Dr. Paul P. Yeh to His Grandchildren

Here is your “Grandpa’s Journey”, originally sent to Mark.

Dear: Kristina, Thomas. Nastassia, Mark, Naomi, Kyle, and Laurel:

Your Grandpa, Dr. Paul P. Yeh was born in Song Yang, Zhejiang, China on March 25, 1927. His parents were from prominent families in Zhejiang Province. His father, Your Great-Grandpa Yeh, was a scholar who had extensive Chinese teachings in traditional Confucius writings. Great-Grandpa Yeh was sent to Japan by the Ching Dynasty Imperial Government (It’s Emperor lived in the Forbidden City in Beijing) to study at the Waseda University in Tokyo. It was considered a great honor as few people could go abroad to study during that time.

Your Grandpa had three elder sisters and three elder brothers. He was the youngest child of his parents. In 1937, when he was attending the fifth grade school in Shanghai, the Japanese attacked China and started the Sino-Japanese War. (Two years before the 2nd World War began). Grandpa retreated from Shanghai with his family back to his home town of Song Yang. He stayed there for the next eight years living in an area where there was neither electricity nor running water because the Japanese bombed the electrical power plant. The living standard there was very poor. Grandpa never complained. In fact he helped his family doing agricultural work such as planting vegetables, raising chickens, ducks, geese and pigs. He also planted sweet potatoes and fruit trees to help feed the family. In junior high and high school, he had to walk forty miles to school because there was no other mode of transportation. Highways were all broken up to prevent Japanese invaders from coming to Song Yang. Walking was the only way to get to other destinations. In night since there was no electricity, he used small straws in an oil lamp to light so the lighting was less than one watt (1 candle power). He studied at night under that lighting condition. Grandpa was Number One in his class when he graduated from elementary school which is grade six. He was always number one or two throughout his middle school classes. He graduated from senior middle school in 1945. Shortly after his graduation, the Japanese surrendered to the Allied Forces. World War II was over. China, United States, Great Britain and then Soviet Union were victorious allied nations. When the United Nations was formed, the four countries became four permanent members in the Security Council. France joined the club some years later and became the fifth nation with veto power in the United Nations Security Council to this day. Although the Soviet Union was replaced by Russia after Soviet Union’s disintegration in 1991.

Grandpa's father died in 1944, One year before World War II ended. Grandpa was only 17 years old. His mother was from a traditional Chinese family. During that time, housewives role was very much honored in China. It was a virtue for girls not to attend school. Women were taught to obey the male members of the family called "three obeys." At home, women obeyed their fathers, after they are married, they obeyed their husband, and when the husband died, they obeyed their son. Grandpa's mother did not have any formal education. She could not read or write Chinese words. She depended everything upon Grandpa's father. So when Grandpa's father died, he had to help his mother to take care of a traditional Chinese funeral for his father. That means to treat sixty family members and friends with banquets for three or four days. Grandpa's two elder brothers, Chen and Tin sent money home to help the expenses. Due to the war, his three brothers and two sisters could not return home for the occasion. His elder sister was there but because she had too many children to look after and was unable to help. That was Grandpa's first major encounter in his life.

In China, to attend university, every high school graduate had to attend individual university’s entrance examinations. The competition was very fierce. During the war, most famous universities in China had moved inland away from the coastal cities because all coastal cities were occupied by the Japanese Imperial army. After World War II ended, the universities began to move back to the coastal cities such as Shanghai, Beijing and Nanking. Nanking was the Capital of the Republic of China. But it takes time, it took almost a year for them to move back. In order for him to continue his education, Grandpa entered a provisional university in Shanghai in the fall of 1945 to the spring of 1946. He participated in the entrance examination of the National Central University in Nanking. In the summer of 1946, National Central University was the largest university in China. With 20,000 high school graduates writing the examination for 1000 admissions, the ratio was 20 to 1 at that time. Grandpa was lucky enough to pass the examination and admitted to one of the China’s best universities.

Near the end of World War II China was controlled under three separate forces: at coastal cities and surrounding areas were controlled by the Japanese Occupation army and it's puppet government with it's capital located in Nanking. The majority of the unoccupied territory in China was governed by the Nationalists Government, the Republic of China, under the leadership of Generalissimo Chiang Kai Shek with it's war time capital in Chungking. Only a small part of territory was controlled by the Chinese Communists Party under it's chairman Mao Tse Tung. After Germany surrendered to the Allied Forces in May 1945 the United States government asked Soviet Union to help to fight the Japanese. The Soviet Union sent troops into northeast China and occupied four provinces there. After Japan surrendered, the Soviet Communists handed over the four provinces and all the military equipment taken from Japanese army enough to equip one million army to the Chinese Communists. Now the Chinese Communists suddenly became an armed force of 1.5 million strong. Shortly after Japan surrendered, the Chinese Communists started a major rebellion against the Nationalists Government. So the civil war in China expanded in 1946. By 1949, the Communists had occupied all the Chinese territories north of the Yangze River. Nanking (Now called Nanjing) is located south of the Yangze River at the coast of Jiangsu province, not too far from Shanghai. Grandpa studied at the National Central University in Nanking from 1946 to 1949. On April 20, 1949, the war erupted across the Yangze River just 40 miles from the city of Nanking. Grandpa could hear the artillery bombardment from both sides day and night for three days. All the students decided to leave the university and move away from the battle field. Grandpa left Nanking on the second to the last airplane and flew to Shanghai. He heard the radio announcement that the Communist had entered Nanking City.

Grandpa's second elder brother Tin was then working as a sanitary engineer in Etobicoke Township, a suburb of Toronto. He helpedGrandpa to get to Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Grandpa was admitted to the University of Toronto to study the 3rd year of Electrical Engineering since Grandpa could not finish his third year in Nanking. With limited English speaking capability Grandpa had to study hard although he could read English books, but could not understand the professors lectures at the beginning. He studied very hard so the first year he managed to finish number 47 out of 180 students. In his senior year he graduated with honors and was number 16 out of 140 classmates.

Before graduation, Grandpa worked during the summer of 1950 as an Electrical Substation Operator in Kirkland Lake, Ontario. His wages was only $40 per week. He sent his first pay check to his mother in Taiwan. At that time the Chinese government of the Republic of China had moved from mainland China to Taiwan. Grandpa's number 1 elder brother and second elder sister had moved to Taiwan and taken Grandpa's mother with them.

After graduating from the University of Toronto in June 1951, Grandpa was offered a job as a Transformer Design Engineer working for the Canadian General Electric Company. He started to send money to his mother regularly and some money to his brother and his sister's family during Christmas time. In early 1953 Grandpa and Grandma were married and in November their daughter Judith Elaine was born. She was a premature baby and had to stay in the incubator for two weeks before they could bring her home.

In 1956 the President of Broome Technical Community College of the New York State University in Binghamton, New York and the Dean of the College, the Chairman of the Department of Electrical Technology and Chairman of the Dental Hygiene journeyed to Guelph, Ontario, Canada to interview Grandpa and offered him a position as Assistant Professor of Electrical Technology. Since Grandpa now had the opportunity to move to the United States for a better future he accepted the offer. In spite of the fact that they had just purchased their first new house the year before. They had three young children and their youngest child Rickey was only three months old. They moved to Binghamton, New York in August 1956 and started their new lives in the United States. Just to play it safe, Grandpa asked to be given a leave of absence from the Canadian General Electric Company so if the job did not work out in Binghamton, he could return to Canada to work. During that year a great tragedy happened in Grandpa's elder brother Chen's family. Chen's family were all murdered except for Chen, himself as he was away at work. Grief and sorrow rendered Chen's moral and spirit. He used to be a strong person supporting his own family, his parents, and his siblings throughout World War II. He helped his younger brothers and a younger sister through college education. But now in 1958 he lost his job and his will to make a good living. He gave away his house and most of his belongings to a church and he himself moved into an apartment in Taipei. The duty of helping siblings now fell upon Grandpa and grandpa’s second elder brother Tin. The two of them started to send money monthly to support Chen and later his second wife and family. Money was sent monthly for the next ten years. They also had to send money to their elder sister in mainland China and their sister Jean in Taiwan regularly. In addition, Grandpa had to send gifts to relatives in Taiwan and Mainland China during New Years and their birthdays.

In addition to Grandpa's regular job, he did not forget his continued education. He took classes at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan while he was working Kuhlman Electric Company. Grandpa received his Master's Degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1960 and his Ph.D. in 1966. All achieved on a part time basis while working at two or sometimes three jobs.

When they were living in Piscataway, New Jersey, Grandpa was teaching at the Newark College of Engineering, now called the New Jersey Institute of Technology. He would get up at six o'clock, drive to the New Brunswick train station took a train to Newark (40 miles north) walked 15-20 minutes from the station to the campus and teach morning and early afternoon classes, then walk back to the train station at 4 PM to take the train 100 miles south to Philadelphia, walk another 20 minutes to the University of Pennsylvania to take evening classes until 9 o'clock, then walk back to the train station and take the train 60 miles north to New Brunswick, find his car and drive home. By then it was almost midnight. It continued for about five years. In the bitter winter days, it was even more difficult. Sometimes, he could not find his car buried under heavy snow. Other times, the locks were frozen with ice and the lock could not be opened.

Financially speaking, he was supporting his own family as well as his brother Chen's family and paying high tuition to an Ivy League University, it was not an easy task. All that time his sister Jean and brother Pei were asking him for help from time to time. For that reason, Grandpa had to teach evening classes during the evenings when he did not have classes at the University of Pennsylvania, and designing transformers as a consultant of a local company for extra income. He seldom had time to accompany his four young children to school and had no time for social events. He was fortunate to have Grandma to help and support him. Grandma even typed Grandpa's thesis for his Master's degree and his Ph.D. Dissertation for his doctorate degree.

In 1966 during the time United States and the Soviet Union were competing for aerospace and satellite systems, many defense industries required engineers with graduate degrees to help them to achieve various goals. Grandpa was offered by a number of aerospace and defense industries jobs with substantial higher salaries than teaching at the University. Grandpa accepted one of those offers and moved the family to southern California from New Jersey.

Four years later, another tragedy happened. Among Grandpa's siblings, his second brother Tin passed away suddenly at the age of 52. Grandpa was grief stricken and rushed to Toronto in the pouring rain. When he arrived to his brother's home, he discovered that his sister-in-law was also ill and not in a condition to make funeral arrangements. Grandpa had to be in charge of the funeral for the second time in his life. After that, the responsibility to help other siblings fell to him alone. He had continued to send money to his first elder sister Yueh-Ti in China, since the late 1950's, with the help of brother Tin. Now Grandpa must increase his support for her. He also invited his third brother Pei and third elder sister Jean to immigrate to the United States. Grandpa and Grandma were their sponsors. Although eventually Martha took over the sponsorship of Pei and his children. But Jean's family was entirely sponsored by Grandpa and Grandma Yeh.

Among the three elder brothers and three elder sisters, only Grandpa's second elder sister Hsia-Ti and second elder brother Tin did not require Grandpa's financial help. Instead, they were the ones who helped Grandpa in college and made arrangements for him to come abroad. They were the ones who helped every member of their siblings the most. They were the models to Grandpa. It is our family tradition that the parents bring up the children, put them through college education and in return the children must support the parents if necessary. Older siblings must help younger siblings while they are young. Younger siblings have the responsibility to help out the older ones if needed. That's why Grandpa helped his oldest sister almost entirely for 30 years because her children could not support her even when she was near starvation. Grandpa sent monthly support to his eldest brother Chen for over 10 years. He also helped his sister Jean and brother Pei willingly. The Chinese teaching and family tradition in helping one another in need is the persistence and endurance that motivated your Grandpa traveled through his journey.

Love, Grandpa