Kao Shuk-Ching (Rosemary Chen) was born on May 22, 1954 in Taiwan. She grew up as a middle child in a household of five children, having an older sister, older brother, and two younger brothers. Her father founded an academic test prep program in Taiwan while her mother was a housewife.
While growing up in Taiwan, a group of Christians knocked on her family’s door to preach the gospel. They left a photo bookmark of the US, which piqued her interest in both the Lord and living in the United States.
When it was time for her to attend college, she applied to universities in the US, despite knowing little English and being the first in her family to live abroad. She had both cultural and lingual challenges to overcome; once she mistakenly purchased a denture glue instead of toothpaste, which her roommates kindly pointed out to her. She received a BS in Business in 1981 from the University of Arkansas. She married in 1982 and had two children, Sabrina and Samuel. While helping her husband in the family restaurant business, she studied to take the CPA exam. She took the exam three times and joyfully passed on the third try, not an easy feat for a Chinese immigrant who was still grasping English.
Rosemary worked at the City of Dallas for 13 years in departments related to site auditing and later in the financial department at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center. With her CPA, she also had a side business where she completed customer’s personal and business tax returns. Her dream was to open a tax office of her own.
As her family and friends can attest, she had a very playful side to her personality. One of her favorite stories to tell was about growing up in Taiwan and involved a case of mistaken identity. While walking home one day, she thought she saw a friend at a bus stop. Without hesitation, she rolled up a newspaper, ran up to the girl, and smacked her backside with it! When the girl turned around, she quickly realized to her horror that it was not her friend and ran off, no doubt a bit embarrassed and amused.
Rosemary was also kind-hearted and caring. She was happiest when she could help people, and if she couldn’t, she would send her son in her place, oftentimes without asking him first. Her big heart was reflected in her spare time as well. She enjoyed volunteering at the Dallas Arboretum. This gave her an opportunity to be outside in the sunshine, one of her favorite pastimes. It also helped that as a volunteer, she could get free admission to the garden grounds.
Her belief in the Lord was an important part of her life. Although there were times when she struggled with the Lord, she enjoyed being with fellow believers, eating together with them, speaking the gospel, and getting into the truths of the Bible.
Rosemary was preceded in death by her parents and a younger brother and is survived by her daughter, Sabrina, and her son, Samuel.
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