hand here and a word of
encouragement there. An uplift when it was needed. I think in his personal
relations, if you speak to his employees, speak to his brother Pete, and so on,
you'll find Lee -- Lee is more than we ordinarily think of him as Lee. Lee was
out there in almost any possible nook and cranny of this community with a
helping and a very generous hand, and I can -- and I can't identify those, but I
have an idea that that's -- that's probably what he might tell you that was the
-- that was the greatest thing of all.
>> Bud Richter: He was very, very humble, wasn't he?
>> Norman Baxter: Very humble man, nonthreatening. He came into the room; you
wanted to hear what Lee said. Lee would -- have you heard this? Lee, would -what do you think about this. And he would tell you, not mince words, he wasn't
a politician in any sense of -- of mixed message or anything like that. It was
straight out and people listened.
>> Bud Richter: When you were president, you had a President's Club.
>> Norman Baxter: Oh, yes.
>> Bud Richter: And it was, you can tell what it was about, but as I remember
it, enjoyed it we had wore tuxedos and ->> Norman Baxter: Oh, yes.
>> Bud Richter: -- down at Sunnyside Country Club, and you had cigars and the
brandy and all men.
>> Norman Baxter: All men.
>> Bud Richter: Now, that -- what caused that to change? How did Leon -- was he
involved with that at all?
>> Norman Baxter: Well, that was right at the end of my time. I think that came
about -- when they admitted women for the first time -- after I had left. But I
could tell you without any hesitation that Lee would have -- if he had been -he and I had been together at that time when that vote was taken, he would have
been for that. He was that progressive. He had seen enough change and he knew
that change was coming in that area or another area and would not resist it. He
was wise in that sense. So I'm sure you could put him down as, if you want to
call it that, "social progressive" [laughter] in the very best sense of that
term.
>> Bud Richter: Is there anything else that we haven't asked you about that
you'd like to go ahead and share?
[Silence]
>> Norman Baxter: Well -- Lee was the kind of person that Alice would call and
say, "Wilda, we're having lamb shanks, and Wendy’s [inaudible] tonight, come on
over." And when you would do that, it was informal, it was in the kitchen or
part of the kitchen, and it was just Lee in his shirtsleeves. Can you imagine
Lee without his coat on? [Laughter] And then the conversation was so relaxed
that he knew how to balance what was business, what was friendship, what was
time to work, what was time to play, and that spirit rubbed off on us, and Wilda
has said to me many, many times that we're grateful to see Leon Peters any time
because of the graciousness and the kindness of his spirit, and I would leave
you with that as far as the intangibles are concerned. A great benediction to
the Baxters.
>> Bud Richter: Thank you.
==== Transcribed by Automatic Sync Technologies ====