Celia Fu-Mei Chiu's Obituary
Celia Fu-Mei Chiu (1941-2022)
Celia Fu-mei Chiu was born on December 1, 1941 in Taipei, Taiwan. She was the youngest of four children.
Celia attended Songshan National Primary School, Taipei Third Middle School for Girls, and Taipei First Girls High School. She was an avid reader, and she loved to socialize. Up until she passed away, she kept in close touch with her childhood friends. Celia received her nursing degree from the Department of Science, National Taiwan University. Following graduation, she stayed at the university as a nurse in the Physical Therapy department. She then gained admission to the nursing program at McGill University and moved halfway around the world to Montreal, Quebec. Upon completion, she moved to Manhattan where she worked as a surgical nurse.
In 1966, she met Te-Long Chiu through mutual friends, and they began writing each other letters. They married in Urbana, Illinois where Te-Long was a graduate student at the University of Illinois. Upon his graduation, they moved to Dutchess County, New York where they had three children, Kenneth, Frank, and Margaret. Beginning in 1976, the family moved West--first to Houston, Texas and then to San Jose, California in 1980. In each new city, Celia searched out and found a Taiwanese community in which she met new and old friends.
Once the children were grown, Celia enjoyed traveling the world with friends and family. She enjoyed touring Japan, Korea, China, Thailand, Russia, Croatia, Austria, France, Germany, Dhubai, and Alaska among other places. In her later years, she would travel to Taiwan to visit family and friends. She cared deeply about Taiwan and was a member of NATWA(North America Taiwanese Women's Association), an organization dedicated to promoting women's interests across Taiwan.
In 2017, Celia and Te-Long moved to Foster City, California where she liked to walk around the lagoon, receive visits from family, and keep in touch with her many friends.
She passed away on December 26, 2022, on her first trip back to Taipei since the pandemic. She had recently turned 81. She will be dearly missed by her husband Te-Long, two sons, Kenneth Chiu (Fanny) of Keelung, Taiwan and Frank Chiu (Lisa) of Los Altos, CA, her daughter Margaret Chiu Greanias (Robert) of Los Altos, CA, her five grandchildren, Hannah and Benjamin Chiu and Katherine, John, and Alexandra Greanias, her brother, and nieces and nephews.
Funeral service will be held on Sunday, February 12 at 10:30 a.m. in the Pacific Chapel at Skylawn Funeral Home and Memorial Park. Burial will follow the service at Skylawn Memorial Park. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made in her name to NATWA, an organization close to her heart. Donations ( check payable to "NATWA") can be sent to the following address:
NATWA C/O Bi Huey Wu
91 Kellogg Way
Santa Clara CA 95051
A zoom link is available for those that wish to attend via zoom:
https://www.econdolence.com/nr1l2a1c
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