My Uncle Pauls passing is one of those major life events that has significant meaning for both myself and my family. American born and growing up in Riverside California, my siblings and I didnt know any American born Chinese adults, just immigrants. My paternal Uncle Poy lived with us but he too was an immigrant, although somewhat acculturated. As a young child I had no real idea or experience that my mother had Canadian born siblings until Uncle Paul and his family showed up at our house, having driven down from Canada. He along with Aunt Josie and cousins Brenda, Wayne and Wendy were a real treat for us. We marveled at Uncle Pauls bilingualism where his Canadian accented English sounded so fluent yet he could speak my parents Toisanese dialect. He was young, funny and engaging. He had a sparkle about him that drew us to him. He was generous and very filial and respective towards my parents and especially to my mother who was left by her mother in China at age 5. When we made our trip to Vancouver, we were hosted and entertained by Uncle Paul and our Canadian relatives. While my maternal grandmother, Po Po, was from the old country and like my mother, Uncle Paul and his siblings, my aunts and uncle were modern and Western. I recall thinking, it would be nice to live in Vancouver with such relatives rather than be so isolated in Riverside being the only Chinese family in the downtown area. Throughout the years, Uncle Paul proved to be a regular visitor to see my parents and after my father died, to visit with my mother. I so appreciated it after we all left Riverside to pursue our own lives and careers never to return. Uncle Paul was a regular visitor to Las Vegas and went with my parents who had that old Chinese desire to see if they had fate and luck on their side when it came to gambling. We also learned that Uncle Paul was a wheeler dealer and a good businessman. Having been one of the first Chinese CPAs in Vancouver, and a leader in Vancouver Chinatown, for me, he demonstrated that you could have one foot in the old world and also be modern and Western educated. On his regular trips to China, he also assisted with establishing our familys ownership of a building in Guangzhou that my father had purchased in the late 1940s. Until then, we didnt know anything about the property legally and even who to talk to about it. We finally established ownership years later but Ill always remember his efforts on our behalf. As we and Uncle Paul got older we didnt see each other much. He did come down for my parents funerals. He got more and more eccentric but he always had that wry smile and you could tell he was always thinking. Now its our turn to attend a funeral, his. I look back on his life and I see the Chinese Canadian experience, much like the Chinese American experience. Where Chinese go in the world, where they have their children and establish themselves, get educated and become successful, that was my Uncle Paul. Thanks for the experience and relationship and I hope my children remember something about you through me.