Douglas Ober:  

Computer programmer for 36 years before retirement. I’ve never quit a job in my life. Lost 2 due to corporate merger and one due to product sunsetting with severe departmental layoffs. Married 1975 to Nancy Donley from Manheim Central High School, divorced 1996. Two children, girl Emily, boy Jeremy, both live locally. I met my second wife on the Internet, Li Hua. We were married in February 2014 in Chengdu in Sichuan Province, China. Foreigners who wish to marry Chinese nationals must do it in a provincial capital in a government registry office. At least in 2014, they did. I have a step son in China, Li Yingming. My wife’s ex husband disappeared in the 2008 great Sichuan earthquake. We went on a bus ride through the county capital of Beichuan near the epicenter of the quake. The entire town was destroyed. Very Chinese response, they evacuated all the living and turned the town into a museum. According to plaques, at the base of a beautiful mountain was a school. Well, after two million cubic meters of rock came down, there’s just a rocky plain. I stood there and tried to imagine it. I have visited china 4 times 36 weeks total. I hope to go again this fall to visit my wife’s family for 3 or 4 months. They live in Guangyuan, in Sichuan. My wife had an apartment in Mianyang when I met her. Her sister took it over when Hua came here. When we visit China, we split time between Mianyang and Guangyuan. We stay when not traveling with her sister Li SuHua or her mother, Wu Sanchen. Actually, cheap to go to China for us. Airfare is high but we have a place to stay and a table to eat at when we are not traveling. Last visit was November 2016 to mid February 2017. Chinese New Year Celebration is very cool to see. Been to Beijing twice, Guangzhou, Macao and Hong Kong. Visited Chonqing during the visit when I got married. One of the coolest things we did was take an evening river boat cruise in Chonqing. Went on a tour of the Three Gorges Dam that lasted an entire day. I think the tour started about 8:30 am and ended a little before 6. Everything you could want to see about it. Next visit, I hope to visit Juizhaigou Park or maybe Guangxi. So many cool places to see that I’d have to live there. Actually, Guangyuan was the site of the last battle between the Communists and the Nationalists. I believe Mianyang is the home of Chinese nuclear development. Mianyang is a famous tourist city but only for Chinese. My second visit, in 2014, for 8 weeks, I didn’t see a non Chinese face after leaving Chengdu airport until I came back to airport 8 weeks later. I’m the only male in my family who is not at least 6’ tall but nobody in Sichuan is taller than me. At least I haven’t seen them. China is known for short people and Sichuan is known for short Chinese. Funny how the world works. I grew up hating Communists, now I have Communist brothers and my wife was raised in a Communist house although she’s a Christian now. My wife’s father was a member of the People’s army in world war 2. He became disillusioned with Mao before he died but never left the party. He died in 1999 long before I met my wife. I really think I should have had my own reality show. I believe there was a show about couples who met on a fiance visa. I’ve got them beat. I married a woman two days after I met her. Whom I could not talk to. We communicated thru an English Chinese translator on her cell phone. She speaks a fair amount of English now, although little during my first two visits. Before I met her, we spent an estimated 500 hours watching each other and texting thru yahoo Messenger with a translation app. So it really wasn’t like we just met. Who knows, I suppose my story is different than most. 2018. At my advanced age, I’ve had to teach someone to drive. Yes, my wife Hua has a learners permit now. Since May, lost it for a month in July due to green card expiration before we were sen...Expand for more