Dr. Peter Likins
Dr. Peter Likins, who served for 9 years as President of the University of AZ wrote an autobiography about himself and his family last year, entitled “A New American Family: a love story” (2011, University of AZ Press).
My husband (a University Distinguished Professor at the UA) and I listened last Spring to Dr. Likins at the UA Bookstore when he read excerpts from his book. And I finally got around to reading it just recently.
The book chronicles Dr. Likins’ rise from his childhood in a small 2-room cabin near Santa Cruz, CA (raised by a single mother) to President of Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA, and to the University of AZ. Along the way he studied engineering at Stanford and MIT, and worked at Caltech, UCLA, and Columbia.
But this story is more about his family life. He had met his wife Pat while they were in middle school. They married as teenagers, but then faced 7 years of infertility and miscarriages before they decided to adopt children. The couple had wanted 4 children, having both grown up with the same number of siblings. So they eventually adopted six.
Their adopted children:
Lora: White, a nurse, has adopted her nephew (son of adoptive sister Teresa), is in a 2nd marriage with 2 step children
Paul: Hispanic/White, gay, career in management/communications
Krista: Black/White, a nursing assistant, had two children out of wedlock who were adopted by a cousin & her husband
John: Black/White, wrestled like his adoptive father, had a daughter out of wedlock at age 17 (adopted out by friends), schizophrenic with drug problems, fatally overdosed at age 33
Teresa: Native American (Morongo Tribe), studied to be a nurse, biological sister to Linda, had a son out of wedlock with a White man (adopted by sister Lora)
Linda: Native American (Morongo Tribe), a nurse, biological sister to Teresa, had two children also out of wedlock
If you’re counting, this means that Pete & Pat Likins also have 8 grandchildren (counting the two step-grandchildren of Lora’s).
With such a multi-cultural, racially diverse family, Dr. Likins and his wife were obviously advocates of racial tolerance and acceptance, creating this “new American family”. He states on page 52: “Learning to be prejudiced is easy, but overcoming denial to learn about prejudice is very hard.” He observed first hand the racism that was directed mostly against his Black and Native American children.
And as for the adversity he and his wife endured by raising all these children, and losing one to mental illness & a drug overdose, Dr Likins states on page 109: “Few qualities better predict success in life than resilience, the ability to bounce back quickly from a bad experience. Everyone takes a hit now and then, and a certain mental toughness is necessary for quick recovery and agile response.”
Most of us have adopted people in our families. My half-Turkish nephew in Germany is adopted, as was my sister-in-law’s half-brother who was adopted out (product of an affair by their same mother with a married man), and several of my cousins (of different Asian ethnicities). And some colleagues here in town are adopted. Growing up in the State of Hawaii I was exposed to numerous multi-cultural, multi-racial families, which just seemed “normal” to me.
I congratulate Pete and Pat Likins for the tremendous love they have in their hearts for each other, and for adopting so many children of mixed ethnicities and needs (three of the six developed drug problems). He writes on page 169 “We see our family as a model of inclusivity that might be embraced as an American ideal.” They may be representative of new American families with biracial/multi-racial children, from different cultures & religions, but all alike in nationality and dreams.
Read this fascinating & inspiring story of education, adoption, diverse families, and the American way. It’s a good read for upcoming Valentine’s Day.
Note: I chatted with Dr. Likins at the summer dedication of Likins Hall (that new dorm named after him, just west of the UA stadium, NE corner of Highland Ave. and E. 6th Street).
Left to right on book cover: top row – Lora, Dr. Peter Likins, wife Pat, Teresa; bottom row – the late John, Linda, Krista, Paul, with their Norwegian elkhound Smokey.
