Dr. Chester Ronning

I did my first year university at Grande Prairie Regional College, which was about 6 hours drive from Edmonton, the capital of Aberta.

Since there was no public bus system in Grande Prairie, my housemate, Eliza and I often walked to the College. Sometimes our landlord or classmates would give us a ride. After school we would look out for each other. Very often some kind Grande Prairie residents would stop their cars to pick us up, as sometimes the winter could hit minus 20 to 30 degree celcius!


One day, after lectures, my classmate, Paul, wanted to give me a ride, and I asked him if Eliza could come along. After some time, we went off as there was no sight of Eliza.

Imagine my consternation when I found Eliza, tucking herself with a thick blanket in her cosy room. She told me not to wait for her the following day as she would be going for a lunch invitation held in honour of one Dr. Chester Ronning. All the Chinese students had been invited.

"Why was I not invited.? I'm Chinese too." I said.

"No, you are Malay!"

Gosh, if Eliza still thought I was a Malay despite having stayed with me for 5 months, what would the rest of the Canadians think?

The next morning, I went to the college an hour earlier and headed straight for the President's Office.

"Dr. Henderson, may I know why I was not inivted to your lunch for Dr. Ronning?"

"Glad you're here. I was not sure of your race, Choo. I asked the Chinese students and no one seemed to know. But please join the 15 Hong Kong students and meet at 12 noon."

I was grinning when I realised that the Chinese students were surprised when they saw me. I happened to be seated next to Dr. Ronning, an elderly Canadian who was born in Denmark, but spent his childhood in China, and his adulthood in Canada. Dr. Ronning told us he was delighted with the opportunity of speaking Mandarin with us. He kept talking and I kept nodding my head. As I never attended Chinese school in Malaysia, my Mandarin was even more limited and there were times when I did not quite understand what Dr. Ronning had said, but kept nodding my head out of respect. Despite this limitation, it still put me in better stead than the Hong Kong students who could only handle Cantonese then. Hence I was surprised when our College president told he was glad I came for the lunch for Dr. Ronning had told him I spoke excellent Mandarin! I did not say more than two sentences.... throughout lunch, I had merely listened and nodded my head! From this incident I learnt that the elderly usually enjoyed an audience. They had tasted more salt and therefore the young should learn from their rich experiences. I guess my excellent attention and good listening ability must have pleased Dr. Ronning so that was why he said I spoke excellent Mandarin even though I had only uttered less than three sentences. My papa had always said it is better to keep quiet than to blurt out and let the world know we are fools!


That evening, I attended Dr. Ronning's public lecture. He had such a great sense of humour. He shared that when he was running for election for one of the political seats, his opponent, Dr. Rutherford, knowing that he was raised in China, had gone around coercing people not to vote for Chester, for "he drinks Chinese milk".

"I went round telling the people not to vote for Rutherford, for he drinks cow's milk!", Dr. Ronning said to much laughter and applause. "I'm sure you can guess who won the election!"

Now that I look back, I blush at my audacity to confront our College president about not being invited for lunch! However I am glad I was brazen enough, for it was the turning point for me to realise that life's important lessons are not only gleaned from books, but from an active participation in events around us.

Gan Chau