Personal Memories of Fafeng Li  (October 31, 2002)

By Deborah Neher

In my research lab, I like to establish a family atmosphere, especially for international students who are thousands of miles away from home. Li and I met weekly for one-on-one discussions related to research and professionalism. He also spent time in our home. He especially enjoyed walks around our yard to see how many plants he could identify. He enjoyed learning how to pronounce the many English words he had read in books. He recognized them in writing, but had never heard many of them pronounced. The last one he was practicing was ‘squirrel’. I told him that I was tired of the squirrels digging and destroying flower bulbs in my yard.

Li was an introvert. Roberta was an extrovert. Li understood those words. Roberta would make suggestions to help Li adjust to America and our University. Because he was quiet, it seemed he might not have an opinion or strong feeling about something. Initially, he said ‘Yes’ to everything whether he understood or not, even when we asked if he understood what we were saying. Later, he learned to say simply ‘No’, which later turned into ‘No, I don’t think so!’. Another charming phrase was ‘and another one’ when he had a series to questions to ask me.

One thing Li and I had in common was our agricultural upbringing. Li was born in Langshan County in Shandong Province of China. He grew up in a remote agricultural village. He was a farm boy, learning to work hard at a young age. He would boast that he could lift over 200 pounds with his lean 145-pound body. He also had the distinction as a Javalin champion in college. Not only was he strong, but agile. For one of his jobs, he volunteered to make daily climbs to the top of a tree for daily climate measurements.

Li was a pioneer. He was the first person in his village to complete a college education, his M.S. degree, or leave the country. In his village, it is unusual for people to complete high school. He attended a boarding school for high school. Later, he was admitted and earned a B.S. degree in Agronomy at Shandong Agricultural College. He went to Beijing for his M.S. degree at the Chinese Agricultural University. We started corresponding in spring 2000 with an anticipated arrival of Fall 2000. He was persistent…and on the third try, his visa came through and he was able to arrive in December 2000. 

Li met Haiying after he finished his M.S.; she had been a student at the same university. They were extremely close. They were married about 2 years ago, just before he arrived in the US. He was lonely without Haiying and talked her into joining him by July 2001. He bragged to me about how independent and strong Haiying is. She had managed to live alone in Beijing and work at the taxi company, both, which were brave endeavors for a young woman.

Li took care of himself. He grew up on a vegetarian diet and refused any corruption on our part for sweets or desserts. He religiously consumed his self-prepared meals of rice, vegetables and fruit. He was proud of himself after running the 3-4 miles from his apartment to the lab during holiday breaks when the buses didn’t operate. He would inhale and smile, exclaiming ‘It’s good exercise!’

Li took care of other people. When I would return from a business trip, he would say “Dr. Neher, you are tired and need rest.”  He was compassionate for other people. He was always there to help. I would be carrying a load of books and he would take them away from me and carry them for me. He was the first to volunteer when someone needed some assistance. We started to tease him that he needed to help himself and get his own work done rather than do everyone else’s.

Li lived a simple and frugal life. He came with one small suitcase of belongings. I offered to purchase him his own laboratory coat, when he considered pure luxury. He wanted to recycle and reuse supplies in the laboratory, and not be too demanding. I had to beg him to request that I purchase supplies for his research, and to please photocopy reprints for his own collection rather than restrict his access solely to the internet. I had to convince him to splurge and buy a new pair of glasses when his frames and lenses broke. He kept telling me he could see fine. But but reading at 2” distance and spending long durations at the microscope are not comfortable!  He saved him money to call Haiying in China, and bring her to the US. He bought his first TV and VCR for her. He bought her a car.

Li was conscientious and a hard-worker. He never took a vacation despite my offers. He asked permission, even for an afternoon to find an apartment or shop for groceries and prepare food at home.

I served as a cultural broker for Li. I taught him how to use the computer to generate graphical illustrations, spreadsheets, and statistical software. His last achievement was to create a figure with six graphs on one page! I also taught him how to use online library databases and store his records in a personal bibliographic database, gave him books, coached him on how to ask other professors for advise and assistance in areas that I was uncertain of, how to think and work independently on a research project that there were no pat answers for.  Li loved the internet. He would spend hours each day reading news in Chinese. He loved basketball. He reported scores for all the Brazilian regional and national soccer teams every Monday morning. He would start his e-mail messages, as he would answer the telephone, “Dear Dr. Neher, Hi, this is Li. I have a question.”

We talked about learning curves. He was learning a whole new culture, spoken English, new research organisms. He was at the beginning of the curve. By the end, he was making leaps ahead. He was requesting lab meetings, requesting opportunities to learn techniques on other people’s projects so he could learn as many methods as possible.

I feel privileged to have known Li and have him be a part of my life. He was a kind and generous soul. He will always be a bright white light for me.

I would like to conclude with some phrases that Li wrote in his statement of purpose when he applied for his doctorate degree at University of Toledo

“After a long way of academic study in the universities and a period of research work in the institute, I find that my professional interest is about microbiology and microbial ecology, especially in the field of plant-microbes ecology, and my professional goal is to be a biologist in this area – this is my dream…..I read lots of scientific papers, listened to all sorts of reports, joined some academic discussions, and did research works diligently. During this period, I learned many techniques…..several papers had been published. I felt I like a bee that suddenly found a big garden full of beautiful flowers. I was only busy flying and gathering the honey. Three years studies laid solid foundation in both practice and theory for my future academic study….

As time goes by, I found that I need more than I had learned. I must give full play to all my intelligence and try to go further in the way of science, to make my dream flower bigger. Considering the advanced technology and the scientific prowess of the faculty in your group, I believe pursing my Ph.D. study in your group will be my best choice. Especially, Dr. Deborah Neher’s academic achievements and ambitious research schedule deeply impressed me. I am very interested in his study program.

Of course, after finishing my study I will be sure to come back to my homeland. I grow up on this land, my body and soul are all soaked with her fragrance. I love this land so deeply no matter whether it’s wealthy or poor. It’s where my dream comes from and should finally belongs to.”