Yuan An Tsa Kang

Ann was born in 1925 in Jiading, Jiangsu Providence, China to her parents Tsa Mu Liang and Xu Wen Qin. She was the first of six children. In 1949, she married George Tien Ching Kang. Together they raised two children. In 1963, she immigrated to Kansas with her children to join George, who finished graduate school in Colorado School of Mines. In 1977, she and her husband moved to Colorado from Oklahoma. They both loved the mountains.

Ann was a talented painter, a ceramists, a tailor, and an avid gardener. She won several blue ribbons in the Colorado State Fair for her ceramics, made all her own clothes, was offered a good chuck of money to buy her painting of horses, and her garden produced best tasting corn and beans. She once even grew a 40 pound banana squash that she dragged back into the house by herself. She loved the PBS cooking shows and was a wonderful cook.

She was a jack of all trades and she was my mother.

Ann was a generous, thoughtful, and kind individual. She supported her family in China and sponsored the education of Chinese students for over 20 years. She believed in helping those less fortunate and donated to many organizations including Operation Smile, Doctors without Boarders, Wounded Warrior, and local charities. She was also notorious for always having a small gift ready for any visitor.

A survivor of war times, Ann was resourceful and innovative. She never let anything go to waste and would constantly find new ways to improve every day objects.

Even in her advancing age, she had a sharp memory and quick tongue. She could tell you the price she furniture purchased over 50 years ago, the names of her old classmates and coworkers, or remind her children of the their youthful shenanigans.

She is survived by her children, Shirley and David and his wife Jennifer; her grandchildren: Davin and his wife Glyndi, Eric, Natalie, Braden, and Kristin and her husband Kevin; and her two great grandchildren: Eli and Cole.

The family will hold a celebration of life at a later time. Ann, herself, requested no flowers, but her granddaughter wishes that you think of her grandmother the next time you see her favorite flowers: columbines and peonies.