747. 緬懷鄭寶鼎先生之餘/江正吉/2020/09

緬懷鄭寶鼎先生之餘

作者: 江正吉

循例一早起床就打開電郵，開始又一天的新生活。首先進入我眼睛傳遞到我腦中的電郵是：

On Sep 21, 2020, at 1:12 PM, 台美史料中心T. A. Archives <ta.archives.center@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear all,

I am sorry to pass the following message from Mrs. Cheng to you:

“Bob has passed away At 11:50 pm last night peacefully. We are sad but glad that he will go to god’s home and suffer no more pain. Thank you for comforting and caring me during this difficult time.”

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乍見寶鼎兄仙逝的悪耗，打從內心底的不捨。九月初才收到他的電郵（附件）還言及擴充台美史料中心的雄心勃勃，而今卻天人永隔，實在無法接受這樣突來的打擊。從接連好幾篇緬懷寶鼎兄的追思文章中，可想見他一生致力於推動台美人的各項有意義的活動，尤其是創辦「台美史料中心」更是出錢又出力。然而中心即將開花結果的當兒，他卻先走了，除了不捨之外，還是不捨。寶鼎兄在他事業成功之餘還為台美人的付出展現在追思的文章中，不用筆者在此錦上添花。筆者所想到的是「凡是成功的男人，他的背後一定有一位默默的女人支持著。」而寶鼎兄背後的女人正是他的賢內助- 錦雲姊。

相信與寶鼎兄夫婦較熟的朋友都知道他是一位剛毅木訥，不善於表達的男人，因此往往會有彼此間不瞭解或誤會之處。而相反的，錦雲姊卻是一位隨和又處處為旁人設想的賢女士，與之聊天給人有一股溫馨的感覺。所以她的人際關係相當好，彌補了先生的缺點。

再說寶鼎兄一家人與我們在NJ時就是好朋友，他們的兩位公子，Cliff and George 和我們兩個兒子，Michael and Jack 上下年紀，是很要好的朋友，經常一齊打球或sleep over。 Michael 還曾經在寶鼎兄的公司實習一個暑假。而我們大人也經常聚會聊天。

記得有一年五月中旬的文化節，WATAA ( Windsor Area Taiwanese American Association ) 社團（附註）要代表NJ 中部台美人去表演台灣原住民舞蹈，我們五、六十歲的男女四名，在表演前一個月就在寶鼎兄家的地下室，由一位台灣來 Princeton University 進修的原住民牧師親自教我們，每二、四、六日晚上勤練兩個小時。而每次練完後，錦雲姊的點心早就等著我們。而我們穿的原住民服也是錦雲姊和內人的傑作。

x———-x———-x———x———-x————x

十年 (2010) 前搬來北加州，我們也經常聯繫。在「台美史料中心」創辦之時，寶鼎兄來電希望我能加入他的團隊，幫忙在北加州宣導這十分有意義的活動給鄰近的台美人。感謝他的抬舉，隨即答應。之後，只要到 Laguna woods , 就去拜訪他們夫婦及史料中心辦公室，夫婦待我們十分親切。有一次我們到 LW 隨即與之聯繫，沒想到第二天早上錦雲姊竟然提著早餐來看我們，真感激她的設想周到。聊天之際才得知她才剛從車禍受傷復原，使我們更加珍惜這份深厚的友誼。好一位令我們感動的錦雲姊。

寶鼎兄的仙逝，著實令許多臺美人不捨。尤其是他一手創辦的「台美史料中心」更是我們旅外台美人思鄉心情的寄托與驕傲。

而今寶鼎兄業已安息主懷，逝者已矣，但盼錦雲姊節哀保重。相信兩位公子 Cliff and George 已經傳承寶鼎兄的事業，祝一切順利。两位公子也會好好孝順妳。

附註：

在 NJ 中部 Mercer County 的一個城市名叫 West Windsor, 當時的市長薛信夫先生是台灣來的留學生。寶鼎兄為了捧場（？）而創辦了 WATAA ( Windsor Area Taiwanese American Association ) 台美人社團。此社團每年主辦一次壘球錦標賽，我們倆家的兩個孩子就是當然的隊員。除外，該社團也提供獎學金給當地學校高中應屆畢業生申請。我們當地的台美人也經常代表該社團出外表演台灣原住民山地舞。

附件

附上寶鼎兄於九月一日發出的遺墨供所有台美人參考：

Date: September 1, 2020 at 8:23:18 AM PDT

To: undisclosed-recipients:;

Subject: T. A. Museum

Dear friends,

Having a T.A. Museum is a very important achievement and cornerstone for our 70 years history. We can use this landmark to present to our community friends and the world that T.A. Ethnic group is a unique minority group in American history and it is an outstanding immigration history in human beings. For many years, this has been my dream for future generations, and I hope it is your dream, too.

I had made my plans to spend my retirement years to work on this big project with T.A. community. It has to be entirely from our own T. A. resources; not involving U.S. government, in order to make our dream becomes reality.

Below are our current outlines for your reference and your input:

1. Name of the Project: T. A. Museum

2. Organization: T. A. Museum Institute

3. Human Resource: T. A. Community

4. Financial Resource: Donations from T. A. Community

5. Time Table: to be determined

6. Physical Size of Museum: 3 to 5 acres with a number of buildings

7. Location: in good neighborhood, prefer in South California (can be changed)

In the past, I have talked to a number of T. A. entrepreneurs. Their answer to this was “a good project”. They were interested in getting involved, but I was stuck because I did not have a concrete proposal, just talking. I am now ready. I will use our family financial resources as the “kick in” fund to purchase a 3 to 5 acres land and hire an architect to prepare a proposal suitable to present to our community to have serious discussion for this museum project.

We realize that this is a big project, we might not be able to see it in our life time, but we are eager to start.

Fortunately, we have started a smaller project building a T. A. Archives Center with an existing building (19,000 sq ft) on a one acre lot. We could either rebuild it to have a modern building with updated facilities, or remodel the interior to have a presentable Center for the T.A. community, the U.S. and the world.

We are now looking for a building architect to propose a model for your reference. Please let us know if you could recommend a suitable architect. Thank you for your attention.

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