Ewu Grads Hear Lesson From Locke Knowledge, Wisdom Not The Same, He Says

Gov. Gary Locke’s grandfather worked in Olympia as a houseboy in exchange for English lessons after immigrating to Washington nearly 100 years ago.

That was the beginning of a chain of family sacrifices that helped Locke become the first Chinese American governor in the nation.

Locke told the story of his family’s journey to 2,209 bachelor’s and master’s degree recipients at Eastern Washington University on Saturday morning.

“My parents worked hard,” Locke told the audience at Woodward Field. “They denied themselves the smallest luxuries - sleeping in on Saturday morning, going to the movies. They denied themselves those pleasures so the children in the family could have a better life. So I could have a better life.”

Reminiscing on his own college graduation from Yale, Locke said it was a milestone because “It was the first time I ever remember my parents closing their mom-and-pop grocery store.”

Locke’s grandfather traveled back and forth between America and China until he had enough money to move his family to the U.S. when Locke’s father was a teenager. Locke’s father served in the U.S. Army in World War II and was part of the Normandy invasion. After the war, he went back to China, married and moved to Seattle to raise a family.

“My mom learned English at the same time I was learning English in kindergarten, but she was learning English to become a United States citizen,” Locke said.

Not long after Locke was elected governor in 1996, he and his entire family made a pilgrimage to their ancestral village, Jilong, in the Guangdong province of southern China.

“It was like stepping back into the 1800s. In our tiny village of about 150, people still use chamber pots and raw sewage runs in open gutters along the walkways that connect the tightly spaced dwellings,” Locke said. “My election as a governor in the United States of America represents the success of our entire clan and the affirmation of all that America promises.”

Locke told the graduates that, in one respect, they’re finishing something, and in another, they are just getting started.

“Graduates, you now have the keys to ignite your life. But remember, a college education gives you knowledge, not wisdom,” Locke said.

Wisdom, Locke said, is balancing self-reliance with compassion for others; respect for the elderly and opportunity for children; understanding that technology is an improvement, but not the highest form of human achievement.

Locke pointed to pioneers Rosa Parks, Alexander Graham Bell and Bill Gates as examples of the kind of impact one person can make.

“You, too, will change the world. The ethical choices you make will determine what kind of world our children and grandchildren will live in. You will be the ones to decide how to use the genetic code, now that we have broken into it. To determine what to do with the wealth of knowledge our society has amassed,” Locke said.

Locke quoted Nelson Mandela: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.”

Locke highlighted outstanding graduates Gianna Hammer of Spokane, Tanya Jones of the Spokane Tribe of Indians, and David Franklin, an 84-year-old master’s graduate.

After sending four children to college, Franklin went back to get his GED and bachelor’s degree and graduated with a master’s degree in social work.

Jones earned a history degree and will pursue a degree in government to become a public historian.

And Hammer has a full tuition and cost of living scholarship for the Ph.D. program in immunology at the University of California at Berkeley.

“Faith in your purpose, confidence in your abilities, and a willingness to work hard, and the future is yours,” Locke told the graduates. “Because as Eleanor Roosevelt said, `The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of the dreams.”’

Locke was presented with the President’s Medal by EWU President Stephen Jordan.