Jack Millar and sister Marilyn Hudson at the 2008 reunion. Jack sent me an e-mail below with this delightful story

 

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Bing, the Chinese Boss, always made a big deal of Chinese New Years. For starters, he always hosted a dinner for Hillcrest management (and others) at the Chinese cookhouse. I recall my Dad attending those. He always returned home late, telling us about some of the more exotic dishes that were offered, including bears-paw soup. He usually brought home a bag of leftovers, mostly the less exotic dishes. But the best part for the kids at Mesachie Lake was the next morning when Bing would show up at the school bus shelter with a big sack of raw sugar cane. Everybody got sticks of sugar cane, which we could share at school or save for later. It helped to have a pocket knife so the woody outside could be carved off and the inner sugar gnawed down to a pulp. I hadn’t seen raw sugar cane for decades, but a few years ago I spotted some in a local supermarket, in the exotic food section. A couple next to me thought it was one of those bamboo sticks that one might stick in a vase of water to watch the greenery sprout. I set them straight, as could any other kid from Mesachie Lake.

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