[ { "id": 211466, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1988", "page_number": 182, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "158\n\nRuth's death in 1932, after several years of illness, was a physical and emotional drain on Mother, but surprisingly, she took this loss with much fortitude. In times of adversity and loneliness, she must have found support, solace and strength in her religious faith, in her loving family and in her close friends.\n\nMother died on 20 November, 1974, following a stroke, at the age of 87. We three daughters had tried to make life easier and happier for her. She had the companionship of Dora and her two sons since 1950 when they returned to Honolulu to live with her. Mother had made several extended visits with Helen in Chicago and with me in Brookline and had travelled with me by car as far north as Bar Harbour and as far south as Philadelphia, and across the United States through the Southwest via Yosemite Park to San Francisco. I earnestly hope that we had given her some real happiness. We are grateful for the sacrifices she had made without expecting anything in return. A simple, unobtrusive and intelligent lady, devoted to husband and children, loyal to family and friends, and strong in her religious beliefs this was my Mother. She had been my support, my counsellor one who gave me life and nourished me with love. I shall miss her always.\n\nMy Sisters and I\n\nWe were a family of five girls\n\n―\n\n▬\n\nRuth, Me Yuk, Helen, Dora and I. The three older ones were about 20 months apart in age and were born in our first home on Prison Road. In those days Chinese women did not have the benefit of either prenatal care or professional attendance at time of delivery; they relied on the help of midwives or experienced relatives. Although Mother had arranged for me to be delivered by a midwife, the latter could not keep her commitment because my arrival was too close to the lunar New Year. It was fortunate that a Hawaiian neighbour was available. She cleaned my eyes, massaged them so that they would become large and round, and sucked my breasts so that they would grow large and full.\n\nI have no recollection of Me Yuk as she was sent to California while still a baby. Ruth and I were each other's playmate most of the time in those early years. I recall having only one doll between us named To Gai and Tong Chen (words without meaning that we had concocted),", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211490, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1988", "page_number": 206, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "182\n\na year at Tulane University, came for a visit with his family, as did my mother from home. From New England came Effie Huchmore and Beverly King.\n\nA word about Effie. I had met her while we were both staying at the Franklin Square House near the Boston City Hospital when I was studying at Simmons College and she, at Boston University. We became fast friends. She had me as her guest in her home in North Woodstock, New Hampshire, where she lived with her parents and maternal grandmother, and showed me the beautiful scenic spots of the White Mountains. This visit gave me an insight into the activities and character of a typical New England town and the enjoyment of the simple unpretentious hospitality of an old Yankee family. A rare experience indeed!\n\nBefore I left New York the summer of 1948, I was a bridesmaid to Betty Lee upon her marriage to Paul Gee on June 7, 1948. She was formerly a teacher of religion at True Light and its principal during the Second World War. I had also promised to return to marry John Shue Fong Lew, a widower with two younger daughters in Canton. I had met him casually in Boston in 1947 through a mutual friend, Grace Chin, and had become better acquainted with him when he came to see me in New York, often accompanied by his good friend, Lew Orne. We were both mature and ready to settle down by this time, and fortunately felt drawn to each other. On the way back to Honolulu, I stopped over in Chicago where Mother had taken Edmund to join his mother and where she was waiting for me to accompany her home. As soon as I had fulfilled my commitment, I left Honolulu in October 1950 for Chicago, where John and I were married from Helen's home on 4 November 1950, in a simple ceremony at a local church rectory.\n\nAfter living in an apartment near Harvard Square for a few months, we bought a duplex on 12 Littell Road, Brookline, in order to be near John's business, \"The Ming Restaurant”, at 1022 Beacon Street. By 1952, the business had deteriorated so much that it was not feasible to continue it and we turned it over to S. Y. Lew, one of the partners who wanted it. In the meantime we sent for our daughters, Gar Shuey and Gar Ling, and they arrived in Boston in August 1951 by way of Europe. Both attended Lawrence School and Brookline High School, working as waitresses during the summer in our seasonal restaurant in Bar Harbor,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211491, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1988", "page_number": 207, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "183\n\nMaine, 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.\n\nBefore 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.\n\nDuring 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", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 } ]