CHAPTER 1
My First Decade in America
Student Visa
In order to get my student visa to enter the United States in 1960, I had to demonstrate to the US consulate in Taiwan that I was not going to become a financial burden to American society. For that reason, I had to produce a cashier's check issued to me by a bona fide US bank. Fortunately, my college schoolmate, Victor Tang, supplied me with one for $2,400 in January 1960, and I dutifully attached it to my visa application, as required. Without it, the door to America would have been tightly locked. That check was the key, a great and necessary help.
February 17, 1960
A new Northwest Airlines DC-6B passenger plane landed smoothly on the SEA-TAC Airport runway at 7:15 p.m. Seattle time, Feb 17, 1960. I was a passenger on that flight. Upon arrival, I was soon met by Victor and his housemates, Wen H. Chen and his brother Wen S. Chen. All three were graduate students at the University of Washington (UW) in Seattle. They took me to Seattle's Chinatown for a nice dinner and then to their apartment in the University District (U District) of Seattle. They treated me with utmost kindness and made me feel fully at home. I quietly returned the cashier's check to Victor with deep appreciation before I went to bed.
On that day, General Dwight D. Eisenhower had recently begun serving his last year as president of the United States with Richard M. Nixon as his vice president. John F. Kennedy was a US senator from Massachusetts. The two US senators from the state of Washington were both bachelors, Warren Magnuson and Scoop Jackson. The mayor of Seattle was a Mr. Roselini.
Flying from Taipei to Seattle cost me less than going by freighter from Taiwan to any American seaport because I purchased my ticket as a requisition clerk of the international air carrier CAT (then headquartered in Taipei).
The deep discount given to employees of members of the International Association of Air Carriers by every other member carrier is still in effect, I believe. Lucky me!
The next day it snowed in Seattle. It was cold for me, having just arrived from Taiwan.
Choosing Seattle as My First Base City
I stayed as a guest with Victor and the Chen brothers for about a week, which I always remember as the gift I needed most upon arriving in a foreign land. During that week, I had several conversations with Victor alone. He gave me some of his views on what my life in America could be and what my life would be like if I chose to stay in Seattle.
Though I already had received notice of admission to an MBA program at San Jose State, in California, for the fall semester beginning in September 1960, I decided to begin my adventure in America with Seattle as my first base city.
Meanwhile, I enjoyed snowy scenes on the UW campus and learned how to use the public transportation system for getting around in downtown Seattle from the U District and where to get my social security card.
With my social security card in hand, I visited a downtown employment agency and got my first job in America at Doctors Hospital of Seattle as an evening-shift janitor, which paid $1.50 an hour. In the spirit of thanksgiving, I gave my first $10 to the Catholic church in the U District.
I learned that one's social security number (SSN) is the account number that the US government uses to keep record of one's income from all legal American employers. It is also the number with which one can receive social security benefits when one is injured on the job or reaches retirement at age sixty-five.
Switching My Field of Study
In the 1960s, mostly influenced by employment opportunities, many Taiwanese college graduate students in America (except those in science and engineering fields) elected to switch their studies from English to librarianship, from law to computer science, or from cost accounting to actuarial science. Most of them did well in their newly chosen fields. So I did not feel at risk in changing to any new program that would accept me. I felt confident that I could average a B+ in any field if I worked seriously, and I was ready to work seriously. This determination and confidence came from years of indoctrination by my parents. As the eldest of four boys in my family, I had always been drilled by my mother to set a good example for my younger brothers. My father wanted me to maintain good discipline in my learning exploration wherever and whatever I should be learning, wherever and whatever I should be and become, similar to his journey in life.
On my forty-ninth birthday, in 1983, my father composed a sixty-four-word poem to acknowledge his satisfaction with my unpredictable avocations and different postings.
Within eight days after my arrival, I began to put together, with Victor as my consultant, my future work-study plan in the United States. My first goal was to earn, as soon as possible, a graduate degree in a technical field that would be in high demand in America, at least as far as we could then imagine.
Technical Schools in Seattle
In the greater Seattle area, there were four schools of higher learning in 1960: the University of Washington (UW), Seattle University (SU), Christian Pacific College of Seattle, and Addison Technical institute of Seattle. Victor recommended that I should first visit Seattle University, a Jesuit school. I was met there by Reverend Francis Wood when I visited SU shortly thereafter. After listening to my plan and my financial condition at that moment, Fr. Wood suggested that I should be a transfer student in the Electrical Engineering (EE) Department of SU. I was admitted on the spot and could begin in the fall quarter in September 1960, as he was head of EE department of SU. He was a good professor of control systems and became my career advisor too. He made sure that I would take courses relevant to getting into graduate school. Only one course that I took on the SU campus was not on his recommended list—Opera Appreciation—which first introduced me to the well-known operas of Verdi of Italy, Wagner of Germany, and Bizet of France, which I have enjoyed ever since.
Jobs before the Fall Quarter Began in September 1960
Virginia Mason Hospital
Three months after beginning my night shift job at Doctors Hospital, I started working as a daytime janitor at Virginia Mason Hospital (VM), which was a few blocks away from the SU campus.
About a month later, I caught a slight cold but went to work in the hospital as usual. While on the job, Dr. Shelby, a young friendly intern at the hospital, noticed that I was a little out of sorts and decided to look under my eyelids. Within five minutes, I was put in an isolation room. There I spent two days in the intensive care unit (ICU). For the next forty-eight hours I was confined to bed, and all visitors had to wear special gowns to enter my room.
Every four hours I was examined by at least...
