Richard C. Train and Kha Nay Ung Train Collection, 1970-2023 (Scattered), and undated

Summary

Creator:

Train, Richard C.

Abstract:

This is collection of oral history interview cassettes of Richard C. “Chit” Train, transcriptions of the one and only oral history interview with Kha Nay Ung Train, a draft outline of book chapters all by Joan Shippers Memering, and a few related materials.

Extent:

6.25 cubic ft. (in 13 boxes)

Language:

English

Authors:

Collection processed and finding aid created by Marian Matyn

Background

Scope and Content:

This is collection of mostly oral history interview cassettes of Richard C. “Chit” Train, transcriptions of the one and only oral history interview with Kha Nay Ung Train, and draft outline of book chapters all by Joan Shippers Memering. There are also a few related newspaper clippings (copies) of Cambodian refugees in mid-Michigan, including one by Memering, a cassette of This Shattered Land by Jim Laurie [and Pamela Hill, who is not listed in the credits], a documentary of the destruction of Cambodia, 1970-1979, by the Khmer Rouge Regime and the Cambodian Famine, 1979-1980. The slides are all topically related. About half the slides are from a slide presentation titled Kampuchea: it’s People, Land and Culture by Asia Resource Center, Ontario, 1980. Kampuchea was the Cambodian state, 1975-1979, under the Khmer Rouge, the Communist Party of Kampuchea. The collection is organized alphabetically, chronologically, and by format. he collection is in very good condition.

The oral history interview cassettes includes black and white cassettes. The black cassette tapes are written on in pen or marker, while white cassettes have typed labels, so the black cassettes were the initial recordings and the white cassettes appear to be a master copy as they are not edited. For most dates there are both black and white cassettes, but for some dates there are only cassettes of one color.

Besides the Trains, Joan interviewed other Cambodian refugees: Meng Leng [Phou], Heng Suy Keang, who was called Lim Son Seak, Tan Chen Fu, Ing May, and Din Leng, who are discussed in her draft book chapter. For more information about them, please see the Joan Shipers Memering Papers finding aid.

There is also one folder of correspondence and between the Trains and Joan and one folder of materials about Richard C. Train.

Processing Note: A folder of a few mailing envelopes and a duplicate transcription were returned to the donors as specified on the donor form.

Biographical / Historical:

Biography:

Richard C. “Chit” and Kha Nay UngTrain:

Richard C. “Chit” Train had a happy life in Battambang until his family lost their business when he was fourteen years old. He was an educated man. In 1971 Battambang had a lot of tension between Vietnamese and Chinese. Sensing the onset of war, the family sent money out of the country, but decided to stay. Chit and his business partner, Hong Seng, were kidnapped by Khmer Rouge for four days. He was later shot in the back. After recovering he married Kha Nay (sometimes spelled Khanay). Together they had a son, Bakim. Chit worked full-time as a bill collector and salesman for his mother-in-law’s brown sugar business. After 1972, business became increasingly difficult as food passed between Battambang and Phnom Penh, a difficult route, where bridges were blown up and supplies were stolen on a regular basis. Bribes were necessary to get supplies through check points. In April 1975 the Khmer Rouge invaded Battambang, looting stores and driving people out. Chit and Kha Nay’s family fled. People were driven from temples and homes. Dead bodies were everywhere. Afterwards, everyone worked in fields harvesting rice which they were not allowed to eat. Thousands starved. Bakim died in 1977. Between 1977 and 1982 Chit cut wood, traveled between different towns, and was quite ill. There was terrible starvation by early 1978. He recalled a young girl’s organs being taken out of her body and eaten after she died. Between May and September 1978 martial law was established. Kha Nay and Chit left Sisophon for Nimith in 1979 in an attempt to get closer to the border with Thailand. About May 8, 1983 they finally arrived in Thailand. They flew to Mount Pleasant in 1979 and were sponsored by St. Mary’s University Parish. Train, age 34, was listed as a six wheel-truck driver, and Kha Nay, age 31, was listed just as his “wife”. Train Chit was one of several Cambodian refugees Joan Shipers Memering interviewed in her Cambodia Project. She usually referred to Richard as “Chit.”

The Train family later moved to Oakland, California, where they developed a successful donut business. In 2023 they visited Central Michigan University to see a memorial bench on the east side of the Park Library building which they purchased in honor of Joan Shipers Memering.

Joan Shipers Memering:

On January 24, 1945 Joan C. Shipers was born. Her grandmother, who was Ukrainian, witnessed the murder of her entire family at an early age. Later, she came to New York City as a refugee at the age of fourteen. Because someone had helped her grandmother, Joan decided to help other refugees.

Joan earned a B. A. in English from Bowling Green State University (1966), and master’s degrees in both English and Speech from Central Michigan University (CMU), in 1973 and 1979, respectively. She also took graduate studies in English-as-a-second language; Latin American Studies; Spanish; Reading; and Supervision of Instruction.

After graduation, Joan worked as a teacher in the Peace Corps in Colombia, 1967-1968. She also taught at The Columbus School, a private American-Colombian School, 1968-1969; at Hodge Elementary School in Cleveland, Ohio, 1970-1971; and at West Intermediate Junior High in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, 1974-1975. Also, Joan taught Freshman Composition, English, Journalism, and Speech courses in the English and Journalism departments of CMU, 1975-1990, and at Delta College in 1974. Joan was recognized by both her colleagues and students as being a gifted, caring teacher who made a positive, significant difference in their lives.

From 1979 through 1987 Joan wrote numerous articles on a wide variety of topics for Mount Pleasant area newspapers including the Buyer’s Guide, the Morning Sun, and the Isabella County Herald, in which she had a weekly column called “My Two Cents,” 1992-1993. Some of her articles were also published in the Saginaw News. Joan also wrote a number of articles for CMU’s Information Services newsletter in 1985. All of her articles showed her excellent research and writing skills as well as her humanity and concern about other people.

Because of her interest in refugees, Joan became the Coordinator of the Mid-Michigan Refugee Action Committee, which did extensive legal work and writing on behalf of Asian refugees and new Asian immigrants, in 1979. While working with the refugees, Joan befriended many of them. She conducted oral interviews with them, recording them on tapes, while taking extensive notes. Joan later transcribed the information from the tapes into typed notes. From the typed notes, Joan wrote articles and several partial drafts of a book. Although she tried a number of different times and approaches, she did not complete a full draft of a book or get it published.

With her work on the committee and the oral interviews she conducted, a number of her articles from 1979 through 1980 focused on Indochinese refugees, especially Cambodians. Joan wrote vividly about what they had suffered, the type of culture shock they experienced in refugee camps and in the U.S., and how they adapted to their new lives. Many Indochinese, mostly Cambodian, refugees came to the mid-Michigan area through the efforts of the Mid-Michigan Refugee Action Committee volunteers and the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services program through Immanuel Lutheran Church in Mount Pleasant.

Probably through her work at CMU, Joan met Professor Willard D. “Dean” Memering. They were married in Robinson Hall on the CMU campus in 1973. They did not have any children. On June 26, 2004 Joan died of cancer in Mount Pleasant. She was survived by her husband, Willard D. “Dean” Memering For more information on Dean, please see the Joan Shipers Memering Papers finding aid.

Acquisition Information:

Acc# 77767, 77816

Arrangement:

Arrangement is alphabetical, chronological, and by format.

Subjects

Click on terms below to find any related finding aids on this site.

Subjects:

Oral history--Michigan.
Khmer (Southeast Asian people)--Southeast Asia.
Cambodia-Vienamese Conflict, 1977-1991--Refugees.
Political refugees--United States.

Names:

Central Michigan University. Dept. of English.
Mid-Michigan Refugee Action Committee.
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service.
Train, Richard C.
Train, Kha Nay Ung.
Memering, Joan Shipers.
Memering, Dean, 1936-2006.
Heng Suy Keang.
Meng Leng Phou.
Nay Lay.
Gau Cheng Sun.
Lim Chun Fan.

Places:

Mount Pleasant (Mich.)--History.
United States--Foreign relations--Cambodia.
Cambodia--Foreign relations--United States.