Kou-Ping (KP) Cheng
Kou-Ping (KP) Cheng, native of Sichuan Province in China, was born in his father’s hometown of Longchang on July 23, 1940 in the year of the Dragon. Son of Yu-Chiu Cheng and Yieh-Kwan Ma, KP was the second of four brothers and an older sister who passed during childhood, all born behind battlefields. Their father, a commanding general in the Republic of China’s army, enjoyed the privilege of having family at his side even on the front lines through combat. Reflecting his hope for victory and peace, each son was named for peace against the adversary of the time. Chi Ping—peace against the Red Armies, Kou-Ping—peace against Japanese marauders, Yu-Ping—universal peace, and Kuan-Ping—everlasting peace.
When the Kuomintang forces escaped to Taiwan during China’s revolution in December of 1948, Kou-Ping was eight years old. The stories from his youth evoke humble joys of childhood: freedom to roam, to fight, to eat fruit from neighbor’s trees, to collect and play marbles with friends and neighbors. After four years in Taichung, a very small city at the time, the family moved to Taipei where Kou-Ping attended National Taiwan Normal University’s affiliate middle school Shi Da Fu Zhong. He went on to National Cheng Kung University and Tamkang University before emigrating to the United States for post-graduate studies.
KP emigrated from Taiwan to Iowa State University (Ames, Iowa) in 1969. That same year, he met Hsu-Chin (Teresa) Cheng through his classmate Chen-Wen, Teresa’s brother. When Teresa came to visit her brother from Missouri State University (Kirksville) in December, KP asked for her address and a romantic correspondence began. Soon after he earned a masters degree in statistics in the spring of 1971, KP and Teresa wedded. The wedding took place on February 27, 1972.
The couple drove out to California on Memorial Day weekend after KP gave Teresa a week of driving lessons. They made the trip in a car purchased from a Catholic priest for $80, never mind the rusted out hole in the floor of the car. KP liked to say that you could see the road ahead as well as the road below. A summer internship at IBM turned into a job at Memorex, then Tandem Computers in Sunnyvale, California. In California, KP and Teresa joined other family members and started their own family; Pam was born in 1975 and Stacey was born two years later. After 18 years in the tech industry, KP retired at the age of 50 for a new career in stock and real estate investment. Kou-Ping was suited for his new career as his mind was well trained by his tech-programming skills.
Throughout his programming and investment careers, KP enjoyed playing competitive contract bridge. He was a regular at Campbell Bridge Club, continuing a hobby that started when he spearheaded his college bridge team in Taiwan. From the 1980’s KP achieved Life Master status in American Contract Bridge; throughout the years, he regularly competed in tournaments, including at least 1 national tournament and more than 8 regional tournaments each year. He competed in tournaments across Washington, Oregon, and California.
KP enjoyed organizing annual international trips with many friends. Over 20 years, he traveled to Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Taiwan and his favorite by far, China. When traveling, KP enjoyed talking with locals, often over a cigarette, to find out what life was like. The last trip KP took was in June of 2018 to Chengdu in Sichuan, his hometown, with 18 of his close friends. Kou-Ping Cheng will be remembered for his irreverent spirit, his youthful vitality, underlying curiosity and compassion for others, and love of family. Such a unique spirit will be deeply missed. The memorial service for KP will be held at Alameda Family Funeral & Cremation at 9:30am on Sunday 11/11. Doors open at 9:00 A.M.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to be made in KP’s name to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network or to Lakewood Elementary School in Sunnyvale for a new computer lab.