Biltmore House

One of the places we visited with Father locally was the Biltmore House in Ashville. He liked it very much and was amazed that it was just a summer place for the very rich in the USA. We only spent a day there. It was certainly another good chance for our children to get comfortable with their grandfather. Even though they did not know much Chinese and my father could only say a few sentences in English, he became part of the family very easily and they enjoyed their togetherness naturally. This visit certainly helped my father to make the decision later to move in with us. He just had so much fun!

Home at Johnson City

After Father got back to Johnson City, it took very little time for him to adjust to life in the USA. He had always liked Janice and he had no difficulty in living with  a foreign daughter-in-law. As a matter of fact, these two had grown to respect to each other so quickly, that you would wonder whether they had lived together for a long, long time! Both formally and informally, father became part of the family without a hitch. Both Pan-pan and Steven enjoyed being with Yeye – no problem as you can see below!

Social Activities

When you start a new job, it certainly is a new challenge for your spouse as well, especially a spouse with very young children. Janice was trying hard to get involved with new friends. Besides joining the new faculty wives group, she started to participate in a bridge group with some other new and old faculty members’ spouses. She even invited some big groups of people for dinners.  One group has kept together for many years, but that is another story for later. It is very interesting to see some of the old pictures some even had some dishes she cooked that you can identify:

Certainly, we got connected to my English Teacher at National Taiwan, Miss Margaret Sells, and some of her family members, such as Mrs. Louise Sells, who was later Johnson City Mayor.

Academic Activities

As soon as we came back from our summer vacation with Father, I was engaged deeply with my research in my field of chemical kinetics. Since ETSU was not emphasizing on publishing in those days, the pressure was off. It was great to be able to do research on projects which matched my interests totally. A couple of papers were, however, published from work done at the University of Kentucky. Since ETSU did not have a regular weekly seminar program, I tried to start one by inviting people I knew to come and give seminars on Friday afternoons. Some of my friends who came stayed for the weekend and we went to visit local scenic spots.  I have pictures of two of them.

The Paul Corio family at Roan Mountain:

The George Sanzone family at Watauga Lake:

New York, Here We Come!

When Father came to the USA for the first time in 1972, we tried to do as much as we could. After Cape Cod, we drove to New York City and stayed at Sherman and Jean’s place. At the time, they had one son, Nelson. Sherman was working for the New York Public Library. We went everywhere we could in the city, including the United Nations, the Statue of Liberty, and the Empire State Building. It was very exhausting! By the time we finished, Father had a bit of high blood pressure. So we decided to go back to Tennessee. Both Pan-pan and Steven had learned to enjoy traveling. They were used to staying at different places on different nights and they certainly had learned to eat different foods with various tastes. Both children have been well-adjusted since their very young ages.

    

My First Big Catch

One other thing we do on Cape Cod is go fishing. There are a lot of options on the Cape. Since Janice has a cousin Jim, who was in our wedding and who is a professional deep ocean fishing guide during the summer months, we would usually go with him. He is a high school Chemistry teacher during the academic year and he grew up on the Cape. He knows everything about fishing! He would give us a discount rate when possible. Over the years, he has taken us on many trips to fish, most of the time on Cape Cod Bay. And we usually get plenty to show for it! The year 1972 was my first time for a big catch and I have a picture to prove it!

Cape Cod - 3

There are a lot of things you can do on Cape Cod, but, when our children were young, the main thing was playing on the beach and occasionally in the water. Nearby the house there was a nice sand box for our kids to play in, and there was also a plastic swimming pool for them to soak and splash. Then there were about two weeks when the blueberries were ripening and the kids could spend a whole afternoon picking and eating them. My father was able to get a taste of these activities as a new experience, as he had no memory of doing such things before. We were very satisfied to be able to let him truly feel the life in the USA. And he was fortunately very curious and eager to encounter this new new way of life.

Cape Cod - 2

Of course, when you are on Cape Cod you will have a chance to swim. Even though the water was very cold in early summer, the children did not have any problem to jump into the water. For adults, it generally needed some time to get adjusted. My father had never swum  before in any kind of water, lake or ocean. He had never learned how to swim, but he was interested in watching the kids play in the water and on the sand. He even sat on the beach to feel the fun. That was quite an experience for him.

Cape Cod - 1

Finally, my Father got to meet Janice’s parents on Cape Cod. The summer place which Janice’s parents built in the nineteen forties, using material from an old Army barracks, has provided a lot of joy to the whole Fernald family. In the summer of 1972, my Father got a wonderful chance to experience their family life. We were there for quite a while. It was also the first opportunity for my older generation and Janice’s older generation to get to know a little bit of the other side. Not only did my Father get to see the Light House in North Truro, he also saw our children enjoying the ocean - swimming and just playing around in the water. He had never experienced that before and could not even imagine the fun. I will show you a few pictures, not only in this blog but in the next few ones, to give you taste of what he experienced for the first time when he was in his seventies!

Aunt Flo

Janice’s favorite aunt - Aunt Flo - was living  in the Boston area when we got there in the summer of 1972. We stayed at the Paul’s home in Lexington, because Janice’s parents were staying in their Cape Cod house during the summer months. Aunt Flo was Janice’s favorite aunt because she was a very caring person. And she always treated me very kindly and made me feel part of the family. Of course, when my Father came to this area we made sure that she was one of Janice’s relatives on my Father’s “must see” list. They did get a chance to visit for a while in the Paul’s living room. Flo was actually Janice’s great aunt as she was her grandmother’s youngest sister. My Father also got a chance to visit their yard outside where the Paul children and ours (and our dog Princess) were playing.