In Memory of a Good Friend
Kenong Xia
Dear friends and guests:
Today we gather together to remember Jing who left us all too early, and to celebrate Jing's life as a genius scholar, a great achiever with vision and energy, a dedicated family man, and a dear friend to many of us.
I speak in particular on behalf of a group of friends who accompanied him and his family ever since the years we spent together living, eating and sleeping in English class before our adventures in various parts of the world. That was 25 years ago!
We remember him as a super young man whose talent and knowledge as told with the trademark high-pitched voice were particularly attractive to and admired by many fellow students. His mastery of obsolete and incomprehensible English words which seem only to appear in GRE tests is simply unbeatable.
We remember him as a loving husband and father who is occasionally torn between enduring son's desperate cry and supporting wife's as-determined discipline.
We remember him as a caring friend who took pains to make visitors feel at home. When my wife and I visited and stayed with them back in January 1987, they were the only Dong Gongers that we know in the Bay area. Our group of friends from all over the US and Canada invaded their home again in August 1988 in our second Dong Gong reunion. Today, I understand there is an annual Dong Gong reunion of tens of alumni in the Bay area. It all started over 20 years ago.
I spoke to Jing on phone for the last time in late October 2008. Although he was aware that he was on his last journey in this world, he talked to me with calm and strength. I was hoping some miracle would happen to this brave man.
We gather to pay our tribute, we gather to show our respect, and we gather to be inspired by Jing's courage and strength.
Good-bye, our good friend. May you rest in peace!