Yeen-Mei “Amy” Wu was born in 1935 to Tun-Li Wu and Yuan Y Wu in Taichung, Taiwan. She had 5 siblings: a sister and 4 brothers. Yeen-Mei came to the US in 1959 and enrolled in the School of Librarianship at UC Berkeley. After graduating with a Master of Library Science degree, she came to Seattle with her husband and two children. In 1969, she was hired as a Chinese Studies Librarian at University of Washington’s Far Eastern Library, later renamed to the East Asia Library. She worked there until she retired in 2001.

While working at the East Asia library, Yeen-Mei made numerous important contributions. She helped develop the Twenty-Five Dynastic Histories database, providing full-text searchable versions of key traditional Chinese histories. She expanded its book acquisition network from Taiwan and Hong Kong to include mainland China and presented a paper at an international conference held at Beijing Library, which later became the National Library of China. She was elected chair of the Committee on Chinese Materials (1996-1999) of the Council on East Asia Libraries.

Yeen-Mei was actively involved in the Taiwanese community. In 1970, she was part of a group that founded the Taiwanese Association of Greater Seattle and was elected chair of the Association from 1985-87. She served as chair of the Greater Seattle Taiwanese Women’s Club from 2006-08.

In 1992, Yeen-Mei purchased a small waterfront cabin on Camano Island. It became her favorite place to relax with friends, write uninterrupted, walk on the beach and collect rocks.

Yeen-Mei was always an avid traveler, and that only increased after her retirement in 2001. She visited most countries in Europe, several in Asia and Asia-Pacific, Africa, and Central and South America.

Yeen-Mei loved gardening and gardens, tended to many indoor and outdoor plants, often sharing cuttings with friends. Some of her favorite flowers were camelias, hydrangeas and roses.

Yeen-Mei passed away peacefully on November 29, 2022 – a quiet, bright and snowy morning. We will all miss her greatly. She is survived by her children, Leigh Floyd (Tom), and Li-Kai Chang, and her grandchildren, Jack, Mary, and Quinn Floyd, and Alex and Marcus Chang.

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