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Show Matter Of Survival' 'A 4B Thursday, June 4, WEST VALLEY VIEW 1981 Only A Smattering Of English In 1971, But One Of Murray 's Top Scholars Today There seemed nothing unusual when Jane Ku was cited by the Murray Rotary club as one of the scholastic students of Murray highs 1981 graduating class. That she is intelligent, and had applied herself well, was taken for granted, for there is no other way to reach that category. But there is much more than intelligences to the story top-te- n top-te- n well-directe- d of this lovely Chinese girl. life behind him, used his talents in the diplomatic service and was sent to Thailand. Jane was beginning to leave childhood at this time and was able to fully appreciate the joy and pleasure of having the whole family together for a long stretch of time. Bangkok was the happiest time of my life, so far, she tells. It was so nice to have us all in one place. My parents were so happy to however, was terrible and Im glad to be away from that. We could bathe and put on fresh clean' clothes, yet, five minutes later our clothes would be damp and our hair hanging limp. You never felt fresh and clean like we can here. Father is now making plans to start a business in Texas and that will bring about another change, but change doesnt bother me for I have lived all my life in change. My parents have lived with change, and their parents, my grandparents, were caught up in the cultural explosion that swept through my homeland and their lives were changed. I think I could live happiSo ly any place in the world. People are people and when you reach out in friendship, they reach back to you. It overcomes any language barrier, and languages can be them. They drilled me constantly, day after day, night after night. They would come home at night and then, would again take up the teaching of English words to me. Words, words, words of a new language, and, at the same time, my mother was drilling my brother and I in the Chinese vocabulary in order that we will be entirely bilingual. My aunt is very down to earth, ... learned. ... So a beautiful young Chinese girl, who . . . had her family not been caught up in the unfeeling swirl of historys events . . . would no doubt have spent her entire life peacefully in the vast heartland of China, now makes her home in Murray. She lives in a place her grandparents, and perhaps her parents, had never even heard of until ten or 15 years ago. It is difficult for one born here to excel and become one of the scholars cited by Murray Rotary club, yet Jane . . . with the language, culture and people all strange . . . became one of those coveted ten. No, she says, it was not competition. It was survival. Jane is a very good survivor. She comes from a family of survivors, and we are lucky to have the Ku family add their strength and tenacity to our land. Since the time of this lands beginning it has been strong, brave families like the Kus who put aside the temporary disruption of family life for the greater security of the future, who have made this country the great place it is. top-te- n right, her Aunt Nancy Chang. They are displaying some of the items they brought from Taiwan. Jane Ku, third from left, with her family. From left, her brother David, mother Lisa, and on her Ten years ago, her English was strictly conversational, and, as she laughingly tells, Not a very big conversation, either. For Jane Ku was born in Taiwan, of parents, Lisa and Charlie Ku, who had migrated, with their parents, from the Chinese Mainland. Her grandparents were and followers of Chiang so, with the fall of his regime, they e fled with him to the be together and I now look back on it as a very special time. My aunt, however, had married here in Utah to William Cheng and was very happy here. She liked it so much that she finally persuaded my parents to make the U.S.A. their home, and it was then our family separated again. Kai-she- retreat . of Taiwan. The two parental families had known each other in China, and so, as Jane's two sets of grandparents took up thier lives in Taiwan, the young teenagers (Janes future parents) continued their friendship and eventually fell in love and married. It was there on Taiwan, that y Jane was born, and that far-awa- island, the former Formosa, became her first home. Her life, however, wasnt the calm, structured life that most of us, here in the valley know, for the relentless wind of world happening was felt constantly in her home life. Her parents, though deeply in love, have never had the security of building a home, living there together, and feeling they could, if they chose, spend the rest of their lives there. Her father attended military school for his education and then served with the military. As a result, he was often separated from his wife, the lovely Lisa, and his children, Jane and son David, for much of the time. It was about this time that Janes aunt, Nancy Hsieh, received a scholarship to attend BYU and accepted it gladly. This event was the first thread that reached out from the Ku family in the Far East to Utah. Janes father, with his military Jane laughs. Our family has moved to new places often and so she knew that basic sentences, requests and phrases must be learned correctly and quickly so as not to cause embarrassment either to us or to those listening to us. These were the first phrases taught to us. Some of your words ... as in any language . . sound very much the same as other words which have very distant meanings. My aunt and uncle drilled, and had us repeat, over and over again, the correct words and their pronoun-ciatio- Jane and Moiher My mother came here, bringing me and my brother. I realize now how difficult it must have been for my parents, for my father had to remain there so he could support us here. He had no way of earning money here in the U.S. and so of necessity, he remained in Taiwan. When questioned about how she managed to not only learn an unfamiliar language, but to cope so well that she excelled in her classes, she very seriously says . . . It was a matter of survival. It was not competition. I did not even think of getting higher grades than anyone else. I had to work constantly to simply survive in school. It was my Aunt Nancy and her husband, my Uncle William, who were my life savers. I owe much to she continues, Many people, come to this country for schooling and would like to remain, but it is difficult. You must first of all, have some contact here so that you will be financially independent and not become wards of the state. We have been lucky, but it has been hard on my parents and the family life has been difficult. My father stayed in Taiwan until he could make arrangements to work here in the U.S.A. and be able to earn enough money to support us. He is now employed by China Steel and we are so happy, even though his offices are in New York and so we cannot see each other often. What do I miss most from my Chinese home? Oh, it is so wonderful here I would never wish to be any place else, but . . . yes, I miss the food. No matter how good the restaurants are, they do not serve food like home, and the markets do not carry all the items my mother would like to fix for us. I miss the beauty of Bangkok. The temples, parks and old ruins are tremendous and when we lived there our parents made certain that we were introduced to all the cultural opportunities possible. The climate of Bangkok, Robyn Rydalch Wed To Mr. Sorenson Mr. and Mrs. Robert Rydalch, previously of Murray are announcing the engagement of their daughter, Robyn, to Rodney Sorenson, son of Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd B. 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