The life of Ya-Chun Tao Chen is a celebrated story of how courage, perseverance, and determination at life’s most crucial moments can shape and lead the path to a meaningful and fulfilling life for not only one person but also future generations.
At age 22, when the communist army was about to reach her hometown, our mother and her family decided to retreat with the government and moved to Taiwan. The week-long journey was full of unexpected hardship and difficulties but they finally made it and settled down in Taiwan, a place they knew nothing about. In the next two years, she lost both parents and an older brother and also married our father. They created a family with 7 children, relying solely on the modest income earned by our father as a naval officer. Growing up, we did not have many resources, but our mother always emphasized the importance of good education and took great pride in whatever her children could achieve. Our mother never put herself above other people. She was kind, humble and generous with people around her. A life-time Buddhist, she converted to Christianity when she did not know she only had a short time to live .The miraculous conversion could not have been possible if she did not have a big heart to love and the courage to make a change.
We are proud of our mother and thank and praise God because whatever qualities our mother had can only come from God who created human beings with the ability to have faith and to love.
