Mrs. Yueh-Yen Yan

by Yiton Yan

My mother was born on June 27, 1931, at home in Wu-Chi town, Taichung Hsien, Taiwan. She is the 7th child among the nine children of my grandparents, Tien-Pau and Hong-Gen Wang Chen. Her elder siblings are three brothers, Yao-Kun, Yao-Qi, and Yao-Shen, and three sisters, Bu, Ran, and Shu, and her younger siblings are one brother, Chi, and one sister, Cho-Li. Despite being raised in a typical farmer’s family, my mother was given the opportunity to receive an education instead of needing to help her brothers with the farm work. However, the passing of both her father and eldest brothers and the constant bombings that occurred at her elementary and middle schools during World War II caused her a great deal of stress throughout her formal school years.

In 1950 at the age of 19, she married my father, Chao-Ching Yan, the eldest son of 8 siblings in a large and very traditional farmer’s family. She had to do a lot of work for the family, which included tasks that were very difficult for her since she had never learned how to do farm work before her marriage. However, she managed to cope with the work after a long period of adjustment. Her eldest son, Yiton, was born at this time and her second son, Yi-Chan, was born 3 years later.

A very difficult time came when giving birth to my sister, Shufen. Immediately after Shufen was born my mother was sent to Taida medical hospital for surgery due to an illness that was becoming more severe. What made matters even worse was that soon after, my father at the age of 29, was drafted for a two-year military service, which had the potential of joining a real battle. I often saw my mother in tears during those days. Due to my mother’s long stay in the hospital (my impression) and the financial shortage, new-born Shufen’s desperately needed nutrition was cut short, which had consequences on her future development both in health and academics. Worst of all, Yi-Chan was infected with pneumonia and passed away due to her poor immune system that resulted from a lack of nutrition. To her, this was the end of the world. I am not sure if she has ever fully healed over this. After my father’s retirement from the military service, the difficulty of the financial shortage had gradually eased. My younger sister Susan was born, and then two years later my younger brother Yi-Yi was born. Unfortunately, my mother had to endure yet another tragedy when Susan’s life was cut short due to a pneumonia infection 40 years later.

With my mother’s background, she did not know how to teach us academic subjects such as literature and mathematics. However, what she gave us was something much greater, “love” and “trust”. With her love, our minds were always peaceful and grateful, and our brothers and sisters established strong family ties. With her trust, we were free to pursue our own developments. We all received higher education, with the exception of Shufen, who had a very disadvantaged development as a baby. I (Yiton) received my Ph.D. Degree in Physics from UCLA, and Yi-Yi received his Doctoral Degree in Mechanical Engineering from National Chao-Tung University in Taiwan.

My mother, along with my father, emigrated from Taiwan to the United States about 20 years ago. By that time she had already been very accustomed to the life style here in the U.S. Perhaps since her childhood, the past three years have been the happiest time of her life; she enjoyed watching musical events in my house and enjoyed outdoor activities alone or with her friends. That was the same kind of opportunity we brothers and sisters enjoyed with her love, trust, and support, but she never had that kind of experience before coming to the U.S. My father, we brothers and sister and their spouses, Chiung-Ying, Li-mei, and Pichu, her adopted daughter Choi-Mei, and her grandsons Posu and Pochun, granddaughters Wen-Mei, Wenfang, and Chia-Chi will miss her forever. We will always remember what she always expected us to be.