6. Collection of Mrs. Pearl Wu 楊碧珠女士的收藏

Articles

City of Austin History Center link: https://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/taro/aushc/00422/ahc-00422.html

August 22, 1974 Peter was leaving for America to attend the Ph.D. program at UT Austin. Pearl was 8 months pregnant with Chen-Chen and saw him off at the Taipei airport in Taiwan

March 5,1975 Pearl held an 11 months old daughter, Chen-Chen, while her whole family came to airport to see them off (1)

March 5,1975 Pearl’s whole family came to airport to see her off (2)

2019 Austin Home top from left: Chen-Chen, Roger, Ryan, Jennifer bottom from left: Maxwell, Rosalind, Pearl, Peter, Edison, Kepler

Personal Statement as the 2010 Director of the Southern Region of NATWA (North American Taiwanese Women Association)

Pearl Wu

I was born in Tainan, Taiwan and grew up in Taipei. After graduating from Taipei Medical College with a degree in pharmacy, I worked at the Taiwan Health Administration for 2 years. Then in 1974, I accompanied my husband Peter to the University of Texas at Austin, Texas where he was a graduate student. We’ve been in Austin ever since and it’s become our second hometown for more than 35 years now.

We joined the Austin Taiwanese Association (ATA) almost as soon as we arrived. At that time, there were not that many members. Since we were so few, a lot of work needed to be done and I tried to help out wherever needed. It didn’t matter if it was as simple as preparing food and setting up chairs or more complex like organizing and running events. I even helped to draw up the ATA by-laws. When it became difficult to get people to serve as officers, both Peter and I volunteered and over the years we’ve held the positions of President, Vice President, and Director.

For the second generation Taiwanese Americans living in Austin, Taiwan is a very foreign and faraway place and they lack the opportunity to explore and understand their own culture. Therefore I tried to establish a Taiwanese Language School that ran for several years. I was happy when the students would speak even a few words of Taiwanese. I also ran a Taiwanese speech contest and donated the cash rewards quite a few times. But my greatest accomplishment in this regard is that my two grown-up children, now about 35 years old, still communicate with me in Taiwanese.

I always miss and love my motherland Taiwan so as soon as NATWA published a calendar with Taiwan as the subject, I immediately helped with the sales and distribution of it myself here in Austin every year, even now. Five years ago I founded the Austin Taiwanese Women’s Association and organized TEAM TAIWAN to participate in Susan G. Komen Race for Cure to help promote Taiwan. To this day I look forward to any opportunity to help promote and become involved with Taiwan. (01-19-2010)

2010 北美洲台灣婦女會(NATWA) 南區理事簡介

楊碧珠

生於台南鄉下長於台北, 所以我的台語既有南腔亦有北調. 台北醫學院藥學系畢業後, 在衛生署上了幾年班 . 1974年隨夫婿到AUSTIN, TEXAS留學, 從此離不開AUSTIN, 一住到今日, 三十多年來確是 ”他鄉為故鄉”. 一到AUSTIN便參於台灣同鄉會活動, 早期的同鄉會成員不多, 熱心的更少, 所以那方面缺人, 便做什麼, 由搬桌椅, 煮菜, 製作並主持節目, 到制訂及修改會章等, 也因此我們夫婦先後擔任數屆會長, 副會長,及理事. 住在AUSTIN這偏遠的異域深深感到第二代對台灣的陌生及隔閡, 就辦了幾年台語學校, 也舉辦了數屆有獎金的台語演講比賽. 可安慰的是自己兩個兒女至今三十多歲還是用台語和我交談. 因為熱愛故鄉台灣, NATWA一開始印製以台灣為主題的月曆, 便開始在這小城獨自推銷或贈送NATWA的月曆至今. 五年前創立AUSTIN台灣婦女會, 召集同鄉及UT- AUSTIN的學生組成”TEAM TAIWAN”參加 Susan Komem Race for Cure的活動, 同時可為台灣宣傳. 我日常喜歡由電腦網路看鄭弘儀的”大話新聞”論壇, 相信必有同好. (01-19-2010)