BIO
Ching Han Chee was born in a hospital in Manhattan (New York City), but he moved to Houston with his parents at a very young age. He attended Crockett Elementary School and Jesse H. Jones High School in Sunnyside, where he was part of the American Legion Club, was part of his school’s ROTC, and was the high school honor society’s president. After school, Ching Han Chee would help out at the grocery store his parents ran. Ching Han Chee would then go on to study at the University of Texas, where he earned his bachelor’s of science in Speech. He was also president of the Chinese Student Association. After graduating from the University of Texas, he went to law school at South Texas College of Law in Houston, and simultaneously began working as a school teacher. He continued teaching, first in Houston, and then at William B. Travis High School in Austin, Texas. He also began learning to work in real estate and construction, managing several apartments, and even traveling to China for trading business. He worked for several years as a systems engineer at Lockheed in California, and then moved back to Houston to teach, before retiring in 2006. This interview covers his experience growing up; first moving to Houston, his early education, and working for his parents store. It also covers his higher education and his career path working in several different jobs in several different cities. In addition, he discusses his family, his three children, and even some history, both Chinese and Chinese American, partially from his general knowledge and partially from his personal experiences.