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Maine, from 1953 to 1958. With some help from us and from scholarships, both managed to obtain a college education on their own earnings, Gar Shucy from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst in 1960 and Gar Ling from Pembroke College in 1962.
Before long I was working temporarily as an interpreter with the U.S. Immigration Service and later as a typist for the Library Mutual Insurance Company. In November 1954 I found permanent work as a social worker at the Children's Unit of the Metropolitan State Hospital in Waltham. I left this psychiatric setting for a day care agency, the Associated Day Care Services of Metropolitan Boston, in September 1959, because I felt that preventive work with young children was more effective than attempts to restore their mental health. It was depressing to feel the guilt and anguish of those parents who had mentally-ill youngsters. The day care experience proved to be challenging and rewarding. By the time I retired in 1973, I had become Director of Social Service under Mr. Sibley Higginbotham, a very sensitive and understanding administrator. From August 1975 to October 1976 I served there once more to fill a temporary vacancy. I am now enjoying permanent retirement with time to appreciate married life with a calm and supportive husband, and an excellent relationship with other members of the family and with my friends.
During my years in Brookline, I brought Mother home several times for extended visits or have gone to Honolulu whenever she was ill. Since her death in 1974 John and I have continued to make an annual trip to the place of my birth, no doubt to recapture precious memories and relationships which have made my life so meaningful. In my twilight years, always aware of the fragility of life, I have endeavoured to record some aspects of my life and of those people who touched upon it, with the expectation that in the future someone in the family might become interested in his roots. It is also due to my own need to leave part of myself behind. In addition, it is my hope that what I have gathered would give a bit of historical perspective of the early Chinese immigrants as reflected in the history of our families; that it would give an insight to their industriousness, sacrifices, and handicaps, their hopes and ambitions, and the opportunities opened to them; and that it would give a glimpse of some of their social and cultural practices. I am a simple, uncomplicated person, intelligent and of good common sense, but subject
183
Maine, from 1953 to 1958. With some help from us and from scholarships, both managed to obtain a college education on their own earnings, Gar Shucy from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst in 1960 and Gar Ling from Pembroke College in 1962.
Before long I was working temporarily as an interpreter with the U. S. Immigration Service and later as a typist for the Library Mutual Insurance Company. In November 1954 I found permanent work as a social worker at the Children's Unit of the Metropolitan State Hospital in Waltham. I left this psychiatric setting for a day care agency, the Associated Day Care Services of Metropolitan Boston, in September 1959, because I felt that preventive work with young children was more effective than attempts to restore their mental health. It was depressing to feel the guilt and anguish of those parents who had mentally-ill youngsters. The day care experience proved to be challenging and rewarding. By the time I retired in 1973, I had become Director of Social Service under Mr. Sibley Higginbotham, a very sensitive and understanding administrator. From August 1975 to October 1976 I served there once more to fill a temporary vacancy. I am now enjoying permanent retirement with time to appreciate married life with a calm and supportive husband, and an excellent relationship with other members of the family and with my friends.
During my years in Brookline, I brought Mother home several times for extended visits or have gone to Honolulu whenever she was ill. Since her death in 1974 John and I have continued to make an annual trip to the place of my birth, no doubt to recapture precious memories and relationships which have made my life so meaningful. In my twilight years, always aware of the fragility of life, I have endeavoured to record some aspects of my life and of those people who touched upon it, with the expectation that in the future someone in the family might become interested in his roots. It is also due to my own need to leave part of myself behind. In addition, it is my hope that what I have gathered would give a bit of historical perspective of the early Chinese immigrants as reflected in the history of our families; that it would give an insight to their industriousness, sacrifices, and handicaps, their hopes and ambitions, and the opportunities opened to them; and that it would give a glimpse of some of their social and cultural practices. I am a simple, uncomplicated person, intelligent and of good common sense, but subject
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