Adina Maria (Leychen) Kriz
Sept 18, 1927 - Mar 2, 2017
Adina Maria Leychen Kriz passed away peacefully on March 2, 2017 in Tracy, California. One of seven siblings, Adina was born in Navajoa, Sonora, México on September 18, 1927 to Enrique Ley Chen of the Toisan region of Canton (Guangdong), China, and Carmen Ávila Félix de Tésia of Sonora, México. Following the Exclusion Law of 1931 and its campaigns directed against Chinese, Adina and her family were forcibly expelled from México. Adina was raised primarily on the Kowloon Peninsula of British Hong Kong. There she survived the Japanese invasion and occupation before moving to Tampico, Tamaulipas, México, where the family enjoyed a renaissance. Despite living through these difficult years, Adina remembered her youth with remarkable fondness and warmth, often recounting precious moments shared with her brothers, sisters, and dear friends from the Latin-Chinese community of Hong Kong.
On a visit to San Francisco in 1955, Adina attended a Catholic Church dance, where she met Jan Kriz, who had recently arrived from Melbourne, Australia, where he was accepted as a refugee following the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1948, which in turn had followed Nazi invasion and occupation from 1938-1945. Jan and Adina found much in common in religion and in their appreciation of peace and freedom. They married on Jan. 27, 1957 in San Francisco and soon moved to San Mateo where they raised five children.
Adina eventually became a teacher’s aide for the hearing impaired at Burlingame Intermediate School. Her passion, however, was being a wife and mother. After Jan passed away in 1994. Adina focused on the welfare of her children and grandchildren. Once retired, Adina found she had inherited her mother’s love for cooking and spent her time practicing the Chinese and Mexican family recipes of her youth. She also enjoyed socializing with dear friends in the Bay Area, from the neighborhood, and at the Shoreview Senior Club. A natural green thumb, she took great pleasure in tending to her garden at her beloved home on Rand street.
Adina was profoundly shaped by the historical events of her youth and by the survival of her family through expulsion, war and occupation. She emerged from liberation with a deep appreciation and respect for family, faith, thrift, and education. She was determined to pass on the wisdom she gained through these years to her children and to all whom she loved.
She so terribly missed her parents, siblings, and husband, all of whom preceded her in death. Now, too, she joins them in peace. She leaves behind five children: Joseph of San Jose, Jan (Jerri) of Tracy, Annette Faris (Geoff) of Forest Grove, Oregon, Peter (Rita) of Sandpoint, Idaho, and Sonia of Berkeley. Adina will also be fondly remembered by her eight grandchildren: Anissa, Jonathan, Alessandra, Bryce, Mitchell, Sofia, Ciara, and Andrés.
A funeral service for Adina will be held at 10am on Friday, April 28th at St. Timothy’s Catholic Church, located at 1515 Dolan Avenue in San Mateo. She will be laid to rest at Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery in Colma.