I WASTED no time to start publishing the Chinese newspaper. When I got back to Beaumont, I discussed the plan with my wife. At that time, she was the only person that could help me run the project. The reason was simple: I couldn’t afford to hire anybody.

I persuaded Catherine to move to Houston so she could help me with the newspaper. The timing was perfect; she just passed the examination toward her master’s degree in special education.

She agreed to move to Houston and work with me. After two months, we leased a two-bedroom apartment on Westheimer Road, on the western part of downtown Houston. We used of the rooms as our working office.

One of the basic and more important things that we needed was a Chinese typewriter, and we had to buy this from Taiwan. At that time, there was no computer that could typeset in Chinese. We had a friend who helped us get the heavy machine from Taipei.

When the machine finally arrived, we encountered another problem. None of us knew how to use the typewriter. My wife had to learn how to use it, and it was not easy. She had to memorize at least three thousand words on the keyboard. She had much difficulty it took her more than three months to be able to finally compose a short article.

(Many years later, when a TV station came to my office to film the history of Chinese typesetting, we showed the crew the antique typewriter. My wife told them the story of the heavy machine.)

We promoted the newspaper in the community. Many expected the paper to be published right away, but he faced a lot of difficulty. I egged on my wife to learn faster. Of course, I knew she could do it. With her educational attainment, it was just a matter of time.

True to my expectations, Catherine became adept with the Chinese typewriter. After four months, she was doing 30 words per minute, which was comparatively fast. We were now about ready to publish the newspaper.

I began soliciting news stories and advertisements from organizations and businesses. Every morning I made a list of the people that I wanted to call on or talk to. I also had a list of the businessmen who were my prospective advertisers. I was usually done doing the solicitation by the late evenings.

The newspaper was a two-man show. My wife did the typesetting. I did the news writing and ad designs. And I also did the editing.

After a few more months, our efforts paid off. We came out with a 16-page tabloid Chinese newspaper. Six pages were advertisements.

I asked Uncle Gene to call a meeting of the board of directors immediately. Four showed up. At the meeting, I proudly showed them the layout of the “Southwest Chinese Journal.” Everybody was surprised and proud of what Catherine and I had done.

They complimented our hard work. “Mr. Lee, we are very proud of you,” the board members said in unison.

I didn’t tell them the difficulty my wife and I encountered in putting up the first publication. It was not necessary. But I was in near tears. I told myself nothing was impossible.

In the afternoon of that same day, I brought the hard copy to a local web press printer, Handy Ad, to print the first issue of the “Southwest Chinese Journal.”

The manager, Sam Mario, the “Italian Guy,” asked: “How many copies do you want to print?”

“Three thousand copies,” I answered. “And that is going to be a monthly order.”

He looked at me, mockingly. I could tell from his facial expression that he was hardly interested in such a “small” print order.

But Sam was kind enough to accept the job. “I’ll try to help you,” he said. “But we’ll do your paper at our spare time.” Meaning, he couldn’t print my newspaper on the same day.

“Fine,” I said. “Just do your best.”

(Many years later, Sam left Handy Ad, and he and his wife, Peggy, worked for my company for many years.)

After three says, Sam called me to tell that the paper was ready. I rushed to the printer to pick up the first edition of the “Southwest Chinese Journal.” I read every word printed in the paper, from the front page to the last. Then I took copies of the newspaper to all my partners, who were all excited about the newspaper, which was like a newborn baby.

The “Southwest Chinese Journal” was a big thing in the community. It was worth celebrating for.

(To be continued)