Lee Chin Chen's Obituary
陳李錦 生平: 生於19陳李錦 生平: 生於1912年1月1日 台灣 臺南縣 王井, 她的生日也是一個非常特別的日子: 民國1年1月1日享年103歲, 跨越了整個世紀, 家中一男四女, 她是最小的, 她唯一的大哥（李條) 最疼她，送她進日治時代的小學念書, 畢業時她是全班唯一的女生, 中學念台南長榮女中, 會說和寫流利的日語, 而當時學的是羅馬拼音, 不會念的字是用羅馬拼音念出來的而不是用勹攵冂匚。 在她廿一歲時, 隨父兄之命, 嫁給留學日本的丈夫, 她的公公是當時有名的詩人也是當時的台南郡長吳乃占先生（入贅陳家）。她生了二男二女；陳築堤, 陳溫甫, 陳慈愛, 陳由美。 嫁入陳家之後, 盡心侍奉公婆, 婆婆是三寸金蓮的富家小姐, 與公婆她不但沒有代溝, 而且成為有名的好媳婦，同時公公又是有名的詩人, 且是台南南鯤鯓廟的董事長威風凜凜的大人物, 她在嫁入之後, 把公公緊湊的詩人聚會和各方政要埸合都一手佈置招待。 日據時代, 她的丈夫被派去中國南京當翻譯官, 她𢹂帶四個小孩在南京前後住了八年；在戰亂時期, 她的國語和日語都派上用塲, 小孩也進入日本學校築堤六年級, 溫甫四年級, 慈愛二年級, 由美糼稚園, 因此她的子女從小會說會寫或會聽日語。 那時有天出了一件件驚心動魄的事；在南京居住時她因感冒臥床時，她的4歲小女兒，走出家門走失了一整天，那時在戰亂時期，買賣小孩是經常發生的事，她和丈夫積極的尋找，終於在傍晩時在南京城門內側的警察局找回被壞人拐走的女兒，失而復得的一幕是她一生中一件很重要的回憶。 光復後, 她的丈夫等候軍事人員遣返.她獨自帶著四個孩子回台灣故鄉。 她的個性溫和䦕朗, 和藹可親, 樂於助人, 在鄉間, 稻米收成時縂會請家境困苦的農家來裝一斗一斗的稻米回家, 果實和疏菜就放在大路邊請大家自己拿, 她也養豬, 養火雞. 當時一位侄子因家境清寒, 無法註冊師範學校, 她把猪賣了，讓他能趕上註冊。這位侄子後來當了有名的敎授。 在家鄉, 她是一位有名的”牽新娘”有福氣的阿婆, 並時常受邀主持結婚時 “拜天公” 和新娘入門的種種禮節. 她在那時被選為光華村村長, 成為光復後台灣第一位女村長。在這個職位上, 她不斷爭取美援的到來, 讓村民有乳粉, 麵粉的配給, 每在清晨可看到大人小孩排隊來領煮好旳牛奶回家當早餐。 遷居台北時，丈夫是台北公共汽車管理處處長, 她以主管夫人的身份參加當時蔣宋美齡夫人主持的婦聯會, 積極參與婦女會活動, 當時的”金馬號”小姐, 就是由她主持訓練出來的。 不久, 慈愛的第一個兒子給了她抱孫子的喜愉, 接著築堤的第一個陳家內孫和溫甫接二連三的孫子的誕生, 她共有13個孫子, 17個曾孫.她在丈夫辭世後, 移民來美 。在她88歲髙齡時, 她以堅毅的精神, 準備應付申請美國公民的測試。她不僅背誦40個問題, 而且說聽流利, 筆試通過後，築堤和慈愛陪她去公民入籍口試, 他們戰戰兢兢的在門外等候, 但是在五分鐘之後門就開了, 面試官說你們的母親己經通過了, 讓他們又驚又喜, 原來考官問她 “Where is your husband?” 她説 “No more”, 考官再問她 “How many children do you have?” 她説 “2 boy. 2 girl” 考官馬上說 “OK” 就是這麼簡單! 那年是2000年, 從此長居美國, 享受天倫之樂。 在一個偶然的機會𥚃，遷居到日本人創辦的老人公寓，在那𥚃找到和老年人接觸的樂趣, 廣結朋友, 並在那時重拾她上敎會學校時，基督徒對神的信仰。她非常喜歡在每一個星期日在敎會，和敎友們聚會，旅遊, 唱卡拉OK， 作手工藝。她對折紙 “Origami” 的造型特別有研究, 在節日時，她折許多的紙鶴（Crane) 送給大家。她的四個子女家中有幾個人就有大大小小的紙鶴作紀念，直到最後因手用力過多，開始嚴重的背痛才停止, 而她的背痛竟然在一次南美卅之旅, 由一位骨科醫生在背上打了一針後即刻痊癒, 第二天竟然参加了南美習俗的農塲慶典, 快90歲的她竟然騎上一匹駿馬繞圈子, 非常可愛。 可惜在八年前腎臟功能開始衰退, 在築堤, 温甫和慈愛的照顧下認識了加州腎臟功能權威 Dr. Chaplin Liu, 開始每週三次的洗腎，她把最後一隻紙鶴送給Dr.Liu 因為他是商討她病情的三位醫生中唯一不放棄因高齡而洗腎的病人, 在她第一天洗腎時，Dr. Liu 手捧著那隻紙鶴向她走來，並告訴她這隻紙鶴是他的護身符（Lucky Charm), 從那天開始那隻紙鶴就在 Dr.Liu 的辦公桌上, .在她走時Dr.Liu 在她身邊流下眼涙.說她是一位 Great Lady! , 她是一位年齡最高而且能夠洗腎八年的洗腎病人，她的奮鬥精神永無止境。她現在好像在一個很高很遠的地方, 但卻是那麼近的活在我們的心中, 永遠和我們在一起 。 Biography of Lee Chin Chen: Lee Chin Chen was born in Tainan, Taiwan on January 1st, 1912, and passed away at the age of 103 on September 19th, 2014. She is survived by four children, 13 grandchildren, and 17 great grandchildren.She was the last girl of a family of four girls and one boy. As the only girl in the class, she finished primary school and graduated from Chang Jon Middle School in Tainan, learning to speak and write fluently in Japanese as it was during the Japanese era in Taiwan.At the age of 21, she married her husband, Chen De Xiou, who studied in Japan. Her father-in-law was a famous poet and the Governor of Tainan at the time. They had two boys and two girls, whom are named George, William, Jeanny and Yu Mei.Once married, she became an exemplary daughter in law, taking care of her aged mother-in-law and arranging frequent poetry readings with political figures for her father in law.During World War II, her husband was sent by the Japanese to mainland China as an interpreter, and they lived there for 8 years. At the time, there were very few who could speak both Mandarin and Japanese, thus her ability in both languages was very much admired. Her children: George completed the 6th grade, William the 4th grade, Jeanny the 2nd grade, and Yu Mei completed kindergarten all in a Japanese School, which is the reason why her children spoke Japanese from a young age.During that time, a terrifying day came upon the family; Lee Chin was sick in bed and her 4-year old daughter had stepped out the front door and gotten lost for an entire day. During this time of war, children were often stolen and put up for sale. It was an incredibly difficult and frightening day, but fortunately the little 4-year old was found, but this nightmare was one of the things that Lee Chin often remembered…When World War II ended, her husband remained in mainland China for military discharge, so she brought her children back to Taiwan, going back to her home town. Her personality radiated with kindness and gentleness, often helping whichever family was in need, and so she was elected as the Head of The Village, and was the first woman to hold this title in Taiwan.After her husband returned to Taiwan, they moved to Taipei, where Lee Chin began working with Madam Chan Kai Shek and the Union of Women Society.After her husband passed away, she immigrated to the United States, and at the age of 88 she began to prepare for the U.S. Citizenship test, committing all of the correct answers to memory, and passed the writing test.The day of the interview, she was accompanied by George and Jeanny, who were waiting outside impatiently. But it only took 5 minutes and the door was opened when the officer announced that she had passed the test. What happened was that the officer asked her: “Where is your husband?” to which she answered: “No more.” Then the officer asked: “How many children do you have?” And she answered: “Two boy, two girl.” Just as simple as that, she passed her interview. The year was 2000, and she was 88 years old. She lived in the United States since then with her family around her.At one unexpected opportunity, she moved in to a Japanese management’s apartment for elderly adults. She found another form of joy which was to be with friends and be in the company of people of the same age. During this time, she also experienced a beautiful spiritual rebirth, having studied Christianity at a young age in high school, Lee Chin decided to get baptized as a Christian at her very advanced age. From then on, prayer and Sunday Mass fulfilled much of her older life, as she continued to spend time with friends.Unfortunately, eight years ago she was diagnosed with kidney failure. She had the chance to meet Kidney Specialist Dr. Chaplin Liu, who is said to be the only doctor to have given a 95 years old patient dialysis treatment three times a week. Lee Chin gave Dr. Liu one of her origami paper cranes as a show of gratitude, and became the oldest patient and for the longest duration under dialysis treatment. That origami crane still sits on Dr. Liu’s desk, who says that it is his lucky charm from a great lady.Now she is at some very distant and high place, but at the same time we, family and friends, feel that she is right in our hearts, with her kindness, gentleness, happiness and love to others. She will stay with us forever.
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