GEOFFREY CLAIN
Out of Africa
BY FRED CHERNOW
Photo courtesy of Geoffrey Clain
WHERE DID YOU GROW UP?
I was born in Cape Town, South Africa, as
were my parents and my grandmother. Three
of my grandparents came from Lithuania. My
father was a dentist and got his training in
England. He served in the South African Army
during World War II.
I met Valerie Moses, who was training to
be a nursery school teacher, and we married
in 1956. My dream was to enter the world of
international business, and I got a job with a
Cape Town company with overseas offices and
was soon involved in importing and exporting
steel and bulk food products. I loved the work
and was entranced by the exposure to far off
places and the excitement of working in this
sophisticated world especially after my own
rather parochial background. In addition, we
were soon to start a life in Rhodesia.
WHY DID YOU LEAVE SOUTH AFRICA?
When Val and I married in 1956, the company
I worked for sent me to neighboring
Rhodesia to head their operations there.
We found life outside of the Afrikaner orbit
more congenial and we formed many lifetime
connections. Our society was based on close
family friendships and home entertainment.
We maintain many of these friends to this day,
although we are now scattered in the States,
Canada, Israel, Australia and elsewhere.
However, within a few years after our arrival,
Rhodesia was at odds with Britain, the colonial
power, and also with a rising African political
class. On November 11, l965 the Rhodesian
Prime Minister, Ian Smith, declared independence
from Britain.
Val and I realized our world and our own
society would soon be coming to an end.
Britain stopped all trade and seized Rhodesia’s
financial assets in London. They induced the
UN and the United States to comply with
this boycott. At the time, I was running what
had become the largest international trading
operation in little Rhodesia and suddenly all
our many overseas connections
were in jeopardy, but
we soon learned how to
become “sanction busters.”
All this entailed constant
travel on my part and it
was a very exciting period.
We had investments
and staff in copper-rich,
independent Zambia, a former colony, who
joined the boycott and refused to let Rhodesian
commercial airlines fly into the country. Some
of my friends had sizable business holdings
there and we needed to get to Zambia safely
and often. So we chartered a small private
plane, a six-seater Beachcraft, and made the
two hour flight frequently.
We would leave at dawn from Salisbury,
Rhodesia, and land at Lusaka, Zambia. We
would spend the day attending to our separate
business affairs returning at dusk as the plane
was not licensed to fly after dark. We took
sandwiches and scotch whiskey with us for
consumption on the return flight.
After one exhausting day, on leaving Zambia
by air—always a dangerous affair—I was sitting
up front with the pilot. As the plane lifted off
the runway, a loud pop exploded behind me.
I was sure our luck had run out and some
Zambian military were shooting at us. However,
on turning around I discovered that my partner
Valerie and Geoffrey Clain
had shaken the Thermos, containing the
ice for our scotch, to loosen it. His energetic
shaking resulted in the explosive shattering of
the flask. All was well, and we each consumed
a double scotch, but no ice, as we winged our
way safely home.
AS YOU LOOK BACK, WHAT WAS LIFE
LIKE GROWING UP IN AFRICA?
The weather was much like Southern
California. Our lifestyle was also idyllic, a
vibrant Jewish community with an upper-middle
class lifestyle, especially in Rhodesia. Our
affiliations were largely with our local shul and
Jewish and Zionist affairs.
We arrived in New York in 1976, when our
three children were in their teens, and Val and
I placed great emphasis on keeping the family
together. The children coped well and we are
proud how well they quickly adjusted.
Michael is an orthopedic surgeon living in
Greenwich, Connecticut. He studied at Brown
and Columbia. Deborah graduated from Clark
and Boston Universities, lives in Boston and
manages a cardiology practice. Elizabeth graduated
Tufts and Columbia and is the principal
of Mamaroneck High School. They each have
two children.
WHAT DID VALERIE DO HERE?
Val wanted to be a social worker. She attended
Adelphi University and earned a Masters in
Social Work. She then attended the Ackerman
Institute and became a family therapist. She
maintained an office in Great Neck and practiced
family therapy for 25 years. While she
was helping troubled families, I continued
working until my retirement. Since then I work
as a volunteer for SCORE. (Service Corps of
Retired Executives), counseling small business
owners.
WHAT ARE SOME LEISURE ACTIVITIES
THAT YOU ENJOY?
Val is an avid bridge player and we enjoy
travel and have done a great deal of that. Ten
years ago, we went back to celebrate our
wedding anniversary in Cape Town. We’re
fans of the NY Philharmonic and Broadway
theater. I’m a steady reader—just finished
Jeffrey Tambor’s book, “Are You Anybody?”
and a wonderful biography about the young
Churchill, “Hero of the Empire” by Candace
Millard. Here at NST we enjoy the gym, pool,
movie theater and the 92 Street Y programs.
We feel extremely fortunate and happy to
be in the USA and cherish the new friends
we have made and our life at NST.
“Out of Africa” was a popular film, which won seven Academy
Awards. The epic romance, set in the political chaos which befell
Colonial Africa, starred Meryl Streep and Robert Redford. Valerie and
Geoffrey Clain were born and raised in Africa and their story contains
war-time drama and political escape as well. You may want to consult
a map to follow their journeys involving Cape Town, Rhodesia and
Zambia. With determination and perseverance, they made it to America,
where they raised a successful family and now enjoy their retirement
at North Shore Towers.
4 NORTH SHORE TOWERS COURIER ¢ October 2017