Alice Yeun Ling Hsieh Miao

In preparing to honour my mother, I was rooting through boxes and photobooks to find items to help illustrate her life. In this research, I happened to stumble upon various versions of my mom’s resume. As much as I am at a loss for words at her sudden loss, these documents did help me to frame what type of woman Alice Hsieh (née Miao) was.

Academic … After fleeing Communist mainland China with my grandparents, mom grew up in Taiwan. This eventually led to her completing Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in botany. Further pursuit of higher education led her to studying for another Master’s in biology at the University of Windsor. Unfortunately, she was not able to complete that degree because of some child being born.

Ambassador … Establishing roots in Windsor, mom expended huge amounts of energy to teach the area about Chinese culture. She was a pillar of the Chinese community having worked for the Essex County Chinese Association on a project investigating a Chinatown for Windsor as well as spending years working with the International Chinese Canadian Benevolent Association on various cultural programs involving language and traditions. I have fond memories of spending time with her (more like pestering) at the Chinese site for a few editions of the annual Carousel of Nations event.

Artist … Creative endeavours were a huge part of her life. Her pen name was “Ku Feng”. She loved painting in black and white with images of bamboo as her favourite. She would paint on rice paper, silk and pottery using water colours, ink stones, pencils and markers. She made jewelry out of magazines and wrappers as well as hand painted stationary and bookmarks with little calendars attached. She held multiple exhibitions at galleries around Windsor and Detroit as well as displays at public libraries. My favourite pictures of her are with her in a red shirt demonstrating Chinese painting at Devonshire Mall especially the one with her having a brush in each hand.

Educator … Merging her imagination as an artist with her willingness to share Chinese culture, mom began teaching painting to the community. I remember sitting in the family car to pick her up from the adult learning facility after said classes. Yet, her instruction prowess was not limited to just art. She also taught Mandarin and with her parents, brought some of the first classes of Tai Chi to Windsor through the YMCA and other community programs.

Writer … As another medium to express herself, she also was a correspondent writing essays for the World Journal Chinese Daily News. She published (43) essays. Not sure if she had a competition with my grandfather in that regards but I do remember the insistence on finding and buying that newspaper on a regular basis.

Volunteer … Mom often assisted with fund raising and charity events for various organizations but I will always remember her walking to Grace Hospital every Sunday morning and spending a few hours helping out there. She was very dedicated to the endeavor and stopped only with the closing of the hospital.

Provider … Mom was a single parent starting in my teen years. With all the things she was involved with and working on, she was always there for me and always provided for me with no disappointment.

As I review what I have written, I find myself in awe. This is particularly true when considering the time period this all happened. In many ways, mom was a pioneer in championing diversity and cultural enrichment. As sad as I am in losing my mom, I am just as sad that the community has lost her as well. I was so lucky to have a loving mother that taught me how to live with honesty, loyalty and respect for the world and its people. In the end, for all the words I was able to think of while speaking about my mom, the one word that really comes to mind for me is “proud”.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donations to the Salvation Army, United Way or your local Alzheimer's Society.