Art was in the car with me driving down to LA two times after the San Francisco dragonboat tournament in 2005 and 2006. In 2005, I was still relatively new to the team and I didn't know Art very well. He was a little quiet and a few years younger than me, but I found him very easy to talk on our drive home.
That first year, it was Chuck, Daryle, Art and I in the car. Through Art, I learned all about the team, including how it got started, about his family, and how he was related to the Cheng family. Art shared with all of us that he was cousins with Leon Jason, and Karen, that Leon and Wynne had been high school sweethearts, that their marriage had been on a TV show, and that he had a younger sister in high school. I learned that Jason and Leon had formed the team 8 years ago and that Greg had come up with the name. Art basically charted out the LARD family tree to me during that drive home, as I had no idea that so many people on LARD were related! I was also surprised to learn that Art was one of the earliest members of the team and i was impressed he'd stayed on throughout all these years.
That second year, it was Art, Daryle, Jackie, Sophie, Chuck and I in the van driving home from San Francisco. This time, the talk turned to dating and relationships. We teased him a little about what he'd do if Megan got a boyfriend, and whether he'd be the overprotective big brother who beat up on the poor guy. We also talked about how his school was going and what he hoped to do with his degree when he graduated.
Through these trips and the three years we were on LARD together, I got to know Art as a soft-spoken, kind person. He was always an easy person to get along with, and just a nice person all around. He was genuinely liked by everyone, and considering how kind and mild-mannered he was, it's not surprising that people had nothing but good things to say about Art.
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