Annette Kuo-Yen Chiu

Annette Kuo-Yen Cheng was born in Canton on December 20, 1933. She was the youngest of five siblings, and had four older brothers Donald, Louis, Samuel, and Robert, and she was lovingly referred to as Netty. After many years of hardship in China, the family made the move to the United States in 1949. They made their first home in San Mateo, CA and shortly moved to LA so that all the children could attend USC.

During the first 15 years stateside, the family opened Tempbell Imports & Exports, Coral Sea Restaurant, Don’s Steakhouse and 5 Lanterns Restaurants in Covina and Whittier. Everyone in the family worked together to run and grow these businesses, while they all attended USC.

Annette graduated from USC with a Bachelor of Science in 1954 majoring in Medical Technology. When she started, she did not know the English language. She used to tell the story of boiling water for weeks in the Chemistry Lab with her brother Sam because they had no idea what they were supposed to do with the language barrier. When she took Latin, she would translate it into Chinese and then translate it back to English. She was truly a remarkable woman to be able to obtain her bachelors in 3 years while learning a new language. She started her career at St. John’s Hospital as a Med Tech until she moved to Covina in 1958 where she worked at Inter Community Hospital for 25 years and eventually supervised the Hematology department until she retired in 1992.

Annette married Seymour Chiu on February 2, 1957 after being introduced to him through a mutual friend. They began their family in 1958 when Mark was born and continued to grow their family with Tina, Debbie, and Stanley. In September of 1971, Seymour was diagnosed with lung cancer and she was widowed on January 24, 1972. She was left to raise their four children by herself.

Annette continued to work hard to provide for the family. She never wanted her children to miss out on the trips they took as a family when Seymour was alive. She saved and continued the summer vacations so that the family could be together. Even after everyone started to get married and have their own children, she would treat everyone to a family trip. She took them to June Lake, Sunriver OR, Alaska, and the Caribbean. She loved to make the grandchildren laugh and enjoyed seeing the family all together and having fun. Education was especially important to her and she was able to send all four children to a university to set them up for success as an adult. Her family was everything to her.

Annette loved gardening but discovered her true love was in photography after she took over the family photo responsibilities that Seymour started. Her photography career started in 1974 when she first joined 2 local camera clubs which were affiliated with S4C (Southern California Council of Camera Clubs) and was actively competing in clubs, councils, and international competitions for the next 40 yrs. She started color printing in photo labs between 1986-1996, competed and earned numerous awards including the PSA Photographic Excellence EPSA in 1999. She was awarded the Distinguished Fellow S4C in 1997. Annette held several positions in the Photographic organizations including Nature Chairman in 8 different organizations as well as Vice President and Director in many other organizations.

With her love of photography, she became a world traveler and had the opportunity to travel to over 20 states and 16 + countries doing what she did best. During her travels, she submitted over 2000 entries in 980 International Salon Exhibitions. She won over 600 ribbons, 200+ medals, 24+ trophies and half a dozen international medals.

Annette sold her home in Covina which she lived in since 1969 and raised her four children in; she then bought a home in Huntington Beach in 2006 to be closer to family. After a back injury in 2018, she was unable to care for herself and was moved to an assisted living facility in Huntington Beach where she could get the best care possible for her. It was quite an adjustment; however she began to make new friends over time and enjoyed the people she meet.

Annette had a life filled with adventure and took every opportunity to enjoy what she could. Anyone that knows her, knows her love of sports, especially USC football and the LA Lakers. Her love of USC was passed down the generations. She started to instill the USC spirit in her children at a young age as she loved taking her kids to the SC football game and campus picnics. The family bled cardinal and gold. Annette had a feisty personality and kept everyone around her entertained with her jokes. Most remember her as funny, intelligent, adventurous, and extremely generous. She LOVED giving gifts, especially to her family and was always filled with joy when she was around her grandchildren and great grandchildren. She was extremely driven and succeeded with whatever she set her mind to. All her children carry on many of her traits, so her spirit lives on. We will all remember her for her generosity, her contagious laugh, concern for others and her sense of humor and her famous last word “one more picture”.

Annette passed on Jan. 7, 2021 from Covid-19 during a pandemic. She fought a good fight, and she will be dearly missed! Annette is survived by her four children: Marcus, Tina, Debbie, Stanley, eight grandchildren: Brandon, Chrissy, Aimee, Michal, Lauren, Delany, Zachary, Bonnie and three great grandchildren: Irie, Thea and Naomi.

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In lieu of flowers, the family is asking for donations to the US China Christian Institute (USCCI) or Vulnerable Children’s Foundation (VCF). Please see information and links below.

USCCI founded by Dr. John Wong (Annette’s cousin) and is a humanitarian organization dedicated to meeting people’s needs in health, education, and friendship, through people-to-people contacts and services around the world. If you would like to donate, please make a check payable to “US China Christian Institute (USCCI)” and mail it to the address listed below. Please put “In memory of Annette Chiu” in the memo line.

USCCI c/o Alice Wong

21 Gateview Drive

Fallbrook, CA 92028

Vulnerable Children’s Foundation (VCF) is an organization in our family that seeks to place vulnerable children of Zambia into a Christian education setting while they are young, to educate them for productive lives on earth and share with them the saving message of Jesus Christ for eternity. You can visit their website for donations at http://www.vulnerablechildren.net/ or see link below.

Thank you for your generous support.

May God bless you and your family!