[Rhodes22-list] Gone West

[Brad Haslett]

Rummy,

The 2 x 4 with the bumpers came with the boat.  I used it to keep from
backing into the dock until the ropes rotted off and then never re-installed
it again.

We expected his wife to go first, she's been in poor health for the last
several years.  Mr. Shen was slowing down but still did consulting work and
had recently purchased an electric bicycle with an enclosure - it looked
like a Chinese version of an Amish buggy.  Last month while we were in
Beijing, he pedaled/batteried Cora all over the neighborhood.  She looked
like the Empress Dowager riding in her carriage behind her Grandfather
coolie. If anyone had ever earned a peaceful and painless death, he
certainly did.

I'll tell you a funny story that happened here a few years ago.  My builder
buddy (Joe) and Mr. Shen were both the same age, about 70 at the time.  Joe
and I were building a spec home together and Fan's father enjoyed inspecting
the progress.  He knew nothing about home building but a mechanical engineer
is after all an engineer.  The three of us stopped for a beer one time and
the waiter (probably on drugs but certainly a dumbass) started making fun of
Mr. Shen because of his speech impediment and limited English.  Joe, a
retired fireman, got up from the table and threatened to take his head off
(and he had the will and ability to do it).  Mr. Shen,  a quick study of
people and situations, started laughing at the prospect of a 70 year-old man
administering an "ass-whooping" to a 20 year-old kid, gave us all one of
those "eye smiles" of his that communicated, "none of this matters" and
diffused the whole incident.  Personally, I'd liked to have watched the
"ass-whooping".

Brad

On Mon, Jul 28, 2008 at 6:42 AM, <R22RumRunner at aol.com> wrote:

> Brad,
> Sorry to hear about your father in law. 78 is still very young these days.
> Why the 2 x 4 off the stern?
>
> Rummy
>
>
> In a message dated 7/28/2008 7:02:35 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
> flybrad at gmail.com writes:
>
> The  phone rang around midnight last night (noon Beijing time) and my
>  first
> thought was, "this can't be good".  My older boys are finally  well
> established in their responsible young adulthood period so my next  thought
> was "parents".  Fan's father got up from the breakfast table,  said he
> didn't
> feel well and was going to lie down for a nap.  He  never woke up.
>
> Mr. Shen was an interesting man.  He was born into  a prosperous family
> that
> had their wealth confiscated after the civil war  ended in 49'.  He and his
> wife were both mechanical engineers and he  was well respected as an
> engineer
> and manager of several different  factories. During the Cultural
> Revolution,
> he was stripped of his job and  title and the associated privileges, but
> later partially re-instated  because even idealistic revolutionaries need
> people who "know how to make  things work". Throat cancer at the age of
> four
> and the resulting surgery  robbed him of the ability to speak louder than a
> whisper.  When he  spoke, people somehow knew it was worth the extra effort
> to listen  carefully.
>
> While living with us, he quickly became Gracie's best  friend.  She
> couldn't
> wait for the first walk of the day and would  quietly wait for him to
> practice his Tai Chee excercises. I was still a  Rhodes 22 owner then and
> he
> and I built a cradle for the boat in the back  yard.  His English was on
> par
> with my Mandarin, non-existent, but with  patience and pictures and lot's
> of
> hand gestures, we usually got our points  across to each other.  On a later
> visit I taught him how to drive (in  a parking lot) and how to sail,
>  flying
> was next on the agenda.   He loved to share with his peers back home all
> the
> new skills he'd  learned.
>
> Attached is a photo of Mr. Shen on his grand daughter's  sailboat. He was
> 78
> this year.
>
> Brad
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