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In memory of

Meishueh Yuki Chen

Dracut, MA, USA

August 14, 1933 - January 27, 2020

Aug 14, 1933 - Jan 27, 2020

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Meishueh Yuki Chen died Monday, January 27, 2020, at High Pointe House in Haverhill, Massachusetts. By her side were her son Michael Chen, daughter Julie Chen and her spouse Susu Wong. She was preceded in death by her husband of 60 years, Inan Chen, who died in April 2019. She is survived by her son Michael Chen and his spouse Magda Gilewicz and their daughter Lucienne Chen, of Fresno, California; and her daughter Julie Chen and her spouse Susu Wong, of Wilmington, Massachusetts, as well as numerous family members in Taiwan and the U.S.

Yuki moved with Inan to Dracut, Massachusetts in 2010 from their home in Webster, New York, where they had lived since 1965. She was born and grew up in Taipei, Taiwan, with her parents and eight siblings. She met her husband Inan in a mathematics class as college freshmen. Yuki was a pioneer for women in higher education in Taiwan as she was one of the first women to attend National Taiwan University and to study Mathematics. She was a gifted mathematician who was chosen as a teaching assistant for the Mathematics program, a position that is normally a precursor to continuing into the academic field.

She and Inan married in 1959, a culmination of a long friendship. Their courtship was notable as it was uncommon at that time in Taiwan for students to spend time together on campus as a couple and this close relationship was noticed by other students. Their marriage was different because it had not been previously arranged by family, which was the tradition in Taiwan at the time.

In 1962, a year after the birth of their son Mike, Yuki made the difficult and challenging journey to join Inan who had earlier moved to Michigan to continue his graduate studies. She traveled alone, carrying her infant son, all the luggage, and was formally dressed, with make-up and in high heels (which was the norm for airplane travel at the time). Since planes did not have much range, they had to make several stops to change planes in order to cross the Pacific Ocean and make it to America where they met up with Inan in Michigan. After Inan received his doctorate from the University of Michigan in Nuclear Physics, Yuki and the family, now with daughter Julie, moved to Webster, NY, where Inan began work as a research scientist for Xerox, a company he stayed with for over 30 years.

Yuki developed an interest in art and learned to paint in the spare time she had while working to raise two children and take care of the family household. She became an accomplished painter of landscapes and still life scenes in oils, acrylics and watercolor, and won awards for her work in art shows. Yuki enjoyed transforming images she saw in life and from photographs onto the canvas and added her interpretations of mood to those scenes. Many of her works reflected the environment of her nearby Upstate New York surroundings as well as her experiences visiting other parts of America as well as other countries. She paid close attention to nature and liked to paint the beautiful trees, flowers, greenery, lakes and waterways, and magnificent landscapes she saw. She painted to show the beauty and detail of those things around us that we might miss during our hurried daily lives.

After her husband's retirement, Yuki and Inan moved to Dracut, Massachusetts, to be near her daughter Julie and her spouse Susu. Yuki became involved with the Dracut Senior Center's Bone Builders Program where she was an active member and would help teach. She had a special interest in the link between nutrition and health. She studied many resources to find how different diets, plants, and traditional Asian practices involving pressure points and holistic methods could improve health and prevent illnesses. She shared this information with others to help educate them in methods to relieve ailments and stave off problems related to aging.

Yuki used this knowledge to help Inan when he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and she cared for him at home for many years. Her knowledge of nutritional methods to help improve brain activity became an important part of the treatment for Inan as she used what she learned to help him with his Alzheimer's. She also practiced solving many math puzzles as a way to stimulate her brain and help delay age-associated memory impairment. Inan contracted pneumonia last year and this eventually led to his death in April 2019.

After Inan's death, Yuki remained in their home in Dracut and was visited frequently by Julie and Susu. She resumed attending the Bone Builder's classes at the Dracut Senior Center. In January 2020, Yuki suffered a stroke which affected her ability to speak. She was in a rehabilitation facility to recover her ability to communicate when she had a second stroke and a heart attack. She moved to a hospice facility where her son, daughter and daughter-in-law stayed with her until her death on January 27.

We would like to thank all the friends and family who were a large part of her life and who were able to visit her or send their messages of support and sympathy. We will miss our mother greatly but we will always have fond memories of her and know that she will have left an impact with the many people she has met over the years.

No formal funeral services will be held, but a joint celebration of Yuki and Inan's life will be planned for the future, and this will be posted later.

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In lieu of flowers we request friends make a donation in her name to the Dracut Senior Center's Bone Builders Program. This can be done through this gofundme site:

gf.me/u/xgsqz8

This sends the donation to the Community Teamwork of Lowell non-profit which will them give the donation to the Dracut Senior Center's Bone Builders Program. The gonfundme site charges 2.9% plus 30 cents for processing, but also prompts for a voluntary tip, which you can decline to add (or change to a minimal amount from their default percentage).

All funds will be given in your name in memory of Yuki Chen as a donation to the Dracut Senior Center's Bone Builder's program.

The funds may go to buying weights and necessary equipment to help the Bone Builder's program, as well as for refreshments for participants when they have get-togethers to promote the program.

Donations also can be made by check to:

Friends of the Dracut Elderly

Please reference that the donations be directed to:
The Dracut Senior Center's Bone Builder's Program

They can be dropped off or mailed to:

Dracut Senior Center
951 Mammoth Rd
Dracut MA 01826

We recommend donations directly to the Bone Builders program or through the gofundme site rather than through the donation link posted on this memorial site.
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