Sue Chai, age 83, passed away on May 2, 2021 nearly 2 years after the passing of her husband Yui-Hur Chai. Mrs. Chai was born in Pakse, Laos on March 11, 1938 to the late Singh Thai (father) and Chung Singh Thai (mother).
Sue Chai met her lifelong love, Yui-Hur, at the young age of ten years old. Their lifelong journey would begin when Yui-Hur’s parents decided to relocate to the countryside; however, there were no schools in the country and his parents wanted him and his younger brother to attend school and remain in Pakse. Sue’s father stepped up and took them in. Sue’s father provided them food and shelter which allowed them to attend school in exchange for work around the house. From then on, Sue and Yui-Hur were inseparable.
Sue only had a few years of elementary education; however, Sue was a very smart and determined woman. She began working to help her family at the age of 12 by selling vegetables and meats at the open-air market. By the time she was in her twenties, she saved enough to buy a house and opened a coffee shop. She married Yui-Hur at 28 and had 6 children.
The Vietnam War caused a domino effect with the communist taking over Laos. Sue wanted to seek refuge for her family; however, her husband didn’t want to leave their home and business. As a result of this divide Sue said she would take the oldest daughter and youngest son and leave for safety, while her husband and the rest of the kids could stay. That idea didn’t go well with Yui-Hur so in 1977, Sue and Yui-Hur took the entire family together and fled to a refugee camp in Ubon, Thailand. They spent a little over two years there until 1980 when the Sacred Heart Catholic Church sponsored the family. The family settled in Warner Robins, Georgia and began life in America.
In Warner Robbins she worked as a house cleaner, a janitor at the Catholic School her children attended, and later work in restaurants preparing food. In 1987, together with her husband they would achieve the American dream and opened their own business, a restaurant in Macon, Georgia called The Silver Palace. Sue and her family wanted to continue their ambitious dreams and sought more opportunity by relocating the family to Atlanta, Georgia in 1989 to run another restaurant.
Shortly after relocating to Atlanta Sue would find herself with a growing family with the addition of many grandchildren. With a new grandchild being born every few years, Sue was doing what she does best, helping her children and raising their babies. From the early 1990s to the day of her passing she turned her attention away from the restaurant and started focusing on the family. She was the model housewife, mother, cook, caregiver, comedian, grandma and great grandma to a family that has grown to nearly two dozen. During this time every grandchild and great grandchild had been nurtured by her love and humility.
Sue may not have had much as she struggled to settle in the U.S., but what she did have she gave. She will always be remembered as a loving mother who kept a growing family together.
Sue is preceded in death by her husband Yui-Hur, a younger sister Chai Suping, daughter Chai Xiao Yun, and grandson Adam Elkins.
She is survived by her younger brother Thiem Sou Vilaysinh, three sisters Sue Jane Tang, Sue Mei Liu, and Sue Fung Pham, and her children Kim Liu (Ru Jen Liu), Ky Phanhsavath (Lilian Chong), Kham Chai (James Brown), Phet Phillips (Tyler Phillips), and Seng Phanhsavath (Akiko Yamashita); her grandchildren Ellis Liu (Riley Bowden), Jimmy Liu, Christian Nelson, Coby McClure, Conrad Chai, Aaron Chai (Jennifer Tilley), Halona Chai, Paxton Chai, Oswin Chai, Maxwell Phillips, and Fletcher Elkins and Jane Elkins; her great granddaughters Han-Yi Liu and Madison Chai, and many nieces and nephews.
COMPARTA UN OBITUARIO
v.1.8.18