Delly Chiu Wong's Obituary
In the warm and loving embrace of her family, Delly Chiu Wong passed peacefully in her home in San Francisco on the evening of Tuesday, March 20, 2018, after a valiantly-fought, 7-month battle with Pancreatic Cancer.Generous and caring by nature, Delly devoted her life to her family and lived in service of friends, colleagues, and even strangers, often placing her needs second to those of others. She possessed a deep love of cooking and eating delicious food, tending to her verdant garden, and traveling the world. Much like she did for her loved ones, Delly cherished and cared for nearly 200 hearty orchid plants; her favorite flower. Not only speaking the languages of love and compassion, Delly was a polyglot, fluent in 9 languages.Born on December 10, 1957 in Manila, Philippines to Pura Ye and Poo Lim Chiu, Delly often spoke of the grit and determination she developed early on in life. Her children, Daisy and Phillip, were well-accustomed to hearing her recite one of her favorite Chinese sayings, “One must taste bountiful bitterness before truly enjoying splendid sweetness.”After immigrating to San Francisco at the age of 14, Delly nurtured her American Dream under the stern but loving guardianship of her grandmother, Ham Si Choa Wing, in San Francisco’s Chinatown. After studying at Galileo High School and City College of San Francisco, all while working long hours serving dim sum at the “Golden Dragon” restaurant at Washington and Grant, she went on to hold a career spanning nearly two decades as an Executive Assistant for MCI, and its various successors, before being forced into temporary retirement during the Great Recession of 2008. In the summer of 1978, Delly met and fell in love with her devoted husband, Peter. They spent 38 wonderfully happy years together traveling the world, raising their children, and supporting and lifting each other’s dreams.Between 2004 and 2016, Delly began working on her most prized project: the reconstruction and expansion of her modest Sunset home into a safe haven intended to house multiple generations of her family, including her aging parents and growing children. Even this was not enough to satisfy her passion for service. Wanting to reenter the workforce, and without opportunities to resume work in her former capacity, Delly returned to City College of San Francisco in 2015 to become a certified custodian, eventually working for the City and County of San Francisco at Laguna Honda Hospital, then Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital on a temporary basis, before becoming permanently employed at Laguna Honda. As expected of someone of her nature, she became fast friends with her fellow colleagues, nurses, doctors, and her patients.Delly, raised Roman Catholic, thrived in her Buddhist faith, regularly attending the Miu Kuang Temple and praying fervently and devoutly.Delly is survived by Peter, her husband of 38 years; daughter, Daisy; son, Phillip; mother, Pura; sister, Maggie, brother-in-law, Neil, nieces, Courtney and Jeanette, and nephew, Ellis; brother, Ronny; and sister-in-law, Cathy. Delly will also be missed by her vast community of friends and will continue to live on through their memories. A Celebration of Life service will be held at 11 AM on Saturday, April 7, 2018 at Skylawn Funeral Home and Memorial Park.In lieu of flowers, the Wong Family welcomes donations in Delly’s name to the UCSF Pancreas Center (http://makeagift.ucsf.edu/PancreasCenter) or to Kaiser Hospice (mail checks to Kaiser Hospice Department, 4131 Geary Blvd 4th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94118. Donations made in Honor of Mrs. Delly C. Wong).
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