Ding, Ruth Tang
丁鄧雲燕
(The following text is an excerpt from the book Chinese Americans in Irvine 1971-2021)
Ruth Ding received her Bachelor of Arts in Music with a double major in piano and voice from Arizona State University. Her graduate work in music was from the University of Southern California. She has been an activist and promoter of the arts and Chinese culture in Orange County for the past 55 years. She has produced many kinds of music, ethnic festivals and cultural programs in Southern California.
Ruth’s great grandfather came to the United States about the time of the American Civil War. He sailed across the Pacific Ocean on a small Chinese sampan. Ruth’s grandfather came to America and started a small grocery store in Arizona. He returned to China a rich man. From there he sent Ruth’s father to America for higher education. Ruth’s father graduated from the University of Washington in Seattle. On returning to China he married Ruth’s mother. Her family were merchants. Ruth’s father soon became a banker and treasurer for the city of Canton. However they lost all their money during the Japanese war. They tried starting a new life in America. They began very small, operating a Ma & Pa store in a small farming town of Gilbert, Arizona. There the family lived in the back of the grocery store, having only orange crates for chairs. Ruth’s father became the butcher and her mother became the cashier. All the children helped. Today Ruth still has her father’s butcher knife and butcher saw as remembrance. The town of Gilbert is now a part of the modern thriving metropolis of Phoenix, Arizona.
After graduating from Arizona State College, Ruth came to Southern California to study music at USC. There she met her husband, Lock Gee Ding, MD. They began by living in a small house raising 2 daughters and 2 sons while she taught piano. Her leadership and her love of music helped make her a Vice President of the Music Teacher Association of California and a Faculty Member of the National Guild of Piano Teachers for the American College of Musicians.
Ruth and her husband founded the Orange County Chinese Cultural Club in 1968 for Chinese Americans to integrate the cultural heritage of the East and West and to serve the community at large. She started a children’s choir. Out of these beginnings grew the Southern California Chinese Folk Dancers that have appeared on NBC-TV and other community programs, including the Asian segment of the Olympic Dance Festivals. She coordinated the Chinese Dynasty Fashion Show presented to benefit the Orange County Performing Arts Center and City of Hope. Each show featured costumes from a different Chinese Dynasty.
Ruth founded the Opera Ball in 1983. It became a yearly fundraiser in Orange County. It was the most anticipated and glamorous benefit at the time. To support the Orange County Performing Arts Center (renamed Segerstrom Center for the Arts later), Ruth produced the Moon Festival Gala in 1987 and the Orange County International Music and Dance Festival in 1988. Both events sold out at the 3000-seat Segerstrom Center for the Arts.
(以下文字摘錄自《爾灣華裔紀實1971-2021》一書)
有「橙縣表演藝術第一夫人」美譽的丁鄧雲燕 （Ruth Tang Ding），是橙縣有史以來，少數擠身主流文化圈的華裔慈善家，她曾參與籌建塞格斯仲藝 術中心（Segerstrom Center for the Arts），因熱心公益 而獲洛杉磯公共電視台 KCET 選為 2011 年加州多元 文化英雄獎得主。
2021 年丁鄧雲燕獲頒艾利斯島榮譽獎章（Ellis Island Medal of Honor），這項獎章的宗旨正契合她多 年來致力回饋社區，提升移民地位的初衷。丁鄧雲燕 的曾祖父是 19 世紀來美打工的第一批華人，開啟家族 四代先後移民美國的故事。
在廣州市保安前街一棟二樓洋房中生長的丁鄧雲 燕，幼年時生活優渥，父親鄧錫培（Paul Tang）早年 留學州立華盛頓大學（University of Washington），學 成歸國後在政府中擔任財務要職，也是一位銀行家。抗戰開始後，鄧錫培帶著一家老小逃難到香港，其中 包括年近九旬的老祖父。當時大多數難民都打算暫居 香港，等時局好轉就啟程返家，鄧錫培卻有意靠祖父 的關係，申請全家來美。
鄧錫培的祖父是家族中第一位跨海前往新大陸打 工的華僑，鄧錫培的父親及叔叔也都先後赴美淘金， 1882 年美國實行排華法案後，鄧錫培的父親隨著許多 華僑返回中國成家立業，他的叔叔則經由結婚取得美 國居留權。
抵達亞歷桑那州後，丁鄧雲燕全家以中日戰爭為 由，一再申請旅遊簽證延期，並開始在鳳凰城附近的 Gilbert 市經營雜貨店。珍珠港事變後，美國與中國並 肩作戰，於 1943 年取消了排華法案，但一年僅有 105 個移民名額給華人，鄧錫培透過熟識的亞歷桑那州聯 邦參議員 Carl Hayden 及眾議員 Richard Harless 不斷爭 取，終於在 1948 年由國會通過特別法案，准許鄧錫培 一家歸化美籍，這件事當時還登上鳳凰城英文報紙的 頭條新聞。
丁鄧雲燕的父親雖有美國大學學位，但受當年大 環境的限制，只能經營雜貨店、洗衣店或餐館，所幸 透過大學校友這層關係，結識聯邦參議員及眾議員， 他們一家人才能如願實現美國夢，所以她總是以這段 經歷告誡兒孫：「知識、學位不如人際關係重要。」
在獲得南加大音樂碩士後，丁鄧雲燕與華裔醫師 丁自立（Lock Gee Ding）結婚，1963 年遷到橙縣，育 有二子二女，曾任加州音樂教師協會副會長。當時橙 縣的音樂愛好者，必需驅車前往洛杉磯才有機會聆賞 現場音樂會，非常不便，丁鄧雲燕與一群朋友們，開 始推動在橙縣興建大型音樂廳，經過十年努力，直到 Henry Segerstrom 捐出五英畝土地，才落實了表演藝術 中心的夢想。Segerstrom Center for the Arts 於 1986 年 落成啟用，這些年來無數表演團體登上這座舞台，其 中也包括橙縣各公、私立學校的團體，促成表演藝術 多元化的蓬勃發展。
擅長策畫籌款活動的丁鄧雲燕，曾為多個非營利 組織募款，包括成立於 60 年代的橙縣中華文化協會， 70 年代為洛杉磯華埠服務中心，80 年代為塞格斯仲 藝術中心及太平洋歌劇團，90 年代為橙縣亞美老人服 務中心等公益團體成功籌款，推出一個接一個華麗盛 宴，其實是許多人的心血與才能凝聚而成。
當年為興建橙縣第一座大型表演廳，有人願意捐 出空置的商店作籌款晚會場地，在活動前幾天才發現 場地已經斷電，於是丁鄧雲燕突發奇想，決定以燭光 作為晚會主題，燭光晚會因而成為塞格斯仲藝術中心 的傳統。2019 年第 46 屆燭光晚會一夜籌得 279 萬美 元，見證了文化藝術在此地成長茁壯的歷程。