The San Soo Journal was published between the Fall of 1994 and the Summer of 1999 – twenty issues packed with information, stories, and activities about Kung Fu San Soo. Each issue was twenty pages long and came out four times per year. We were and still are a two-person entity. Master Ron would decide what articles he would write and recruit articles from other people. Master Barbara would type up the issue using Microsoft Publisher, then take it to the printer on “floppy disks”…the printer would print it and she would then put each issue in an envelope, address it, put a stamp on it, and then take it to the Post Office…those were the days! With the Internet gaining popularity, the Journal was retired, and we transitioned to an online presence. Since neither of us are technological wizards, we’ve faced our challenges to get the word out and have found that Facebook gives Master Gatewood an opportunity to share with San Soo students and followers. Modernization is much less physical work…that’s for sure!
Master Ron Gatewood began studying Kung Fu San Soo with Grand Master Jimmy H. Woo in the El Monte, CA Studio in 1963. He drove from San Diego to El Monte every Saturday to learn the Art. He was a diligent student and began recording the lessons and classes on film. He started with 8mm silent film and progressed through High 8, beta, and VHS tapes. Technology improved as time passed but, thankfully, he preserved his work on DVD and Digital platforms so he can share it today. That’s where the DVD’s available today come from.
Master Gatewood is the author of three informative books: Kung Fu San Soo: History and Myths, Kung Fu San Soo: Secret Art of the Fighting Monks and Kung Fu San Soo’s Basic 45 Lessons. All the books are dedicated to Grand Master Jimmy H. Woo and intended to preserve the Art as he shared it.
Master Barbara Wallace began studying with Master Gatewood in San Diego in 1978. She wrote down all the lessons she was taught by hand and has an extensive collection of KFSS Lessons that were taught to Master Gatewood in the El Monte Studio. She also wrote down all the KFSS Forms that she was taught. In the “old days” she would have them printed up – three pages to a form – and Master Gatewood would take them to sell to the students at the El Monte studio for $3 a piece. Now she has two Forms books of 25 Forms each available for purchase and as a method of preserving them as Grand Master Woo taught them. She has enough Forms for a third book that could be produced.
