Johanna Chu Yen

The Yen family is saddened to share with you that our matriarch, Dr. Johanna Chu Yen, passed away peacefully on 21 July 2024 at home in Palo Alto, California. She was 91 years old.

Johanna was born on 26 June 1933 in Nanking, the then-capital of China. Her parents came from Ningbo in the nearby Zhejiang province, her father being in the automobile business. After the fall of Nanking at the end of 1937, her family fled, eventually to Chengdu in the province of Sichuan where she lived and attended elementary school until the end of the Sino-Japanese War in 1945. Her family then relocated to Shanghai, where she entered the Jesuit-run Aurora High School for Girls and became a Christian. After the Communist victory in 1949, she reaffirmed her religious conviction and continued with Catholic youth activities into her college years, for which she was jailed twice. She completed her medical education at Second Medical College of Shanghai in 1961 and was assigned to No. 2 People’s Hospital of Shanghai as an OB/GYN, after an internship at a teaching hospital affiliated with the medical college.

She met the future Dr. Francis Er-Liang Yen in the mid-1950s, both belonging to the same parish. They married in 1960 and their only child was born in 1962. The young family lived happily in a big house built by Francis’ father Leeping San Yen, a mechanical engineer and, until 1949, a university professor. Such a happy situation turned out to be short-lived. 1966 saw the start of the Cultural Revolution and a tumultuous ten-year period. Digging out her religious background, the revolutionary zealots who took over the hospital deprived Johanna of her medical practice and forced her to man the hospital’s morgue for over a decade, until 1978, when she resumed seeing patients. Facing such persecution and humiliation, Johanna never complained, for her faith told her that her destiny simply could not lie in the hands of her oppressors.

Johanna and her family immigrated to the United States in the early 1980s and settled in Ft. Lauderdale where Leeping’s widow had been living. She passed the board exam and switched to practicing Chinese medicine, seeing a great need for acupuncture to help Americans, especially the elderly. After teaching part-time at a near-bankrupt school of Chinese medicine, she founded the not-for-profit Atlantic Institute of Oriental Medicine (ATOM) in 1994. Although the school had humble beginnings, she set her aims high. When asked “Why use the word ‘institute’ instead of ‘college’?” she retorted proudly, “Why is MIT an institute?” She was at the helm of ATOM for 29 years, during which the school graduated over 800 students, including those with master’s degrees and doctorates. She was also the  chairperson of the Florida Board of Acupuncture for quite a number of years, appointed by Governor Lawton Chiles.

She finally retired last year and moved to California to be with her family, though she missed Florida dearly. At the end of February of this year, she started to vomit daily and was diagnosed with late-stage pancreatic cancer. After a month-long stay in the hospital, she entered hospice care at home in early April. She was happy being cared for at home and was able to celebrate her 91st birthday with her family in late June, complete with cake and noodles. She continued to grow weaker, though without much pain. She said many times recently that she had had a very fulfilling life, done everything she wanted to do, and was ready to move on to be reunited with Francis.

Johanna maintained an optimistic disposition throughout her long life, reflecting her firm religious faith and steadfast character, and was happy knowing she had touched the lives of others in one way or another. She was always ready to help others and was also helped numerous times by other people. The $10,000 donation that she received to start ATOM came from her family and close friends.

Throughout her life, she was also a person of devotion. In her youth, she was devoted to church activities; in her adulthood, to her family; in her golden years, to education. She cared for ATOM and its students deeply and hoped to see it grow and flourish. “Such a good school,” she reflected recently.

After her illness became known, she received cards, messages, and phone calls from so many of her former students, colleagues, and friends. We thank all of you for your love and well wishes.

On the morning of the day of her departure, pointing to the short hallway leading to the open door of her bedroom, she said to her caregiver, “I see Virgin Mary, do you see her?” In remembering Johanna, we ask that you keep her in your prayers.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Dr. Johanna Yen Memorial Fund for ATOM. https://bit.ly/46uwV6G

With deep gratitude,

The Yen Family

各位親朋好友：

我們親愛的母親朱海納醫生已於主曆二零二四年七月二十一日在美國加州家中安詳離世、享年九十一歲。

母親原名朱秀英、一九三三年六月出生於南京雨花臺。雙親均來自浙江寧波。父親朱世棟經營汽車生意。抗戰開始、全家避難成都、念小學、背誦國父遺囑。抗戰勝利、全家遷居上海、進入天主教震旦女中、並受洗入教。因家父早逝、遂立志成為一名醫生、並進入浙江醫學院學習。其間因積極參與各項教會活動而二次被關押於小車橋監獄。後來進入上海第二醫學院繼續學習。畢業後分配到上海市第二人民醫院成為了一名婦產科醫生、並於一九六零年和父親結婚。一九六二年他們唯一的孩子出生、全家生活美滿幸福。

然而好景不長。文革開始、翻老賬。母親被迫離開醫務工作去管醫院的太平間達十年之久、直到一九七八年。然而她非常樂觀地面對這樣的處境。逆來順受、每天回家後依然笑容滿面。

八零年代來美國後改行中醫、並於一九九四年在佛州成立非營利的大西洋中醫學院、為美國培養中醫針灸人才凡二十九年、畢業了八百多位學生。九零年代中期更被佛州州長任命為佛州中醫最高主管達數年之久。她一向秉持這樣的理念：中醫是寶、它應該服務全人類。

去年退休並來到加州與家人共享天倫之樂。不料今年三月檢查出胰腺癌並已轉移、無法治愈。遂於家中做安寧治療。

母親一生待人誠懇、樂於助人、不眷戀財富。但對所追求的事情十分執著：早年的教會活動、中年的相夫教子、晚年的中醫教育。母親走了。她走完了在世上完美的一生、去和父親團聚。懇求各位在思念她的同時、繼續為她禱告。我們期待在天上和她再相聚。

母親將和父親合葬於佛州勞德岱爾堡長青墓園。

嚴濤南

李曉

率嚴依理、嚴傑夫