Luna (Hsien-Shih Yü) Fung passed away quietly on April 14, 2017 at the age of 94, at home with her husband and children at her side. She slept and did not awaken. She was peaceful and comfortable, for which we are grateful. She was the wife of Dr. Yuan-Cheng Bert Fung for 68 wonderfully fulfilling years. She was born on January 27, 1923, in Tianjin, China to mother Pan Cheng-Lan and father Yü Chuanjian, both educators. She was the fourth of six sisters, of whom two survive, Helena Hsien-Tsai Yü of Burlingame, CA and Yü Xianyue of Tianjin, China. She was preceded in death by sisters Yü Xianwen, Yü Xianling, and Yü Xianwu. She and her sisters graduated from Nankai Middle School, co-founded and administered by their father, and Luna earned a degree in math from National Central University in Chungking, China, where she met the young graduate student who would become her future husband, Yuan-Cheng Fung. She taught math and English at Shu Guang Middle School before emigrating to the US in 1947 to attend graduate school at UCLA. She received an M.A. in Mathematics from UCLA and her teaching credential from Claremont Graduate School. She taught calculus and geometry at Citrus College in Azusa, CA from 1960 until moving to La Jolla, CA in 1966. Luna and Y.C. Fung were married in December 1949 in Pasadena, CA. Thirty years later, and again forty years later, she was still able to wear her wedding dress for a photo recreation on their anniversary. She raised her two children in Pasadena, and hosted countless get-togethers for Caltech faculty, students, and friends across the Los Angeles basin and later for UCSD friends, colleagues, and students in La Jolla. She turned to volunteer work, teaching math to school children and English to foreign visitors; investing, sewing, gardening, creating jewelry; and devoting innumerable hours to the UCSD Hospital Auxiliary, Newcomers, Oceanids, Friends of the International Center and Resale Shop. She “extended her love of family to UCSD students, colleagues, and to the flowers, shrubs, trees, and every blade of grass in the garden and nature everywhere” and to her goldfish and the hummingbirds and cats and mourning doves (Zenaida macroura) that came to visit in her gardens. She was a scholar and an artist. She is remembered for her strong and quiet personality, her wonderful cooking, and her ability to edit complex equations for the first six books of Y.C. Fung. She enjoyed the Ladies’ Lunch group, hosting foreign dinners for the International Center, and traveling the world to visit family, colleagues, and former tutees. Small animals and children always brought a smile to her face. She is survived by her devoted husband Y.C. Fung, loving children Conrad A. Fung of Brookfield, WI, and Brenda Fung Manos of Belmont, MA, and three grandsons, Nicholas Manos of Los Angeles, CA, and Anthony Fung and Michael Fung of Brookfield, WI. She also leaves her sisters, an elder brother-in-law, sisters-in-law, and an extended family of nieces, nephews, grand-nieces, grand-nephews and two new great-grand-nephews in the US and China. She will also be missed by her caregivers including Rosa, Felina, Lucy, Isabel, and their families, who made all the difference in her final years. A memorial service and celebration of life will be held at 12:30 PM on Saturday, May 13th, 2017 at El Camino Memorial Park (Sorrento Valley), 5600 Carroll Canyon Rd, San Diego 92121. Interment and a reception will follow at the same site Family and friends are invited. Flowers may be sent to the mortuary or in lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be sent to the Friends of the International Center at the University of California, San Diego (https://icenter.ucsd.edu/friends/index.html); or to a favorite cause of your choice.
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.8.18