Born Ni Ling-Hsiung, Bob’s story starts on March 13, 1941, in Zhejiang Province, China. He was the third child and first son of Ni Jizai and Gao Yinan. At nine years old he and his big sister, Ruth, went to Taiwan in the midst of chaos during the Chinese civil war.
Bob was always proud of his service as a military policeman charged with guarding the U.S. Navy commanding admiral. After his service, Bob worked as a security guard at the U.S. Navy Exchange in Taipei. There, he met the love of his life, Helen Lee. Bob and Helen married on November 1, 1968 after a whirlwind romance that began with Bob’s daily deliveries of Reese’s peanut butter cups.
In April of 1983, Bob and Helen made one of the biggest decisions of their lives. They left a comfortable life in Taiwan and moved the family to the United States. They started with a small Laundromat business in Deer Park, TX. For close to 20 years, Bob and Helen would work tirelessly, sun up to well-past sun down, eventually becoming owners of multiple laundry and dry clean operations in Deer Park and Missouri City, TX.
Bob loved to cook and eat and enjoyed spending time with friends, singing karaoke and playing mah-jong for pennies a hand. He deeply appreciated the most basic things life had to offer and enjoyed gardening and the outdoors. There is no denying that the people he loved most were his grandchildren: Amanda, Thomas, Scarlett, Avery, Chloe, Caitlyn & Carter. Time spent with Yeh-Yeh was very special for them. His morning hugs were legendary and the grandkids never saw the disciplinarian side of Yeh-Yeh that their parents did.
Bob left this world on September 1, 2019, finally free, after brave stands against multiple illnesses throughout his life. He is survived by his beloved wife, Helen Lee, his daughter Rita, sons Andrew and Craig; son and daughters in law Chad Park, Rebecca and Jennifer; all his grandchildren; his sisters Ruth Chia and Ni Peiyu, brothers Ni Zhengyong and Ni Zhengyan.
We all look forward to seeing him again.