The Sunnyvale Sun

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Trailblazer: Peter Chang Sr. overcame many obstacles

In his 103 years, Peter Chang Sr. achieved many firsts and broke many barriers, making life easier for those who followed. Chang, believed to be the first child born to Korean nationals on the U.S. mainland, died Nov. 26. In the past few years, he had been a resident of Sunnyside Gardens in Sunnyvale.

His mother, Chang Soon Sahn, had come to the United States in 1903 on the first ship carrying Koreans wishing to immigrate to this country. Her son was born on Oct. 11, 1903, in Oakland shortly after her arrival. She had followed her husband, Chang Hong Bong, who had gone to Washington, D.C., hoping to get American help against the Japanese incursions into Korea. The Japanese occupied Korea in 1910, and the family was unable to return to Korea.

His father had established a ginseng trade with Australia, but he was discouraged from moving his family there because they were "minorities" and not welcome in Australia.

Although the father spent most of his time in Australia, he moved his family to the International Settlement in Shanghai. There, Peter Chang attended a prestigious English school, but not without some special effort. In a story marking his 100th birthday in the Jan. 14, 2004, Sunnyvale Sun, Chang recalled: "After much haggling, the school agreed to take me, but they said that 'Chang' would not be acceptable because it wouldn't look right on the roster that had to be sent back to England. It was agreed that my name would be changed to 'King.' That's how I became the first 'Oriental' to attend that school."

Throughout much of his life, Chang would encounter prejudice and bigotry, but he found ways around it, and paved the way for others.

He joined the U.S. Navy at the age of 18, becoming one of the first Asian-Americans in the U.S. military. He qualified for the Naval Academy but was told it would never do to have an "Oriental" officer on a ship with a white crew.

After attending both advanced torpedo school and submarine school, he was assigned to Pearl Harbor in 1935. He lived there with his wife, Helen Lee, whom he had married in 1929. His two children, Peter Jr. and Beulah, were born there. Chang served as a torpedo instructor and was later assigned to establish a torpedo school.

Because he had often been passed over for advancement, his wife wrote to Eleanor Roosevelt listing her husband's accomplishments; the first lady passed the letter along to the secretary of the navy, who saw to it that the position of chief warrant torpedo officer was created for Chang.

After the war, Chang encountered prejudice in housing and was denied a position at the California Department of Motor Vehicles, because the state constitution prohibited minority employment until 1949.

Eventually Chang and his wife bought a home in Palo Alto, and both their children attended Stanford. Peter Jr. was elected district attorney of Santa Cruz in 1966 and was the first Asian-American district attorney in the continental United States. He died in 2004. His daughter Beulah runs a successful interior design business in Marin.

Chang worked at Dalmo Victor and Ampex, where he was head manufacturing engineer, a position he held until his retirement at the age of 65.

His wife died in 1998. He is survived by his daughter, Beulah, five grandchildren and two great-granddaughters. A celebration of his life was held Dec. 28 at Avenidas Senior Health Center in Mountain View. In recent years, he spent time nearly every day at the center.