社評 0319 完美的人生

完美的人生

紀念李政夫人海蒂女士

七十年代初我和妻完成了在州立拉馬大學的碩士學位課程之後， 在一個風雨交加之夜晚駕著一輛破舊之雪佛蘭來到德州休斯敦，在城西的一個出租公寓棲身。 我們當時面臨重大之人生抉擇， 如果要在此留下必須要有機會申請綠卡， 否則就會成了非法居民。

當我第一次踏上美國舊金山時， 在中國城都板街上有座高樓李氏公所， 當時我因好奇走進這座大樓，因而結識了許多李氏宗親。 在他們的策劃和支持下，我為李氏出版编輯了第一份《李氏月報》， 並得到族人們之高度重視和讃揚， 但是這非我到美國之初衷，因而決心遠走德克薩斯州，尋求真正的美國和美國文化。

如今我和妻完成學業之後來到休斯敦， 為了綠卡可能又要重操舊業， 再辦一次中文報 ，因此在宗濂叔之介紹下，我們有天走進了李政叔之李氏印刷公司 ，當時在他的辦公室角落座著一位端莊美麗衣著講究之西方婦人， 經介紹後才知道是李政夫人，他在德國當美國大兵時結識的美女，而且是用字典交流而得到美人心，這是多広令人感動而美麗的愛情故事。

在李政叔之倡議下， 我們和沈彥偉律師、 吳華昌先生、 亨利李等合資創辦了首份中文西南時報， 我重新執筆， 怌孕中的妻子練習打中文字， 在簡易之條件環境中竟然把西南時報出刊了， 當然我們也順利地拿到綠卡 ，我們十分感激李政叔給予之幫助。 據稱當初之報紙原版捐給了萊斯大學珍藏， 也是我們華人在美之珍貴歷史記載。

今天我們參加了李政叔之夫人海蒂嬸之追思儀式， 在她九十－年之人生中 ，充滿傳奇精彩和關愛， 她應該感到非常滿足了。

A Perfect Life --In Memory Of Mrs. Hedwig Lee 

In the early 70’s, after completing 

our master's degrees from Lamar University, my wife and I drove an older model Chevrolet to Houston and moved into a rental apartment. We were faced with a major life decision at that time. If we wanted to stay, we must take the opportunity to apply for green cards. Otherwise, we would become illegal residents. 

When I first set foot in San Francisco, there was a tall Lee’s family building on Grant Avenue in Chinatown. When I walked into the building there were many clan members there and they welcomed me warmly as a brother. With their support, I compiled a newspaper for them I called Lee’s Monthly. There was high praise 

for my job and this was the first publication for our family association. But it was my goal to come to America. I eventually made a determination to leave and go on to Texas and seek the real American culture and my dream.

After we arrived in Houston, with    the introduction of Uncle Jimmy Lee,  one day we walked into Lee’s printing company on Leland Avenue which was owned by Uncle Gene Lee. At that time we saw a beautiful and dignified-looking western lady sitting in the office. She was Mrs. Lee who Uncle Gene had met when he served in the U.S. military as an American GI. He got to her heart by using a dictionary because they couldn’t communicate with each other because of the language barrier.  This is such a touching love story. 

With the initiative of Uncle Gene, we and attorney Williams, David Ng and Uncle Henry Lee jointly founded the first Chinese newspaper in Texas.     

I became an editor again and my pregnant wife Catherine had to learn how to type in Chinese, but finally we published a newspaper. Of course, then we were able to also get our green cards.

The help from Uncle Gene and others will never be forgotten. It said that the original copy of the Southwest Chinese newspaper was donated to Rice University. It also represents a precious historical record of our Chinese history in the United States. 

Today we attended the memorial service ceremony for Aunt Hedwig Lee, wife of Gene Lee. In her 91 years, she was always full of joy and lived a wonderful life. She should be very satisfied.