Harvard University

After Niagara Falls, we drove to Boston and we stayed at the home of one of Janice’s family’s friends. The Pauls were living in Lexington, MA. Our first stop in the Boston area was at Harvard University. We visited two main places there: the Glass Museum and the Yin-Ch'ing Library. Father was very impressed by the Glass Museum because of its vast and wide collections. He did not have enough time to go through everything at the Yin-Ch'ing Library. Again, the collection was so impressive, he was amazed by the huge number in the  catalogs. 

Next Stop: Niagara Falls

Believe it or not, our neighbors in Lexington KY, the Ables, moved to Buffalo, NY, a year after they helped us to move to Tennessee. It was just natural for us to visit them there with Father, as we wanted to show him the world famous tourist spot, Niagara Falls. We did not have any problem at that time to take Father to the Canadian side to see the Falls, even though he did not have a visa to go there officially. They just did not fuss about these details during that time. We had a great visit there!

While we were in Buffalo, we attended a softball game in which Lindsay Able played. We were very happy to see him  score!                                          

Morgantown, West Virginia

West Virginia University is located in this mountain town. My younger brother, Ed, was there to get his Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering.  In 1972, there were few good roads to this place. We had to drive crooked mountain roads to get to it. It was important to let Father see everything about the Universities we attended. Ed had just finished his first year of study at West Virginia. We dropped him at his dormitory before we drove out of the town to get a motel, which I remember was quite difficult to find nearby. We had to drive quite far to get a place to stay. Fortunately, we had let our children run in the parking lot some before our drive.             .

Lexington, KY

One of our important first stops on our trip east for Father’s USA travel was Lexington, KY. This was where we dropped Kai, as she was to be registered in the Department of Biochemistry PhD program that month. Everything was new to her! She had to adjust to life in America in just a few days on our trip east. Ed came from West Virginia to meet us and to welcome Father. He had been in the US for one year already. We took them to the famous horse farms in Lexington and had some pictures taken there for the occasion, the kids were tired from our long trip, too bad, they looked unhappy:  

The Start of a Close Relationship

During Father’s first trip to the USA, Steven was only a  very young boy, just one year old. Of course, Father was very excited about his first grandson – at last a “boy”! Their relationship continued to develop, especially later when father came to stay with us permanently, in Johnson City, after Mother passed away. Their relationship became very close and special. The relationship between Father and myself and my other siblings was a very typical one in China, i. e. we kept a proper distance and maintained a proper respectful manner to each other. When we were young, we seldom asked our Father for any thing, so we would not get turned down or get another lessen about how to do things the right way. In other words, we were afraid of our Father. None of us remember any sharing or discussion of topics. In the summer of 1972, Steven and his Yeye, started a relationship that would make us all jealous, yet one which we respected and marveled at! Look how relaxed Steven was in the picture below, and how happy my Father was, hiding behind the smile!

Trip East

This was Father’s first trip to the USA. From Dodge City, we started our first trip east in the US in the middle of summer, 1972. Father was 71 years old that year, in the Chinese way of counting.  He was amazed that after a long drive, more than six hours on the highway, we were still in Kansas! We were on the road for a whole day. People from Taiwan could hardly imagine the type of distances in the US. The picture below was taken just before we started our trip east, beside the station wagon. And the other picture was taken at a rest stop on Intestate 40. Of course, this was also Kai’s first trip in the USA. When you come at the same time as your Father, you do not get as much attention as you deserve!

More in Dodge City

Of course, we had to tour the city, Dodge City. We did see big cattle ranches around the town, but the smell and other factors prevented us from visiting more closely than necessary. We took some pictures in the city. In one picture Father was holding Steven and Maria was holding Jenifer, who was very young. Certainly the children were not paying attention to me while I took their picture as we toured the small city. We rode the horse buggy. And we, the young and the old, boarded the Santa Fe railroad car, just for a ride. As you can see, we did all you that a tourist could do!

Maria and Dean’s New House

This house was built partially by Maria and Dean. They were actually still building it. We met Father and Kai there. This was the first trip to the USA for both of them.  We remember that the house was still not completed. Since Dean did all the wiring himself, some switches were upside down, i. e , you turned on the light by flipping the switch down. Well, one got used to them eventually! The picture below was taken in front of the house. Notice that Kai was holding Jennifer who was the new born that year. We took another picture in the front of the house, this one was not much better.      The house  was out in a field by itself. You could see how isolated it was from the picture of Dean with father and Kai.          

Dodge City, Kansas

The TV series “Gunsmoke” was described as a show where  “Marshal Matt Dillon keeps the peace in the rough and tumble Dodge City”. It had a span of twenty years from 1955 to 1975. It started in black and white and ended up in color and was a certainly a very popular show on Monday nights. We were very excited that we were driving to Dodge City, to visit that famous place and to pick up father and Kai. It was the first English TV series I followed. The images of these two below would be forever in my mind:   Yes, they were young once!

Dodge City was a long way from Kansas City. When we finally got there, the downtown area of Dodge City was  disappointing. Just one street and that was it!