Gary Locke - Family and Education

Family and Education

Locke was born on January 21, 1950 in Seattle, Washington, and spent his early years with his family living in the Yesler Terrace public housing project. A third-generation Chinese American with paternal ancestry from Taishan, China, Locke is the second of five children of James Locke, who served as a staff sergeant in the U.S. Fifth Armored Division during World War II, and his wife Julie, who is from Hong Kong, which at that time was a British crown colony. His paternal grandfather left China in the 1890s and moved to the United States, where he worked as a houseboy in Olympia, Washington, in exchange for English lessons. Gary Locke did not learn how to speak English until he was five years old and entered kindergarten.

Locke graduated with honors from Seattle’s Franklin High School in 1968, and achieved Eagle Scout rank and received the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award from the Boy Scouts of America. Through a combination of part-time jobs, financial aid, and scholarships, Locke attended Yale University, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in political science in 1972. He later received his Juris Doctor from the Boston University School of Law in 1975.

Read more about this topic:  Gary Locke

Famous quotes containing the words family and, family and/or education:

    Realizing that his time was nearly spent, he gave full oral instructions about his burial and the manner in which he wished to be remembered.... A few minutes later, feeling very tired, he left the room, remarking, ‘I have no disposition to leave this precious circle. I love to be here surrounded by my family and friends.’ Then he gave them his blessing and said, ‘I am ready to go and I wish you goodnight.’
    —For the State of New Hampshire, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)

    The family spirit has rendered man carnivorous.
    Francis Picabia (1878–1953)

    Whether in the field of health, education or welfare, I have put my emphasis on preventive rather than curative programs and tried to influence our elaborate, costly and ill- co-ordinated welfare organizations in that direction. Unfortunately the momentum of social work is still directed toward compensating the victims of our society for its injustices rather than eliminating those injustices.
    Agnes E. Meyer (1887–1970)