Shin Sheng Chang

Shin Sheng Chang, a.k.a. Cindy or “Nai Nai,” of Falls Church, Virginia, passed away on January 13, 2025, in Fairfax INOVA Hospital at the age of 78, following a recent diagnosis of advanced adenocarcinoma.

She was born in Xinxiang in the Sichuan province of China on November 17, 1946. Because her father was a soldier, Shin’s family joined the Kuomintang party’s Great Retreat to Taiwan in 1949 after the Chinese Communist Party gained control of the mainland. Shin and her younger brother were raised by their mother, a seamstress, in modest circumstances in the city of Taichung. After graduating from the Provincial Taichung Vocational School of Nursing and Midwifery in 1967, Shin moved to Taipei to work for the pediatric department of the Veterans General Hospital. There, Shin met a resident pediatrician named Dr. Chia Tzuo Chang. After dating for nearly a year, they were married in 1971.

Later that year, after the United Nations recognized the Communist party as the legitimate government of China, Dr. Chang, uncertain about Taiwan’s future, decided to leave his homeland to make a foothold for his family in the United States of America. Two years later, Shin followed, stepping off the plane and introducing her husband to their one-year-old son Wayne for the first time. For a few years, the Chang family lived in Brooklyn, New York, where they welcomed a second son, Howard, in 1976. After brief moves to rural Mineral Wells, Texas, and suburban Wayne, New Jersey, the family settled in Chester, Virginia, a small town outside of Richmond, in 1983.

While in Chester, Shin learned to drive, raised her two boys, managed the office of her husband’s pediatric practice, and hosted many dinner parties and mahjong get-togethers for friends. After her husband passed away in 1999, Shin sang in a Chinese church choir, worked in several restaurants and cafes, and served as a caregiver for a senior citizen. In 2007, she downsized to a townhome a few miles away from Wayne in Glen Allen, Virginia.

In 2015, Shin moved to Howard’s neighborhood in Falls Church, Virginia, where she cared for Howard and Vanessa’s daughter Penelope and prepared countless family dinners. In Shin’s final years, she often congregated with other Mandarin-speaking seniors at the Jim Scott Community Center.

Shin returned to Taiwan on numerous occasions to visit relatives. She also traveled to many other locales around the country and globe, including Atlanta, Baltimore, Las Vegas, New York, Orlando, San Francisco, Hong Kong, Canada, Japan, France, and Italy. Nevertheless, Shin always seemed most content when she was at home with her family. She particularly relished cooking for her family and friends, singing karaoke, watching movies, going out to eat, visiting her children’s households, and saying yes to anything her grandchildren asked.

Shin is survived by Dr. Wayne Wei-Yuan Chang, his wife Jessica, and their sons Bradley and Mason; Howard Wei-How Chang, Esq., his wife Vanessa, and their daughter Penelope; and her brother Chiang Guo Chu, his wife Hsiu Chun Chung, and their children and grandchildren in Taichung. She is also survived by her brothers-in-law Chia Chen Chang and Chia Juch Chang and their wives, children, and grandchildren in Taipei.

The Chang family extends its sincere gratitude to the staff at Inova Fairfax Hospital and Schar Cancer Institute as well as our many family and friends who have supported us through this time.

A memorial service will be held 1:00-3:00 p.m. on Saturday, February 22, 2025, at National Funeral Home and Memorial Park, 7482 Lee Highway, Falls Church, Virginia. A private burial will follow at Sunset Memorial Park in Chester, Virginia, in the spring. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be given to the American Cancer Society.