Art 4 You

 

One day, soon after Art's passing, I was on my way into Starbuck's with my head hanging low.  I couldn't believe Art, a dear teammate, was taken away in a blink of an eye soon after losing a beloved family member.  My heart ached for the Cheng & Yeh families.  As I walked up to Starbuck's there was a van parked right next to the staircase, a smile was brought to my face when I saw the license plate.  Art's spirit lives on.  He is truly missed.  Lori (LARD)

 

 

California

ART4UUU

 

 



          

 

Arthur Yeh

 

I was very fortunate to have met Arthur earlier this year through Matthew Long (Art’s college pal).  Matt had recommended Art for the internship position with the recording department at Cartoon Network Studios.

During his interview, Art was so laid back and easy to talk to, I knew right away that he was the intern for us.  I remember telling him, jokingly, that part of the intern's responsibility would be washing the recording engineer's car, going on coffee runs, and cleaning up the recording studio after the messy actors left.  He just smiled and said, "sure no problem."

As an intern, Art immediately demonstrated excellent work ethics and use of discretion.  He was a fast learner, well organized, and completed every assignment with detail and care.  Often, I would try to convince him to take a break or go home early, but he would just keep on working.  When he finished a task, he would check back to see if there was anything more that he could help out with.  He was a pleasure to work with, a manager's dream come true. 

While sitting in on the recording sessions, Art had a chance to meet a lot of voice over actors.  He enjoyed listening to their banter and was amazed at how talented they were.  After the session, Art would walk out with a smile. 

When Art returned for a second internship, he would stop by to say hello and I would tease him, saying "better not forget about us here in recording."  Most interns come and go, but Art was someone we wanted to stay.  I know that had a position opened up, he would have been hired, and he would have quickly become a successful artist. 

Even though I only knew Art for a short time, I will never forget his warm smile and cheerful disposition.  He will be missed by us all.  

 

Karie Gima Pham

Cartoon Network Studios

I Remember When We...

met - wait acutally I don't...was it in class or were you originally a friend's friend?

played magic cards during lunch time in junior high because all the cool kids were doing it

went to frank and sons to buy fan subbed anime and when we played it it would say "if you bought this you got ripped off"

shared an AOL account since it was so expensive then would split what hours we could sign on during the day (anime43196 & ayeh97710)

left our computers on all night to download 15mb anime intros and endings and then swap our collections on zip disks

brought our computers and monitors to Mike or Eugene's house to play AVP, then starcraft, then warcraft III

would spend hours and hours at James games playing D&D Tower of Doom, Virtual On, Street Fighter Alpha 3, Street Fighter 3, X-men vs Street Fighter, Puzzle Fighter, Pocket Fighter, Project Justice, Marvel vs Street Fighter, Marvel vs Capcom, and finally Marvel vs Capcom 2

left to Rowland Heights for lunch always believing we could make it back in an hour, and then when it takes more then an hour we'd just ditch the rest of the day

carpooled to senior prom and ate at Waters in Irvine - which was the highlight of prom since the actual prom was in a tent...on the beach...and it smelled like seaweed everywhere

all drive down to Irvine Boomers! (forgot the original name before Boomers bought them out) right after high school graduation to play laser tag

all gathered during spring/winter/summer breaks to hang out during college

lived together the summer of my last year of college and staying up all night playing DOTA and then laughing at Romes for watching Prince of Tennis

went on your "one meal a day" food run of TWO six dollar burgers......

went dragon boating for a month - and my arms finally said no more

went on a double date at the Brea mall with the girl you met at the beach bonfire and her friend

ate lunch twice a week when you went to CSF - not because you wanted to get annoyed by me all the time but because my office was so close to CSF and you wanted free parking

talked about starting a World of Warcraft comic strip, I think you still have all of our notes and ideas

gathered for the "Halo 3" lan nights at my place and you would get forced to use the crappy joystick

 

last talked online after you came back from Hawaii about the new World of Warcraft patch and how hunters own now that they removed the dead zone

 

parted ways the day of your accident - and I will always remember and cherish these moments that we've shared

 

Daniel Hsu

The Art of Art

 

Arthur was a great guy with an equally great appetite.  One story which remains LARD legend is the time Art and Will both tried to eat the Motherlode sandwich at Claim Jumper after practice.  These were the days LARD still aspired to live up to the name.  Of course the team turned it into a raucous competition and encouraged two of our youngest paddlers to eat through the pain.  They obliged.  Will was youthfully enthusiastic in his approach while Art was quiet and methodical in devouring what we are certain was a three foot sandwich.  This was the first time we recognized this talent in Art and in the spirit of the team both young men emerged equally victorious.

 

We have shared many family-style meals since with Art, and those familiar with his skills had little doubt about where the last traces of food were going.  Art was a dutiful friend.

 

Yes, Art’s stomach size is now well documented, but his heart had it beaten.  He was kind enough to laugh at the peanut gallery’s jokes and to befriend all new-comers.  He was generous with his time, offering assistance such as rides to anyone in need.  He never complained about anything and remained easy-going under all circumstances.  He never once walked past the Kromhouts unloading their conestoga without extending an offer of help, and he provided good company for the walk to the tree.  It seems like Art was always under that tree and it will be sadly strange without him.

 

We hope Arthur had some inkling of how loved and respected he truly was.  He was a wonderful friend, an ideal teammate and humorous cousin-in-law-in-law, or something like that.  Arthur, you will be missed and we love you.  We’ll see you under the tree.

 

Greg & Wileen

 

Admiring Art

What Arthur Meant to Me

 

Today I come before you to tell you what Arthur meant to me.  I met Arthur back in Jr. High when everybody was in this Magic the Gathering craze and I think that's how a lot of our friends came together.  But it wasn't till High School when Arthur and I got a little closer.  I can't recall exactly how or why we became better friends and more than just an opponent in a card game.  Maybe it was the anime and comics we loved watching and reading or maybe the same group of friends just stuck together and the bond was made then.  But one thing I'm sure of is that ever since I knew of Arthur's talents in drawing I've admired him ever since.  It was such an honor and pleasure to be able to flip through his sketch book and seeing everything he could do with a pencil and blank piece of paper.  I've loved drawing ever since I watched my first Disney movie when I was young.  And what Art could do was everything that I wanted to be able to do.  But it doesn't stop there. 

During High School, among our friends, I think it was always Art and I who had a love for drawing and graphics.  We discovered the program Photoshop and spent hours creating digital art works on it.  Then we started to learn about 3D animation on a program called 3dmax.  But through it all Arthur was always better than me and I would admire his skills so much that I would go to him for inspiration or advice.  Another hobby we all had in High School was computers, oh how we loved our computers even till this day.  And of course spending countless hours on it we had to learn how to build a computer, fix a computer, and tackle any problems that came along with installing new hardware or software.  And of course when we couldn't figure out a problem and started to pull our own hair in frustration, we call Arthur.  Arthur would know what to do.  Arthur could save me from this wretched frustration.  And although it was true that Arthur knew the most about troubleshooting he didn't always have the answer.  But on those special occasions he would calm me down and start to figure out the problem with me.  If he couldn't do it over the phone he would have no problem coming down to my place to work on it together.  Sometimes we would even go hours past midnight just so we could figure out the problem.  And going to bed that night each of us knew that it was a night well spent because we solved it.

After high school we all went our separate ways, pursuing our own dreams.  For some of us we did what we wanted to do and for the rest of us we did what we had to do.  And I can say not every one of our plans went according to.  I stayed in Upland and eventually Arthur found his way back here too.  But still, we all had our own paths to walk so it wasn't like we we're next door buddies after he came back to Upland.  But nonetheless we all still got together on occasions and would go out and watch a movie or have dinner.  He even introduced me to Dragon Boating which I enjoyed one summer.  And even though the experience was fun the only reason I agreed to get on that boat was because Art was there.  It was the same reason why I agreed to go on their crazy bike ride from Upland to the beach, which was nearly a 60 mile trip.  It was also then I found out that Arthur was in the Boy Scouts when he was younger.  Boy Scouts I joined but never got to continue after I moved to Upland.  Arthur was also a musician having studied violin and even played in an orchestra.  He finished college with a degree in Animation and even got to intern at Cartoon Networks.  He got to travel the world and visit places like France, Canada, Indonesia, and Hawaii.  Lastly, he has a huge loving family and even acquired a small army of friends that all loved him so much.  Arthur had so many talents and accomplished so much in his lifetime that I know for the rest of my life he will continue to inspire me and give me advice.

I had mentioned earlier that of all our friends I felt most in common with Art.  It was our interests that we bonded on and it is my admiration for him that I will continue to share a bond with him for the rest of my life.  For what he has accomplished in his lifetime I will spend the remainder of mine trying to even come close.

 

Excerpts from my journal

"It was only a few weeks ago I saw him come visit me at work and we were all laughing and chatting just like back when we were in high school.  I could hear his voice, see his face, and recall every memory of him and in every one of those memories he was always smiling.  I have never known him to be angry; he was always calm and cool.  Trustworthy, dependable, easy going, that was the Arthur I knew and it pains me to know that that is the Arthur we all have lost.  His families, his friends, we all miss him so much."

 

Kevin Chiang

Met Art in Jr. High – Became good friends during High School

Art: a friend and a teammate

My best memories of Arthur in high school are of sitting together at lunch by the office. I remember him laughing w/ Aaron and the other guys as they talked about whatever it was that they talked about. I just remember him always smiling. We really did want to go see him perform in Paris. We just couldn't find the venue. =P

Art and Mike came to visit me once freshman year of college. It was time for me to do laundry so i had a canvas bag stuffed w/ laundry at the foot of my bed. All I really remember from that trip is that there wasn't much room for 2 extra people to sleep in that room Art went to sleep that night leaning against that bag!

Part of what makes Arthur special to me is that he brought me to LARD. After college, i was looking around for dragonboat teams in the area. I ended up at the LARD page and low and behold, i saw Arthur in one of the pictures. I couldn't believe it. I called him up and asked him to bring me the next time he went to practice. Arthur gladly obliged. Within a month, I had recruited Aaron to the team and the three of us carpooled each week down to Long Beach.

I remember that summer Arthur would sometimes come out with Aaron and I to go bike riding in the afternoons. Those were interesting days because Arthur was so much better on a bike than either Aaron or I. We were dying and Art hadn't even broken a sweat. His smiling face (the picture of him and the UHaul) was a real treat on the bike ride this year. It was my first ride and that was on a long empty stretch. I was so tired. It was nice to see a friendly and happy face encouraging you to keep going to the next rest point.

I'm really going to miss him but I'm sure he'll always be smiling down on us and encouraging us to keep going.

Jessica Lee

Remembering Arthur Yeh

I first met Arthur when I joined LARD in the fall of 2002 after the Long Beach race for off-season paddling. I was new to the team and Arthur was one of the first people I got know on the team. At the time he was still attending UC Santa Cruz in northern California and, having moved from the Bay Area to the Los Angeles almost a year earlier, it was good to meet someone who was familiar with where I had come from. I remember that he was quiet and very kind and always looked out for the well-being of others. Every time I came to practice, he and Aaron were always the ones to greet me as I approached the LARD tree. I found it easy to talk with him, especially when it was so difficult to understand Matt and Yang’s humor, and he seemed to be the only one that seemed to understand me. He always had a very easy going and friendly demeanor. I think he was everyone’s friend and everyone was a friend to him.

 

About Arthur’s eating powers, I first got a chance to see how much he could eat in 2003 in Vancouver when I joined Art and OLee for a Brazilian BBQ dinner on Saturday night. Art was definitely OLee’s match. At the time, LARD was still more of a recreational team. Art again demonstrated his eating abilities two months later at Greenfield’s and has done so ever since.

 

I got a chance to see how much a true friend he was when I lost my wallet at the Vancouver airport in 2006, one hour before I was to fly out of Canada for home after ALCAN. We were late and the rest of our group had already ran through check-in and ahead to the gate. Art was with me and when I got to check-in, I found that my wallet was missing. Without the credit card I used to purchase my tickets, they would not check me in. I was standing there with my passport but without money or credit cards. Arthur could have checked-in and joined the others at the gate. I even told him he should go ahead and not miss the flight home. Without hesitation, he refused to check-in and he stayed with me. That was the kind of person he was. He was a true friend to a friend in need. We both missed our flights that night and since we both had little or no money, we sat in the airport until the airline check-in clerk finished his shift and was kind enough to offer us a lift back to the downtown Vancouver Hampton Inn where Art’s mom, sister Megan, and other teammates were staying to fly out the next morning.

 

When I read the emails that Thursday night, I was deeply shaken and I felt the sudden sadness that Art was gone, that a friend and such a kind and good person was gone. And now I will not see him and greet him again at the LARD tree. I will not get to talk and walk with him again. I will not get to paddle with him and see him in the dragon boat again. I will never forget him.

 

Rest in peace, Arthur, and thank you for being part of my life.

 

Jesse Wong

LARD