With his father, Jimmy, left, Gov. Gary Locke poses with children Dylan and Emily outside the governor's mansion in Olympia.
GARY LOCKE
From Chinese village to governor's mansion
Gov. Gary Locke made history by becoming the country's first Chinese-American to hold the position. Today, as he has done each Fourth of July for a decade, he will address the annual naturalization ceremony at Seattle Center. It means a lot to him, he says, as does an old framed photo of a house he displays in his office:
"This house is actually the house that my grandfather worked in as a servant boy shortly after he came over in the late 1800s as a teenager. It is literally one mile from here. I joked at my inauguration that it took my family 100 years to go one mile.
A large contingent of the Locke family came from the same rural village in China and settled in Olympia. After the racial tension here, some, including my grandfather, moved to Seattle. As with Chinese custom, he'd send money he earned back home, and made a few trips back and forth. He got married there and started a family, and eventually he brought them over.
COURTESY OF GARY LOCKE
Jimmy Locke, center, joined the Army after attending Garfield High School. He took part in the invasion of Normandy during World War II.
My dad was born in China and came over as a teenager. He went to Garfield High School and joined the Army. He was part of the Normandy invasion during World War II. After the war, he went to Hong Kong, married and brought my mom here. We lived in Yesler Terrace housing project for a while. We eventually bought a house on Beacon Hill, in a very multicultural community.
We grew up speaking Chinese at home, and I didn't learn English until about kindergarten, which was right at the time my mom was learning English to become a U.S. citizen.
We grew up with a lot of Chinese customs, an emphasis on learning and staying home and helping out. I'd see TV shows like 'Father Knows Best,' 'Ozzie and Harriet,' 'The Donna Reed Show,' and I'd wonder, how come Mrs. Cleaver wears a dress, high heels and pearl necklace while she is vacuuming the floor? How come my mom doesn't do that? Mr. Cleaver wears a coat and tie at the dinner table. How come my father doesn't do that? Are we not American?
My older siblings and I couldn't go to dances; you can't go out or go to friends' houses. There was a lot of tension between what my parents expected and were used to versus what I saw Caucasian and other classmates doing.
Mona (his wife) and I are Americans through and through, but we think it is important that people of all backgrounds and ethnic groups try to instill in their kids their culture and ethnicity. A blending of both worlds.
During my first year in office, I went on a trade mission to China and was able to visit the village where my grandfather and father were born. The whole village welcomed us. Inside the ancestral home on a wall were pictures of the entire Locke clan for the last 100 years. It was like stepping back in the 1800s. No indoor plumbing. It was so emotional for me.
It made me realize how fortunate we are to live in the U.S. and that my success was really part of the dreams and aspirations of the entire village. America has always been the beacon around the world of freedom, hope and opportunity, and families would sacrifice, scrimp and save and hope that someone in their family could make that trip.
That picture on the wall is a reminder of how far we've come."
GARY LOCKE
From Chinese village to governor's mansion
Gov. Gary Locke made history by becoming the country's first Chinese-American to hold the position. Today, as he has done each Fourth of July for a decade, he will address the annual naturalization ceremony at Seattle Center. It means a lot to him, he says, as does an old framed photo of a house he displays in his office:
"This house is actually the house that my grandfather worked in as a servant boy shortly after he came over in the late 1800s as a teenager. It is literally one mile from here. I joked at my inauguration that it took my family 100 years to go one mile.
A large contingent of the Locke family came from the same rural village in China and settled in Olympia. After the racial tension here, some, including my grandfather, moved to Seattle. As with Chinese custom, he'd send money he earned back home, and made a few trips back and forth. He got married there and started a family, and eventually he brought them over.
COURTESY OF GARY LOCKE
Jimmy Locke, center, joined the Army after attending Garfield High School. He took part in the invasion of Normandy during World War II.
My dad was born in China and came over as a teenager. He went to Garfield High School and joined the Army. He was part of the Normandy invasion during World War II. After the war, he went to Hong Kong, married and brought my mom here. We lived in Yesler Terrace housing project for a while. We eventually bought a house on Beacon Hill, in a very multicultural community.
We grew up speaking Chinese at home, and I didn't learn English until about kindergarten, which was right at the time my mom was learning English to become a U.S. citizen.
We grew up with a lot of Chinese customs, an emphasis on learning and staying home and helping out. I'd see TV shows like 'Father Knows Best,' 'Ozzie and Harriet,' 'The Donna Reed Show,' and I'd wonder, how come Mrs. Cleaver wears a dress, high heels and pearl necklace while she is vacuuming the floor? How come my mom doesn't do that? Mr. Cleaver wears a coat and tie at the dinner table. How come my father doesn't do that? Are we not American?
My older siblings and I couldn't go to dances; you can't go out or go to friends' houses. There was a lot of tension between what my parents expected and were used to versus what I saw Caucasian and other classmates doing.
Mona (his wife) and I are Americans through and through, but we think it is important that people of all backgrounds and ethnic groups try to instill in their kids their culture and ethnicity. A blending of both worlds.
During my first year in office, I went on a trade mission to China and was able to visit the village where my grandfather and father were born. The whole village welcomed us. Inside the ancestral home on a wall were pictures of the entire Locke clan for the last 100 years. It was like stepping back in the 1800s. No indoor plumbing. It was so emotional for me.
It made me realize how fortunate we are to live in the U.S. and that my success was really part of the dreams and aspirations of the entire village. America has always been the beacon around the world of freedom, hope and opportunity, and families would sacrifice, scrimp and save and hope that someone in their family could make that trip.
That picture on the wall is a reminder of how far we've come."
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