Dorothy Hsu

Dorothy Young Hsu

1938-2021 (Age 83)

Our beloved mother, Dorothy Young Hsu, passed away peacefully at home in Lafayette, California on August 4, 2021 surrounded with the love of her children, grandchildren and granddogs.  

Dorothy liked to say that she didn’t have a real birthday since she was born in 1938 in colonial Taipei, Taiwan. “In those times,” she said her parents, Wen Zhong Young and Mei Chen, took their time to go to the government office to officially declare a child’s date of birth.  She was the eldest of four and only daughter.

As an independent young woman, Dorothy was the first of her family to immigrate out of Taiwan and work as a manager of a Chinese (of course) restaurant in Spain for two years.  She absolutely loved living in Spain and always cherished the memories of her time there.  She became a United States citizen when she moved to New York City and earned a coveted green card in the 1960’s.  The Big Apple became her favorite city to compare others to.

She brought her business skills as a proprietor of new restaurant with her then husband, Tom Hsu in Topeka, Kansas and eventually settled with her family in Elk Grove Village, Illinois.  Dorothy took on a more challenging occupation as a CEO, CFO, CMO of two first generation daughters who liked to be American teenagers and dated boys too early.

More recently, Dorothy moved to California to be closer to her daughters and to make sure that they put “healthy (as) number one.”

When diagnosed with Stage IV Gastric Adenocarcinoma in late October of 2020, Dorothy can be described as tenacious with her struggle with the disease.

Dorothy is survived by her daughters: Nancy McLellan and Susie Chao; sons-in-laws John McLellan and Kuang Hwa Kenneth Chao; grandchildren Ella and Logan Chao; granddogs Leia and Leeloo.

Preceding her death were her parents, Wen Zhong Young and Mei Chen, younger brother, Young Zheng Xian.

A Memorial Service will be held on Saturday, the 25th of September in the Inspirational Chapel at Oakmont Memorial Park at 5:00pm Pacific Standard Time.  Reception at the family home to follow. 

There will be a link provided for the livestream of the event. Please contact Susie or Nancy for details.

Donations in her memory would be appreciated to New Hope Chinese Cancer Care Foundation at Donate – New Hope Chinese Cancer Care Foundation.

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