Yale-China, the Bridge Between Dr. Edmund H. Worthy, and Me
“‘Edmund (Ed) Henry Worthy, Jr. – educator, non-profit leader, and museum executive – died on March 27, 2021 from metastatic cancer.’
This is the beginning of the obituary written by Mr. Worthy himself.”
“In the fall of 1963, at New Asia College, (part of the Chinese University of Hong Kong), I met Mr. Edmund H. Worthy, who assisted me to overcome my language challenges as a Freshman in the English Department. My encounter with Mr. Worthy not only changed my dismal outlook on my future study in the Department, but also inspired me with the meanings of volunteerism in everyone’s life.
We called the young, energetic American Yale-China Education Fellows “Yale Bachelors.” Since 1901, Yale-in-China ( Yale-China) Association has sent Yale graduates to teach in China and, after 1949, Hong Kong. Literally so, when they started teaching the Freshman and Sophomore English and Literature classes, they were holding a Bachelor’s degree; and all of them were unmarried.
The two-year service of the Yale Education Fellows greatly impacted and enriched the lives of their students and communities; and at the same time, their unique experiences promoted their individual understanding of the Chinese language and culture. In our Yale-China story, both Mr. Worthy and I have changed our lives for the better, nurtured our decades of friendship, and participated in carrying out the mission of such a special organization.”
Chart House, Alexandria, Virginia, April 2011
“It was not easy for me to address Mr. Worthy as “Ed “, at his insistence, some forty odd years later, when we met again in early April, 2011, in Washington DC. We went for lunch at Chart House along the banks of Potomac River. It was a cold and windy day, luckily dry, though. Mr. Worthy married his Mandarin teacher in Hong Kong in 1965. It was the first time for my husband to meet both of them. In no time, everyone had warmed up and was immersed in conversation, in fluent Mandarin and English. I took the opportunity to express my gratitude towards my respectable teacher, who had gone beyond his duty to help me in the study.
Mr. Worthy worked with me on a one-to-one basis once a week after class hours in my Freshman year. He assigned to me extra reading materials and writing assignments to boost up my English proficiency. I still remember the one assignment to read and analyze an American short story, “The Man Who Saw Through Heaven”, by Wilbur Daniel Steel. Exceptionally for one time, Mr. Worthy allowed me to write any topic on the story. Most part of the story has become obscure to me now, but the phrase “Father Witch” has stuck with me for almost half a century. Mr. Worthy playfully challenged me, “Show me. How do you know that Reverend Diana, called by the natives “Father Witch”, has returned to his old faith? “ I pointed vigorously at the page of the book, “He is praying ‘Our father which art in Heaven’ in Lord’s Prayer!” Mr. Worthy beamed and said approvingly, “Well done! Recently your writing style has also improved.” I was elated! That was how I gradually built up my confidence in my work, and my aptitude for language and literature helped me through the years. Without Mr. Worthy’s support, encouragement and sacrifice, I would have struggled miserably and shifted my direction towards a different field of study as my other eleven fellow freshmen did.”
“‘From 1971 to 1974, Mr. Worthy was director of the Yale-China program and lecturer in the Chinese University’s history department. He laid the groundwork for the establishment of the university’s International Asian Studies Program for overseas exchange students.’ ( Excerpts from Mr. Worthy’s obituary). I last saw Mr. and Mrs. Worthy in Hong Kong in June, 1972 at my farewell party before my departure for Michigan. Then in less than two years, Mr. Worthy and family also returned to the US so that he could complete his PhD program in Chinese History at Princeton University.
There was a long period of time when each of us was so fully occupied on our respective life paths that we did not keep up with our correspondence regularly. I now particularly appreciated reading his obituary and an excerpt from the 50th Reunion Class Book of the Yale 1962 graduates. From his own reflections on his varied challenges in life, in his own words, I have learned all the unknown gaps in his productive years and his contributions to the communities. Among them, volunteerism was one of his most impressive achievements.
When Facebook kept reminding us to celebrate Ed Worthy’s 81st birthday on June 12, my heart ached as much as it did upon my reading his last letter of grave news about his cancer in January, 2021. In his enclosed family photo, surrounded by his loved ones, Mr. Worthy, wane and frail, looked at me with his familiar luminous and unflinching eyes in all smiles. I couldn’t help reminiscing about one photo of him in Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic opera, Pirates of Penzance. Mr. Worthy was dressed in a policeman’s costume, with a fake mustache and a pillow stuffed at his belly. He and a pirate classmate flanked Juni and me in a hallway. We all looked so youthful and buoyant at that moment of our life!”
Pirates of Penzance, New Asia College, 1963-1964