[Rhodes22-list] Gone West

[Arthur H. Czerwonky]

Brad,
Most sincere sympathies to your wife and family on the loss of Fan's father.  What a full life of adventures he had at a very difficult period of history in China.
Art

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