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| Title: | Full interview with Alice Yeh, part 1 of 3 |
| Date: | October 21, 2009 |
| Donor: | Yeh, Alice |
| Subject: | Celebrations, Childhood, China, Chinatown, Church and Faith, Citizenship and Civil Rights, Clubs and Organizations, Discrimination, Education, Family Life, Food, Identity, Immigration, Cross-cultural Relations, Inter-generational Relations, Leisure, Marriage and Dating, Politics and Activism, Work, War and War Effort |
| Province: | Ontario |
| Copyright: | MHSO |
| Language: | ENG |
Yeh, Alice
Alice Yeh (née Yook-Lin Gee) was born in Victoria, British Columbia on October 10, 1919. Alice’s mother, Gee Wong Moey, was widowed in the early 1920s and rented rooms in her house to support the family. The house became a hub of activity in Victoria’s Chinese community. For instance, Alice and her friends used the house as a meeting place for a youth forum, which staged dramatic productions and conducted neighbourhood tours in Chinatown to combat negative stereotypes and raise funds for charitable causes. Alice was extremely active in both her community life and work life. She worked for the postal censorship department in Ottawa, Ontario during World War Two, served as a private secretary to the Taiwanese Ambassador to Japan in the early 1950s, and worked as a social worker for the Catholic Children’s Aid Society in Toronto until her retirement. She also led the Young Women’s Guild at the Chinese Presbyterian Church in Toronto, Ontario, and was an organizer for Canadian branches of the Kuomintang (Nationalist) party. At the time of the interview, Alice resided in Etobicoke, Ontario.
In part one of a three-part interview, Alice Yeh recounts her role in a Chinese Canadian youth organization in the 1930s in Victoria, British Columbia. She discusses the group’s fundraising efforts and describes her childhood memories of Victoria, placing emphasis on her mother’s role in the family and community. She outlines her work and education experiences in Ottawa, Toronto and Japan, and her courtship and marriage to her husband, whom she met at the University of Toronto in the 1940s. She also comments on the significance of the church and faith in her life.
