Karate Institute. Skipper, 61, the founding father of martial arts in Bermuda, returned to the Island in 1970, after several years in New York, where he owned his first karate school. The Inghams, married in September 1970, have a son Zenji, 19, and daughter Shomeiko, 11. SKIPPER: I had been working in a club called Steve Paul Scene -- it was the first discotheque in New York City -- and there was this regular called Kenny O'Neill. Kenny owned an advertising agency and used to hang out at the Scene a lot, but the only problem was there were always gangsters trying to take control of the place. Then one night when I wasn't working, they came in an tore the place apart. Kenny needed another place to hang out -- he knew the owners of another place called Taro, just like the taro cards. Since he and I were friends, he told the people who ran the place -- they were Iranians -- that they should hire me and that I could keep things under control. And he convinced them to turn Taro into a disco.

They gave me a job in security.

That was where I met Kristina. It was in 1968. She was working as a waitress there. A group called Mandala (a Canadian group very popular in the early to mid-1960s) were playing that night, and I remember Kristina was up at the front massaging the cashier's neck. I went up to her and asked her if she would do the same for me. I won't tell you what she said, but I wasn't planning on speaking to her after that.

A couple of months later, she invited me to her birthday party. I didn't go, and the next time I saw her, she asked me why not. I said I'd take her out for breakfast that morning and she agreed. We went to the Brass Rail, a breakfast place on 54th Street. That was the beginning.

I started teaching her karate in 1969 -- she was a natural. I owned a karate school called Midtown Dojo on 6th Avenue between 38th and 39th streets.

Early in September 1970, I said I was going home to Bermuda. I'd been away since 1947. Kristina asked if she could come along with me. I thought about it knowing that would mean marriage. We agreed she would come, and that once we got here everything we did would be together, as partners. So, I taught her everything she knows about karate.

We got married here on September 8, and about a week later started up a karate business. If I had to do it all over again, I would hope it would be with the same woman.

KRISTINA: I am originally from Connecticut, but I went to school in Long Island, and then to New York University. I dropped out and took a waitressing job at Taro, just off Union Square. It was right across the Square from Max's Kansas City, which was a famous night spot at the time.

Skipper and I had starting dating and I think it was about 1969 or 1970 that Skipper had been talking about coming back to Bermuda.

Skipper started teaching karate almost as soon as we got here. We used the Warwick Church Memorial Hall on Khyber Pass. Then we moved to the Ord Road School. In 1972, we came to Hamilton, and two-and-a-half years ago we moved to King Street.

As far as teaching goes, Skipper teaches some classes, and I teach others -- we share it. I also do the bookkeeping and the correspondence.

I tend to pay more attention to detail and getting things done. He comes up with the ideas... new projects. When it comes to the kids, he's a bit more severe than I am, and I'm probably a bit too soft -- somewhere you wind up in the middle.

Skipper's a very honest person, he doesn't suffer fools easily. He's a very sincere and compassionate person -- he feels for people. Even though we live and work together, we're not with each other all day long. We do our own things.

I think it was his karate that I found so interesting to begin with. I was really impressed with his skills. I was a dancer at the time, more into modern dance. I guess the two are sort of related, and we're both very health-oriented. Our interests and our views on how to live your life are very complimentary. I think our temperaments are more complimentary than similar.

We make good partners.

Skipper and Kristina Ingham: "Our temperaments are more complimenatary than similar. We make good partners.

RG MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 1993