Candice Chin

On June 25, 2022, Candice Chin, musician and loving wife, passed away at age 46.

Candice was born in Seattle on June 16, 1976. She attended Lake Washington High School and received her BA from UW with a dual major in economics and music. She earned an MBA degree and an MA degree in arts administration from the University of Cincinnati. Candice had a successful career in finance. Her work spanned the public and private sectors.

Candice's true love was playing the violin. She played with numerous local orchestras including North Corner Chamber Orchestra, Lake Union Civic Orchestra, Northwest Symphony Orchestra, Octava Chamber Orchestra, Seattle Modern Orchestra and Philharmonia Northwest. She was interim concertmaster for the Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra in 2018.

Candice was an avid chamber music player. She served on the boards of arts organizations including the Ladies Musical Club and the American Chamber Music Players. She was a beloved member of the Seattle classical music community.

Candice loved running. She completed the Tunnel Vision marathon in 2018 and the Baker Lake 50k ultramarathon in 2019. She was looking forward to running the New York marathon later this year.

Candice is survived by her husband Matt, her parents Peter and Esther, her brother Curtis, and her cousins aunts and uncles.

Her funeral service will be held on July 15, 2022, 10:30 AM at Acacia Memorial Park & Funeral Home. All who wish to honor Candice's life are welcome to attend.

Donations in Candice's honor may be made to the American Heart Association at https://www.heart.org/

Eulogy:

When we talk about Candice Chin on this day, what is possible to say about her? What is the truth that we can say for sure about Candice and her life?

Well, of course we have to start from the very beginning, Candice was born in Seattle on June 16, 1976 to Esther and Peter Chin. She had one younger brother Curtis Chin. She started playing piano early, at 7 years old, just after her birthday. Her mother Esther showed her the fingering for both hands, for fun, on a toy keyboard. To her mother’s amazement, she caught on immediately managing both hands after only 2 or 3 tries. She played 8 stanzas perfectly. A piano teacher, Nancy Drake, was immediately engaged and thought Candice had a true musical gift. Esther recalls that it was when Candice was about 11 years old, that she performed Bach’s “French Suite” and a piece by Debussy.

Lisa Bergman, an acclaimed pianist in the Seattle area, adjudicated a contest in which Candice played and told Esther that the way Candice played Debussy was what she considered to truly be the proper way it should be played. Ms. Bergman had not heard any piano student, much less one at Candice’s tender age, to sound any better. “l have finally found her!”, she exclaimed. “How proud l was as her mother”, Esther said.

Candice attended Lake Washington High School and received her BA from University of Washington with a dual major in economics and music. She earned an MBA degree and an MA degree in arts administration from the University of Cincinnati. Candice had a successful career in finance. Her work spanned the public and private sectors.

Matt had moved out to the Seattle area for an adventure. Their first date was at Chiso Sushi in Fremont in 2007. Matt hadn't eaten much sushi before and Candice admitted to Matt later that, “Your courage to try the octopus won me over!” He was a composer and they connected with their shared love of music from the beginning.

Candice loved Asian food, often discussing with her Aunt May the various trends in Asian food. Korean food was one of her favorites. Dim Sum was another. Candice got really excited when she traveled to LA with Matt and they had the best Korean BBQ “that could possibly exist”.

A memorable trip Candice took with her father, Peter, her Uncle Ed and Matt was to Hong Kong in 2016, which ended up being almost like a food tour, with one stop bringing out live prawns for the hot pot. At another stop she marveled at how good the Congee was. Candice was very fond of good food.

Candice was, in some way, a woman of contrasts.

She was so adventurous in her travels. In Bali, Matt and Candice took a terrifying boat ride over to Gili Meno Island. But in Europe she required Matt to have a chained and locked wallet for fear of pickpockets.

She was always planning financially for the future. She was meticulous in her planning. She used a daily planner; with a Color Coded system with check-marks next to things that she completed. For example, checking off whatever needed to be done for her violin practice, finance career, health and fitness, or the household. She was indeed disciplined.

But at the same time she would forget to put gas in the car. When driving to a family dinner she might ask Matt, “do you think we have enough gas?” With the car on empty, Matt couldn’t possibly know, but would say “I think we have enough to get there but we better stop after.”

She was an intense woman with a tremendous amount of drive. But her contrasting side was that she could be super silly and playful. She would do a playful dance in front of Matt if he wasn’t paying enough attention to her, and then continue to make Matt uncomfortable until he said “Ok, I’m listening.”

Recently Candice enjoyed some time off from finance in order to dedicate herself to violin playing. She practiced many hours per day. Her personal drive was very strong. She was very disciplined. She was proud and happy when she saw progress in her playing.

Candice and Matt very well might have been the happiest when they traveled. They eloped in Riomaggiore in the Cinque Terre in Italy. She was the planner for their travels. Matt confessed that if it had been up to him, they might not have gone anywhere. Candice made it happen. She was the organizer. She was excited like a little kid in the weeks leading up to a trip, doing a happy dance and handing Matt travel books; asking him what he wanted to do when they got there.

Their most adventurous trip was to Bali. Matt had been listening to Gamelan music and Candice suggested they go there. Candice made the trip happen. Among the many adventurous memories from Bali was a dinner on the beach of Gili Meno Island. A terrifying grilled fish with teeth and the whole head on the plate. It looked scary but tasted great.

When Matt went swimming in Bali with his iPhone in his pocket and lost it, she teased, “Good Job Bear!” Or when he lost the key to their cabin, she would repeat “Good Job Bear!” “Bear” was her term of endearment for Matt.

Candice made many deep and lasting friendships through music. Janis, a cellist, was a very good friend. They played together at the Gilbert and Sullivan show. On their breaks they would go out on adventures together and then share wonderful silly photos on Facebook. Candice would come out of herself to strike a silly pose and laugh freely. There are photos of her with Janis sewing PJs together. Candice was serious and disciplined but she also had levity and playfulness.

She would go on Korean food adventures with her friend Eun. Or laugh uncontrollably with her friend Morven. Once the two of them would get going they couldn’t stop giggling… when Matt was there he couldn’t quite figure out what they were even laughing about!

Candice loved the holidays. She and Matt took to hosting Thanksgiving, which wasn’t necessarily an easy undertaking for a big family. The very first time they offered to host Thanksgiving, Candice and Matt cleaned for days. Each year they cleaned a little less and got a little more efficient. Pretty soon the dishwasher was running before the guests had even left. She and Matt would high-fived when the guests left after another successful Thanksgiving.

Her father Peter would carve the turkey. Aunt Jane brought desserts. Aunt May brought the salad. Uncle Ed made the most delicious Chinese rice. The cat slept on Grandfather’s lap. She enjoyed being the host to her family.

Candice loved her cats Bones and Bishop. Bones was the first cat, adopted when he started coming around the old apartment on 62nd St in Ballard. Bishop was the bratty follow-up cat to Bones. Candice may have loved Bones a little too much. She was always worried for his health and he went to the vet more than any cat ever should. If he was just nibbling at his fur, Candice would say, “He’s itchy, he needs to go to the vet!” While Matt would caution, “I think he’s fine?” Bones is a smoke fur cat with a plethora of nicknames: like Smokes, or Mr. Smokes, Mokes, Boney, Mr. Slim, Mr. Chirps, Mr. Soprano and Sir Yells A Lot!

Curtis, Candice’s brother, an artist, would give Candice incredible drawings of Bones and Bishop at each Christmas and each of Candice’s birthdays. One of her favorites is a playing card where Bishop is depicted as a bishop, and Bones is depicted as a king. Candice marveled at Curtis’ ability to capture the character of the cats in so many creative ways. Candice just loved and treasured these gifts so very much from her brother.

Candice also loved running. She completed the Tunnel Vision Marathon in 2018 and the Baker Lake 50k ultra-marathon in 2019. Matt was her support crew. She wasn’t a competitive runner; she didn’t care how long it took to complete a race. But she was determined to finish. She kept spreadsheets of her training schedule. She was going to run the NY City Marathon but it was canceled due to the pandemic. She was looking forward to running it later this year.

Matt wasn’t a runner, but she convinced him to run the Tunnel to Viaduct 8k run/walk with her in 2019. After that he ran a couple of 5k races with her, but he could not keep up!

It is easy to say that Candice was the most proud of her music. Her true love was playing the violin. She played with numerous local orchestras and was an avid chamber music player. She combined her knowledge of finance with her love of music by serving on the boards of arts organizations such as the American Chamber Music Players.

One of her mother’s proudest moments of Candice was when she was asked to be the President of Ladies Music Club a few years ago. It was a 2 year appointment. The LMC is the oldest womens musicians club with over a 130 year history. Candice fulfilled her duties with such dedication. Her parents were very proud of her and her accomplishments.

A “close second” of what she was the most proud of was her career and her education, being the first in the family to obtain a Masters. Aunt May said she had a right to be very proud of building really good financial models. She was very good at what she did. She was the Director of Finance, Financial Planning and Analysis, both in the public sector (City of Seattle and City of Bellevue) and in non-profits (Seattle Symphony, The Gates Foundation and the Center for Infectious Disease Research, or CIDR). She was instrumental in the merging of CIDR into the Seattle Children’s Hospital. She also worked in the private sector for Starbucks, Remitly (a remittance payment company) and most recently Medable (which develops platforms for medical clinical trials).

Needless to say, her bosses and colleagues really valued her at work and enjoyed her presence.

I want to conclude with a story of a trip to France that Candice had planned with Matt for next week, four days from now…

One day, in April, Candice and Matt were having dinner at Thai Siam in Ballard. Candice said to Matt, “I have a proposal. You don’t have to answer right now. Promise you won’t get mad! I want to go on a week-long meditation retreat at Plum Village Monastery in France. Do you want to go with me?”

Her friend Akemi from Youth Symphony went on to become a Buddhist Nun at the Plum Village Monastery in France associated with Thich Nhat Hanh. Akemi was able to visit Candice in Seattle from time-to-time, but Candice wanted to see what Akemi’s life at the monastery was like. And Candice had been meditating and wanted to learn more.

Matt started getting mad and complained that he could think of 1000 things he would rather do than meditate all day. Candice reminded him not to get mad and not to decide right away. Candice assured Matt that Akemi said “you don’t have to participate in the meditation if you don’t want to…” and that they have WiFi at the monastery. Matt said that he would be starving because they mindfully eat vegetarian meals at the monastery. Candice said, “maybe you could bring some power bars”.

The day came when booking the retreat on-line became available. Candice came to Matt frantically with her laptop, saying that the booking wasn’t working. Matt tried every browser, Chrome, Firefox, Safari, even Brave, but the booking would not work.

Now it became clear to Matt how much this trip meant to her. Spaces were filling up and it looked like they were not going to be able to make this happen. Then Matt said, “Why don’t you contact Akemi and let her know what happened?”

Akemi was able to help them get into the main hamlet. By this time Matt knew that he wanted to share this experience with Candice and even admitted that he wanted to learn and participate, though as he put it, “I better be enlightened after all of that.”

Candice became so excited about the trip to France, like a kid in a candy store. She planned a beautiful vacation with days in Paris before the monastery including a “Secret Food Tour”. Matt said, “there’s no way I’m going to the Louvre”, and Candice agreed that it is too crowded so she booked a tour at a less crowded art museum.

After Paris she had booked a train to Dordogne where Akemi would arrange for transportation to the monastery.

After the meditation retreat, Candice had booked a car to explore southern France. She knew how much Matt loved to drive, having driven across the USA with him in 2018 and to the Grand Canyon in 2020, so she knew he would be excited about driving in France. She booked a tour of the prehistoric caves, something she knew Matt would enjoy.

This trip was all she talked about. Every morning Matt heard her practicing French with Duo Lingo. She left French travel books on her nightstand.

Akemi was shocked and heartbroken by Candice’s death. She shared with Matt that they have chanted and sat in her honor at the monastery and held a ceremony for her. Matt was deeply moved by this. Akemi said to Matt, “You can come anytime. Many people come here to grieve.” Matt hopes to make that spiritual journey in Candice’s memory sometime soon.

Candice will be remembered as a woman who was intensely dedicated to her music and to her family and friends. She will be remembered for her smile and her laughter. She was a beloved member of the Seattle classical music community.

She also leaves behind her husband, her parents Peter and Esther, her brother Curtis, and her cousins, aunts and uncles.

We are going to miss this incredibly accomplished woman of many talents and loves, Candice. But we will treasure all the memories she made with us deeply in our hearts, forever.