Vlog#38: Fanny Yeh Corderoy du Tiers

Click the video link at: https://youtu.be/Q0eVqv9hdTQ

1st Story about John and me: "Our childhood life"

 Aloha to all Class of 71 friends, 

First of all, I would like to thank those who work hard for the Class71 projects.  

Barby (Richardson) and Shirley (Egbert) and Helena asked me to tell a story about my life, which is a great pleasure for me to present it. 

Here is Fanny Yeh Corderoy du Tiers, I have several sign names such as follows: Taiwan (forefinger and index finger up on the center of the forehead then pull away from the forehead change hand shape ‘I’ which represents a girl in Chinese), USA (hand shape ‘f’ on the top of the chest then move the f down to the center of the chest) & France (hand shape open ‘c’ on the one side of the forehead representing a flower). I would like to brief a story about my childhood life with my brother John.

John and I were born in Taiwan of a Chinese family moving from the mainland China by our late father who braved in a new adventure from the traditional Chinese life, which became a Communism.

Black/white photo: top row: Mother Yeh and Father Yeh; center row: Jeffrey, James and Florence; bottom row: Fanny, John and Joseph

In Taiwan, there were no special educational programs for deaf children prior to 9 years old.  When John hit 9 years old, he went to Tainan School for the Deaf and Blind then my mother sent me to hearing dance classes to keep me busy while waiting till 9 years old cuz she knew that dance was my first love and passion.  I gave several children dance performances before 9 years old and continued to perform while I was in the same school with John. 

In that school, the schedule was from Monday to Saturday from 7am to 6pm with many Chinese strict rules and culture.  At that time, there was no higher education after High School for the Deaf in Taiwan, thus, our parents decided to leave Taiwan in seeking of a better higher education for us.  In 1960, John in his 6th grade and me in my 3rd grade left Taiwan with our parents and one hearing brother Joseph.  We had 2 elder hearing brothers who must stay in Taiwan to fulfill their military services and our eldest sister was already in the USA attending at a university.

Colored Photo (left): Fanny with short hair parted on the right side wore a white blouse with large collar under a red sweater and red/white printed skirt with a pair of white socks with reddish cuffs in a pair of red shoes. John with crew cut wore a brownish shirt under royal blue sweater and brownish shorts with a pair of blue/white sneakers.

Another colored photo (right): Fanny with hair tied in a bun in the back wore a yellow tutu and red flower on the left side on her chest standing on her toes.

They looked as if they were going through a hardship.

After 3 months on a ship from Taiwan in 1960, we both were shocked with great disappointment upon arrival that it was Brazil not the USA!  There were no better schools for the Deaf so we stayed at home and were bored for 2 and half years!  Good thing that our eldest sister Florence was in the USA so she could help us by contacting Gallaudet College President Elstad who accepted to grant us a special sponsorship for our green cards as students in the USA. 

We finally left Brazil in June 1962, we would never forget about wearing our winter clothes while flying from Brazil but after arrival at NYC airport, it was very hot and humid so you can imagine what it was like for us to go through!  

On our first day at Kendall School in September 1962, we had to sit in the hall and waiting for the principal to call us.  While waiting and it was lunch time, there came a long line of little kids who passed us in the hall, they all acclaimed that we were the "BAD JAPANESE SLITED-EYED war solders" with their gestures of guns "ba ba ba bo bo bo"...from each kid to next kid they all copied like copy-cats!  John and I were deeper disappointed and depressed by their insults!  However, another short line of older teenaged kids who passed us and they were thrilled with big joy: "wow, newcomers from another country"!  They welcomed us warmly even though we did not understand their ASL but cud feel their exciting gestures!  They invited us to lunch with them in the cafeteria!    After lunch, the principal took us to our classrooms, oh la la to my other greatest disappointment that I was placed in the "3rd grade" class with 9 years old group while John was placed in the class with teenaged group.  I was only 13 years old in that class so I decided to study harder and finally moved to join John's class a few months later!  We both carried our Chinese-English dictionaries everyday to improve our English language!  John was very active as a basketball player and me as a cheerleader!  

To be continued for the 2nd story.... 

Bye bye

So long.