[Rhodes22-list] Gone West

[elle]

Brad,

He went gently., with a loving family in the 'plus' column.

A good life, well lived. 

My condolences.

elle

We can't change the angle of the wind....but we can adjust our sails.

1992 Rhodes 22   Recyc '06  "WaterMusic"   (Lady in Red)


--- On Mon, 7/28/08, Brad Haslett <flybrad at gmail.com> wrote:

> From: Brad Haslett <flybrad at gmail.com>
> Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Gone West
> To: "The Rhodes 22 Email List" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
> Date: Monday, July 28, 2008, 7:02 AM
> 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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