You may ask yourself however did he mix up Iris and Frances Chan. They look nothing alike. That is quite true. The two Chan daughters do not resemble each other, but in other ways they are quite similar, their stories are intimately intertwined and it is not so unbelievable that they might be confused. You see, I forgot to mention that there was one other Chan sibling in the audience that day along with her father to hear Madame Chiang speak. It was Charlie’s daughter, “the beauty of the Chan family” Frances Chan. Being younger and also being much needed by her mother to help with the numerous little members of the clan she returned home and her duty to her family. But as time marched on and she heard of her older brother’s and sister’s war-time efforts she felt the call to duty. Duty to her country. And so she followed her older sister Iris into the WAC Nursing Corp and to a station overseas. After the war she was assigned a place at a Veteran’s Hospital, this one in Los Angles. After she was released from service she too decided to continue her medical studies with the idea of also becoming a doctor. By this time Iris had married, but she had not given up her dream of becoming a general practioner, nor did her supportive husband ask her too. Frances relocated to San Francisco and moved in with the Woo family (Iris’ married name) and helped out while also continuing to pursue her own degree in pediatrics. Then disaster struck. The sisters were out together one fateful afternoon when a drunk driver struck their car. Both were injured. Their injuries were not so severe as to keep them hospitalized, but were lingering, delaying their studies and making it impossible to nurse themselves back to health and look after Iris’s family. Mr. Woo, Iris’s husband, worked in a sensitive position with the government and was often on the road. The situation was dire. Outside help was needed. This is when Mrs. Charlie Chan stepped in. She moved from Hawaii to San Francisco and looked after the weakened Iris and Frances while taking charge of the household and Iris’ children. Recently retired from the Honolulu force Charlie decided to rent a home near the Woos and transplanted his family temporarily nearby. The next eldest girl in the Chan family took charge of the new home with Mama Chan looking in from time to time. Charlie now famed the world over as a brilliant and able detective opened a consulting office in the city where he often provided his services to private individuals, insurance companies and law enforcement agencies. Jimmy (calling himself Tommy) took care of the financial end of the concern discreetly, but firmly. In this way Charlie earned substantial funds. More then enough to maintain the California residence, office and his original home back on Punchbowl Hill, left in the able care of relatives until his return. Even after Iris and Frances had recovered Mrs. Chan stayed on until the two were able to complete their studies and open a joint medical practice. When Frances married and began her own family with a fine fellow named Jack Eng, Charlie presented her with the gift of his San Francisco home, closed his office and returned to Hawaii and Punchbowl Hill still taking on occasional cases well into his old age. His detective’s mind ever keen, his wit ever sharp.
