Vallejo resident Jeff Feri, who grew up in Sacramento, presents a vintage family scrapbook to Dr. Herbert Yee. Photo by Lance Armstrong
South Land Park resident Dr. Herbert Yee, a retired local dentist and the patriarch of a well-known Sacramento Chinese family, and his wife, Inez, had an unexpected and pleasant surprise last week.
After being called to a special meeting arranged by this publication, Vallejo resident Jeff Feri drove about 60 miles to meet the Yees and explain why he was the central part of the gathering, which was held at the South Land Park Chinese restaurant, Macau Caf?.
While directing his attention toward Herbert and Inez, Jeff, who was accompanied by his 19-year-old son, Jordan, said, ?I live in Vallejo and there?s this old homeless guy, Al, that comes around. He?ll try to sell me an old bicycle part or something. I get off work and I usually give him the aluminum cans from my car or whatever. So, I usually look at the stuff that he has, and on this particular day he had this scrapbook. I just looked at it and it had (Yee family related) newspaper clippings from 1939 from The Sacramento Union, (a newspaper), which we all know doesn?t exist anymore. So, I said, ?If you don?t mind me having it, I would like to look into it.? I looked online and saw the report that (The Land Park News) did on (Herbert) and I figured maybe Dr. Yee (and his family) would like to have this (scrapbook).?
After contacting this publication, Jeff described the scrapbook and how he acquired it.
Unfortunately, Jeff, who spent his entire life residing in Sacramento before moving to Vallejo four years ago, said that Al had no recollection of how the book came to be in his possession.
Dr. Henry Yee, a notable herbal doctor and chiropractor in Sacramento, was among the leaders in the Chinese and American communities. Photo courtesy of the Yee family
The paper covers of the 9-inch by 12-inch, spiral-bound scrapbook features a printed artistic representation of a Dutch countryside, which unsurprisingly includes an image of a windmill as its focal point.
Inside the book are 70 yellowed pages, the earliest of which contain the majority of the newspaper clippings.
Most of these writings were printed in English, while others were cut out of Chinese newspapers.
Nearly all of the clippings, which were affixed to pages of the book with glue, are from 1939, and the latest dated clippings were added to the book in 1965.
A letter-sized page of lined paper with handwritten Chinese writings is tucked away between pages of the book.
After observing the page, Herbert, 89, said that these writings were most likely written by his father, Dr. Henry Way Yee, or his mother, Hum We Fong Yee.
The hand-written writings, Herbert added, feature information pertaining to the Sacramento chapter of the Yee Fung Toy Family Association.
Included on one page of the book are birth announcements from The Union that include news of the birth of Herbert?s sister, Carol, at the Sutter Maternity Hospital ? today?s Sutter Memorial Hospital.
Herbert especially enjoyed that the scrapbook was mainly dedicated to his father?s writings, which were published as advertisements for his business, Dr. Henry Yee Herb Co., at 707 J St.
The articles feature themes related to such topics as longevity, healthy eating practices, rheumatism and, of course, Chinese herbs.
The book also includes an advertisement inviting people to undergo $1 ?complete examinations? at Henry?s office. The examination included the use of an X-ray fluoroscope and ?the wonderful, new hemovitameter.?
The latter, 4-foot-tall, 3-foot-wide instrument was claimed to serve the purpose of ?detecting the presence of infections, toxins and disease in the human body.?
Henry was a descendent of the more than 1,000-year-old Yee family of China.
His grandfather, Yee Fung Cheung, was perhaps the first Chinese herbal doctor to come to the United States. In 1851, he established his practice in Amador County?s Fiddletown, which was then the largest Chinatown in the state outside of San Francisco.
Yee Fung Cheung, who also practiced in Sacramento and Virginia City, Nev., was the father of Dr. T. Wah Hing, a Sacramento physician and surgeon whose true name was Yee Lock Sam.
Dr. T. arrived in Sacramento with Henry Yee in 1906, and about a decade later, Henry graduated from Sacramento High School.
Henry later attended Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley.
He continued his education at the University of Michigan, where he earned bachelor?s degree in civil engineering in 1921 and a master?s degree in the same subject in 1923.
During the same year, Henry, after working for the Michigan highways department, returned to China.
And while once again in his native country, Henry served as chief engineer of railroads and highways in the Canton area from 1924 to 1926 and chief of public works in Swatow from 1926 to 1929.
Henry returned to America in 1929 with his son, Paul. He eventually earned sufficient money to pay for Paul to bring the rest of the family to the United States.
Henry was among the leaders in the Chinese and American communities.
Among his many roles were his service as the two-time grand president of the Yee Fung Toy Family Association, seven-term vice president of the Chinese Benevolent Association, director of the Chinese Language School of Sacramento, vice president of the Bing Kong Tong Association of Sacramento, chairman of the board of Yee Investments, Inc., charter member of the Chinese Lions Club and chairman of the board of the Chinese Methodist Church.
Additionally, Henry was active in the efforts to build the Confucius Temple and community center at 4th and I streets.
He also founded Big Town Market in 1940. The market, which was located at 2210 16th Street, was one of the city?s first Chinese supermarkets.
In describing how much his father meant to him, Herbert said that ever since his father passed away at the age of 84 on June 8, 1979, he has carried a photograph of him in his wallet and worn a jade ring that belonged to him.
Herbert said that the presentation of the scrapbook was a very interesting and joyous experience for him.
?Number one, I was interested in where (Jeff) found it,? Herbert said. ?My sister (May Yee Chinn) used to live in Vallejo, so it may have formerly been in her possession. (The book) brings back pleasant memories of our father and mother. We get busy in life and then when something like this happens, we think about (special memories) more.?
Following his meeting with Herbert and Inez, Jeff, who graduated from Johnson High School in 1990, said that he was very pleased to have had the opportunity to present the scrapbook to the Yee family.
?I was just trying to do something good,? Jeff said. ?I did it because I would want the same thing done if the roles were reversed. It just so happens that (Herbert) is a very prominent member of the community, but I would have given the book to a janitor. And because (Herbert) appreciated (the book), it made me feel better about going out of my way to get that to him.?
Source: http://www.valcomnews.com/?p=11499
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