Soedarto Souw's Obituary
SOEDARTO SOUW – OBITUARY – SAN MATEO, CASoedarto Souw (Tietie) passed away at home in San Mateo, California early on Thursday morning, March 31, 2016 at the age of 82 due to stage 4 cirrhosis.Born on April 30, 1933 in Jombang, East of Java Indonesia, Soedarto grew up as the youngest of three children to father, Tjie Tiang Souw, and mother, Lik Nio Tan. Raised primarily by his mother and older siblings, Soedarto was given the opportunity to go to school and live a simple childhood.During a time of war and Japanese occupation, the import of cars to the country stopped and the industry of buying and selling used cars became more popular in Indonesia. In this time, a young Soedarto became a car salesman. He had a charismatic personality and an amiability that made him a great businessman. Through his work, he had a lot of friends and a large network of connections.Opportunities changed and Soedarto found himself in Probolinggo, East of Java Indonesia where he was asked to teach English for a short time. Whilst there, he first met and became friends with Tuty Heriawaty at a school musical talent show. Eventually, they fell in love and got married on December 22, 1957. They moved to Surabaya, East of Java Indonesia where they started a new life and family together. He continued to work for more than 30 years as a car salesman to provide for his wife and two daughters.In 1999, Soedarto and his wife immigrated to the United States to where his sister and eldest daughter had been living. On October 14, 2004, he was proud to be an American citizen and lived the remainder of his life around close family.For the last few years, Soedarto was talented at playing the harmonica, watched his granddaughter grow up, and enjoyed his wife’s cooking.He is survived by his wife, Tuty Heriawaty (San Mateo, CA), his daughters, Twan Nio (San Mateo, CA) and Susan Souw (San Mateo, CA), his son-in-law, Bobby Nio, his granddaughter, Monica Nio (San Mateo, CA), and his older sister, Lin Su (San Mateo). He is predeceased by his older brother, Thiat Kian.Soedarto Souw’s service will be held at Skylawn Memorial Park in San Mateo, California on Saturday, April 9, 2016 at 9:00am. An off-site reception for friends and family will follow at 2:00pm (please contact family). For more information about the service, please contact twanbobnio (at) yahoo (dot) com.
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