Monday, June 11, 2007

Meeting between Peter and Paul Chui and Frank Geefay June 9, 2007


Hi Peter and Paul,
It was so great to meet both of you in San Francisco this Saturday (see photo attached-shows too much of my gray hair). Now that I have met and seen both of you I do remember Paul. I think you were the one who had that cool looking hair style that would have appealed to the girls. I took a look at the 1963 class photo again and saw that you were standing to my immediate left. What a coincident that I would meet you almost a half century later to take another photo this time with you on my right and all a few years older. I don't remember Peter probably because you were one form behind me most of the time because of Mr. Wong (I'll let you tell that story). I don't think I hung out with either of you very much because I was somewhat of a square and by the standards of that time you two were quite the 'rebels without a cause'. It was good hearing those stories about the prank played on Mr. Wong, etc. Too bad I didn't know you both better or I'm sure we could have shared some more interesting stories. My life then was not near as exciting as yours.
I still remember all those strict fathers and teachers. I especially remember Mr. Tzau (can't remember how to spell his name) our Form 5-6 English teacher from the American West Point Army academy. Ran our classroom like an army academy. He seemed to scold us more than teach and talk a lot about West Point and America. But he was as gentle and kind as a kitten outside the classroom. He seemed to be very impressed with Marilyn Monroe as I recall. I also remember a Portuguese English teacher in Form 3 by the name of Mr. Vitalis or maybe I am mixing him with the other English Portuguese teacher, who loved to listen to his Victor Borge record over an over again. He turned me into a Victor Borge fan and I've been listened to his comedy performances ever since until he recently passed away. I remember visiting the Portuguese teachers who lived in some kind of community housing for Portuguese bachelors I think. The more I think about those days long ago the more I begin to remember. The nostalgia of these reminiscences makes me feel a little younger. Maybe someone has a list of all the teacher we had from 1961-1963 in Form 3-5 that they could share with us so that I can refresh my memory. I have a pressing need to feel younger as I not so gracefully age.
It is good to know that both of you are doing so well in spite of Yuet Wah. You have a cool uncle with a very liberal and healthy sense of humor showing us that very funny picture of himself 50 years ago. And your mother looks so young for a person of almost 90. Hope to keep in touch. I may stop by if I come down to the LA area or over to Hong Kong. Take care both of you and thanks for the delicious dim sum lunch. Hope you both get to see Ernie. His memory is much sharper than mine and he can probably share far more stories than I, especially with the help of his high school diary. What a treasure the diary and all those photos have been.

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