Bessie Friedman

Bessie and John's first date was about 1940. Bessie had just come with her family from New Mexico and settled in Gridlley, California. They went to Chinese food in Oroville at Charlie's, Tong Fong Low. John had enough to buy one chow mein and one bowl of pork noodles, around thirty five cents. Bessie had never had Chinese food before and John had ordered the chow mein for her. When it came, she took one look at it and said that it looked unappetizing and she couldn't eat it. So John traded her his noodles for her chow mein. They continued to dine there for the next thirty years or so, and yes, Bessie did come to enjoy Chinese food.