V1995年美國追思會致詞--紀念我的姐姐陸台蘭/ 陸璞厲Polly

 

In Memory of My Sister, Dolly

Polly Lo Rolland
(for Memorial Service)

Dolly Tai-Lan Lo was born on March 9, 1955, in Taiwan.  Her Chinese Name was Tai-Lan, meaning "the Orchid of Taiwan," and as we all know, orchid was her favorite flower on earth.  Her other name "Tan-li," is the red lychee.  She will always be remembered as the most beautiful flower in our hearts.

My mother says that when she was young she was very thin and had dark skin.  In spite of our financial circumstances, she was sent to the prestigious Taipei American School so that she wouldn't be under the tremendous pressure of the Chinese School.  But she always gave herself even more pressure, and she would set for herself the highest standards and goals achievable.  To us, she has always been the best.  She graduated from TAS with an English Award, a Spanish Award and an U.S. Embassy Award.  Someone at the graduation whispered the question: "How can a Chinese Girl receive all of these foreign awards?"  We all know that the answer lies in the ever so strong "will power" which was inside her.  Her strong will was further attested by her ability to overcome tremendous obstacles to leave Taiwan, apply through Hongkong for a student visa to attend Wellesley in the United States.  Her motto always was "Where there is a will, there is a way!"

With a full scholarship to Wellesley College, she began her journey to America in 1973 alone.  She was only eighteen years old, and had never left her home in Taipei, and she did not know a single soul in the promise land.  As always, she was brilliant in everything she did.  She made her way with another full scholarship to Harvard Law School.  Her years of study in the U.S. had made her an independent woman for the later years.  To show her independence, she worked at 13 tutoring English in the summer.  During her last semester of her senior year she worked as a full time telephone operator while still able to maintain her academics to graduate as the valedictorian of her high school.

Her days at Ropes & Gray in Boston had prepared her to become a professional attorney.  Her love for Taiwan had brought her back in 1982 to work for the Taiwan office of Baker & McKenzie.  There she had devoted the past 12 years to her passion for work, her sense of justice for the women's law in Taiwan and the success of Baker & McKenzie, her extended big family.  Through her work and her passions for Taiwan, she had made many close friends who love her dearly and with whom she had shared her joy.  She had always been so thoughtful for everyone but herself.  She had always sacrificed herself to light up the lives of others.  For this, she will forever stay in our hearts.

Her other great achievement was to have created a most wonderful family:  Lu-an, an adorable 3-year-old, An-chi, a most intelligent 5-year-old and John, her loving husband.  This family had meant more to her than anything in the world.  She was a most thoughtful wife, a more than loving mother, a sincere daughter and especially a most wonderful guide and sister to me.  We love her very much and we will miss her dearly.

She was diagnosed with leukemia in November, 1993.  Since then, she had fought so hard, and had never given up hope.  Through these past two years, she had shown all of us present today her will of living and how much she enjoyed life.  In the last three months she finally accepted Jesus Christ as her savior because of the urging by her dear friend, Bob Dilworth, to read his personal bible.  This was the answer to her mother's long years of prayer.  I am sure that she will want us to go on living fully and joyfully as if she was still here with us.  Her strength of living will always stay in our hearts, and her most joyful smiles will always be in our memories.

紀念我的姐姐陸台蘭（追思會）/ 陸璞厲 陸台蘭，1955年3月9日出生於台灣。 她的中文名字叫“台蘭”，意思是“台灣的蘭花”，眾所周知，蘭花是她最喜歡的花。 她的另一個名字“Dolly”是紅荔枝。 她將永遠被銘記為我們心中最美麗的花朵。 我媽媽說她年輕的時候很瘦，皮膚也黑。 儘管經濟困難，她還是被送到了著名的台北美國學校，這樣她就不會承受中文學校的巨大壓力。 但她總是給自己更大的壓力，她會給自己設定最高的標準和可以實現的目標。 對我們來說，她一直都是最好的。 她從 TAS 畢業，獲得英語獎、西班牙語獎和美國大使館獎。 畢業典禮上有人低聲問道：“一個中國女孩怎麼能獲得這麼多外國獎項呢？” 我們都知道，答案就在於她內心那股無比強大的「意志力」。 她克服重重障礙離開台灣，透過香港申請學生簽證前往美國韋爾斯利就讀，這進一步證明了她的堅強意志。 她的座右銘始終是：“有志者事竟成！” 1973年，她獲得了韋爾斯利學院的全額獎學金，開始了她的美國之旅。 她才十八歲，從未離開過台北的家，在樂土上也不認識一個人。 一如既往，她所做的一切都很出色。 她又獲得了哈佛大學法學院的全額獎學金。 多年的美國留學經歷，讓她在晚年成為了獨立的女性。 為了展現自己的獨立性，她暑假在13所當英語輔導老師。 在大四的最後一個學期，她擔任全職電話接線員，同時仍然能夠保持學業，以作為高中的告別演說者畢業。

她在波士頓 Ropes & Gray 的日子為她成為專業律師做好了準備。  出於對台灣的熱愛，她於 1982 年回到貝克麥堅時台灣辦事處工作。  在那裡，她將過去的12年奉獻給了她對工作的熱情、她對台灣婦女法的正義感以及她的大家庭貝克·麥堅時的成功。  透過她的工作和對台灣的熱情，她結識了許多深愛她並分享快樂的親密朋友。  她總是為所有人著想，唯獨沒有為自己著想。  她總是犧牲自己來照亮別人的生活。  為此，她將永遠留在我們心中。

她的另一個偉大成就是建立了一個最美好的家庭：可愛的三歲孩子露安、最聰明的五歲孩子安吉和她親愛的丈夫約翰。 這個家庭對她來說比世界上任何事情都更重要。 她是一位最體貼的妻子，一位慈愛的母親，一位真誠的女兒，尤其是我最出色的嚮導和姊妹。 我們非常愛她，我們會非常想念她。

1993年11月，她被診斷出患有白血病。 在過去的兩年裡，她向我們今天在場的所有人展示了她的生活意志和她對生活的享受。 在過去的三個月裡，由於她親愛的朋友鮑勃迪爾沃斯的敦促，她終於接受了耶穌基督作為她的救世主，閱讀他的個人聖經。 這是她母親多年來祈禱的答案。 我確信她會希望我們繼續充實而快樂地生活，就好像她還和我們在一起一樣。 她的生活力量將永遠留在我們心中，她最快樂的笑容將永遠留在我們的記憶中。