James Cheng Hsiung Chen

James Cheng-Hsiung Chen was born to Ching-Hsiu Chen and Pi-Yu Chou on June 17, 1944 in Taipei, Taiwan. He came from a humble family of nine and was the middle child (fourth youngest). Along with his siblings, James helped run his family owned neighborhood grocery store throughout his childhood. Even at a young age he was a dutiful son and did construction work to help out the family during summer vacation.

Coming from a family with limited resources, he understood the importance of education and treasured any opportunities to learn. He graduated first in his class from Ta-Lung Tung Elementary School (now Talung Elementary School) and successfully entered Chien-Kuo Middle School/Junior High School. He placed third in the High School Entrance exam and continued to Chien-Chung High School in Taipei where he served as Class President for three years. He eventually entered National Taiwan University's Department of Civil Engineering followed by service in Taiwan's army where he passed the Special Examination of the Taiwan Provincial Civil Engineering Staff.

After working with the Tseng-Wen Reservoir Engineering Bureau where he was responsible for construction of the water conduit spillway system, he transferred to the Expressway Engineering Bureau of the Ministry of Communications in Chilung (Keelung), Taiwan where he worked in quality construction inspection.

Upon graduation from National Taiwan University, he met Shu-Chin Hsieh. He courted Shu-Chin for three years before she agreed to marry him. They ended up marrying in 1972, and had their eldest son, David. His wife had a dream to raise their children in the US and James had the courage to carry it out and leave ahead of his family for the United States in 1974 on Research Assistantships for Mechanical and Structural engineering at the University of Washington.

During his graduate years he continued his incredible work ethic as he taught supplemental school in the evening to care for his family and to offset his tuition. He eventually received dual master degrees from the University of Washington, but more importantly he started laying the foundation for the family he faithfully loved and cared for his entire life in Seattle. His wife and son rejoined him in 1975 while he was finishing his studies at the University.

He worked at Whitely Jacobsen & Associates followed by KPFF. In 1981, Stanford, his youngest son was born. He later worked with Lin & Associates and finally joined the City of Seattle's Department of Construction and Land-Use (DCLU) where he worked dutifully from 1984-2010 (26 years).

He had an extremely selfless giving heart. He served his city, his community, his family and his church as a devoted Christian for his entire life in Seattle. His kindness was felt by friends and family as well as any person he met. James was very warm and friendly, and would frequently engage in friendly conversation to complete strangers anywhere (i.e., in a restaurant, grocery store, waiting for the bus, etc.). Friends, acquaintances, and even complete strangers all felt his warmth. Earlier this year, he welcomed his daughter in-law, Yeeun An, to the family with open arms.

After his courageous two and a half year bout with Stage IV stomach cancer, he went to be with the Lord on September 30, 2012.