Emily (Yee Shune) Wong Chen
December 3, 1929 – January 26, 2018
Passed away peacefully in San Francisco, California with her family at her side.
Emily Chen was born in Hong Kong, the eldest of seven children born to Wong Man Keung and Wong Ngok Fai. She grew up in Hong Kong, where she lived through the Japanese occupation during World War II. She graduated from Sacred Heart School and then came to the United States to study at San Francisco College for Women (now the University of San Francisco) and the University of California at Berkeley, where she received a BA in Business Administration. While at UC Berkeley, Emily met and then married the love of her life, Ronald Walter Chen, then a PhD candidate in biochemistry. After their first two sons were born, the family moved to Durham, NC where Ron began his career as a biochemist at Duke University and the Durham Veterans Administration Hospital. Their third son, Alan, was born there. In 1971 the family moved again to Lyndhurst, Ohio after Ron was transferred to the Cleveland VA Hospital. In addition to raising her sons, Emily worked as an assistant in the Duke University Department of Psychology, moving up to work in the University budget department, and later as an accounting assistant at a savings and loan association, and then an accounting firm in Cleveland. Emily and Ron moved back to the San Francisco Bay area after Ron’s retirement in 1988.
Emily was extremely close to family and enjoyed spending time with her own family as well as her extended family on Ron’s side, who welcomed her as one of their own. Though she came to the United States not even knowing how to boil water, she taught herself to be an excellent cook with a broad repertoire and was known for preparing elaborate 7-course Chinese dinners for friends and family. She was musically talented and loved to play the piano and sing karaoke. She and Ron were also avid contract bridge players, both achieving the rank of Life Master. During their retirement years, Emily and Ron enjoyed traveling to all parts of the world and treating their family to luxury cruises. She was also an avid reader and especially loved mystery novels.
Emily is survived by her sister Virginia, her brothers Kai Ming, Kai Lum, and Kai Tung, and her sons and their spouses: Ming (Karen Schneider) of Seattle, Sherman (Katherine) of San Francisco, and Alan (Anne Ertman) of Denver. In addition, she will be missed by her 7 adoring grandchildren, two great grandchildren, and numerous nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband Ron, sister Nora Todd and brother Kai Tak.
Emily’s ashes will be interred at Rolling Hills Memorial Park in Richmond, California. A family memorial gathering will be announced in the near future. In lieu of flowers, remembrances may be made to the National Stroke Foundation.