Thank you for being here to remember and celebrate our  father’s life.  In his 75 years, he nurtured, inspired, and taught many people. As we reflect on his  life, many lessons have come into focus that we will remember.  Although his journey on this earth has come to an end, his love and values will live on in our own lives.

My father’s journey took him far. Along the way, even well after the age when most people retire, he brimmed with new and exciting ideas.  When we gathered at home for holidays, cooking a meal or bao jiaozi, he talked about endless new projects, from integration of environment and energy, to agricultural sustainability, to food safety.  We never heard him say that any idea was too big, or too complex or too difficult.  My father seemed to understand that big ideas, even if not always immediately practical, inspire, motivate, and excite us. Often where others saw constraints, he saw possibilities. This is an idea that he repeated to me often when he would come home from China over the last few years and I learned from him that it is courageous to dream big.  

In my father’s view, the journey was about finding new routes rather than following a roadmap. But finding your own way entails a willingness to be lost, at least for a moment. His life reminded me of our childhood car trips, we would be driving somewhere when my dad would turn left when the map said to turn right.  We would say, “Where are you going? We are going to get lost!”, but my father always wanted to have a look around.  In my father’s interview for the UC Davis Plant Science oral histories, he encouraged us to not fear taking the wrong direction, because that is how we learn where we are, where we want to go, and how to get there.

He taught us to never fear the apparent difficulty of a path. My brother remembers one of the first nights he stayed up past midnight working on an essay in junior high. He accidently turned off the computer when he was playing with the power cord and before he knew it, the essay was gone. He was frustrated, but quickly resigned himself to the obvious: he would head to bed and turn in his homework late. But my dad said, “no – go back and rewrite it”.  My brother was sure he would be too exhausted to finish it, but when he sat down to write it again he found that it wasn’t as difficult as he feared.

My dad’s journey was also defined by his desire to share his excitement.  When my brother was in the first grade, my dad went to his school to tell kids about his work. My brother was worried because our dad was a professor and not a firefighter.  When our dad showed up at school, he brought a computer, which in those days was a special thing.  The kids gathered around.  “So”, he said, “who is smarter: you or this computer?”  The children happily cried out, “We are!”  My dad raised his eyebrows and asked, “Really? But can you do 100 math problems in one second?” Everyone fell silent.  “No”, the children quietly admitted.  “So, maybe the computer is smarter than you!”  But, after a moment of silence, our dad proclaimed, “But the computer can’t do anything except for what you tell it to do - so you are actually smarter!”.  Everyone cheered.

Although there are visible academic milestones on my dad’s journey, he frequently acted, almost reflexively, to help those he came across on his path. This week we have heard many such stories that he never mentioned, some of of which changed people’s lives, some of which brought smaller moments of joy. These are acts that have brought many people here today. As a child I saw what seemed like an endless parade of guests at our dinner table, especially on holidays. Many times he had invited them on the spur of the moment after learning they had no holiday plans. He and my mom welcomed them as part of our family. In more intimate settings, he was often plain silly. Once years ago, my daughter was upset and my dad was wearing a funny pair of slippers: there was half of a dog on each foot. He started fooling around, purposely mismatching them, until she laughed. When my father passed last week, this was the first memory that came to my daughter’s mind; she remembered that he could always make her laugh, until she was no longer sad. He could always make me laugh as a kid too. My dad’s ability to make someone feel welcome, or cared for, has taught me the value of responding to others’ needs as we walk along our busy life paths.

Like many of you, we had a hard time believing that our father passed last week.  He was very healthy for a 75 year old man. He left us, it seems, mid stride. Did he reach that final mountain top on his journey?  Reflecting on what he has done, and the many remembrances that people have offered, it is clear that our father’s goal was never the mountaintop; it was the way he traveled and the people he touched.

I will miss being a part of his journey, getting to be a daughter that is loved by her Baba.

We are so grateful that he was at home with our mom, who walked 50 years with him, on the day he returned to Christ.

謝謝--你們來--紀念我父親的生平。在他75年的生命中--帶領,培育，啟發, 很多的人。 當我 們回想 他的生平 我從他的為人 學到很多的功課。我們希望這些功課也會  在我的生命中成為實際。

我父親一生走的路程很廣很遠。即使 到了退休年齡， 總是有很多新的，有趣的，理念。 當我們起過節，包餃子時候，他興奮地告訴我們他最新的想法。 比如說  學院整合環境和能源，農業持續性和食物安全， 等等。  我從來 沒有 聽到他說任何事會是太困難--或太複雜。 他的理念 總是 帶給聽得人  動力和激情。  別人認為侷限--他認為可能。 我學到-- 夢想是旅程的來源。

對我父親來說旅程是嘗試 新的路而不是 總是 跟者地圖。  但是嘗試新路--得願意接受暫時米路。  我們小時候出門旅行，地圖說東--他走西。 我媽媽會緊張，我們說 “你幹嘛？我們這羊會走丟！ 在我父親退休的時候，植物科學系訪問他，他說有時候--通過錯誤--可以帶你到新的境界，讓你更了解--自己要走的方向。我學到不要害怕不熟悉的路。

上路以後，他教我們不放棄.  在我初中時候，有一天我在電腦上熬夜 趕 的二天要交的作業。剛剛完成的時候，我不小心踢到電腦的插頭，作業馬上不見。  我想-- 完了，沒有辦法了-- 睡覺吧。  我父親說，不行， 坐下，從頭寫，我陪你。 我怕會很累，但是我學到，面對挑戰時， 挑戰本身不是真正問題，而是自己的猶豫。 我失去了兩個小時的睡眠，從爸爸得到一輩子的原則。

我的父親不是始終很嚴肅的人，他也是很好玩和幽默的人。 在我小學一年及的事，所有父親-- 輪流 -- 來課堂，講一講他們職業給孩子們聽。他來那天我有一點擔心。因為他只是教授，而不是 --- 小孩子-- 崇拜的 -- 救火員。 他帶了一個電腦來，當時電腦很稀奇。 小孩子圍著時，他問 “誰更聰明 - 電腦還是你們？孩子大聲說，當然是我們！ 他說 “你們確定嗎？“ 電腦可以一秒鐘算100個算術，你們能嗎？孩子沒話說, 懷疑自己比不上這個機器 - 很憂慮 他等了一會， 就笑容的說，但是電腦只能做你告訴他的事， 所以還是你們比電腦聰明。   孩子都歡呼. 結果所有來的爸爸，他是最搜歡迎的。

雖然他大部分的歷程碑和學術有關，他也給人快樂和安慰。  這週來，我們看到許多跟他有關的故事。 有的是改變了人的生活， 有時候 帶給人快樂。他過世時候，他現在7歲的外孫女Clara 說他最記得他 -- 三歲時候  --- 有一次·他正哭的，爺爺穿的一雙好玩狗狗的拖鞋，用孩子氣動作逗她，結果他就笑了。從此以後他就追會跟爺爺玩。

上星期 -- 我父親 -- 突然離開 -- 我們。  到現在還難以相信。 他達到了他生活中的目標嗎？但從所有紀念 -- 懷念-- 他的信 -- 看來。我就明白他的目標不是峰頂，而是他--如何 --走他的旅程，如何對待-- 同程的--伙伴。對我來說 - 在他回天家那天，其實他 早就已經 達到  他的目標.  我希望我也能這麼走這樣的路.