June 26, 2026, 1:00 PM
Woodlawn, Daly City
The long life of Susan Lee captures the familiar sojourner’s history of bridging the old with the new. From Toishan to San Francisco, from being Chinese to becoming Chinese-American, from scarcity to abundance.
If we are really honest with our past, we would probably like to keep these early years hidden. But reading Susan Lee’s story in the first Chinatown-Stories of Life and Faith book, Susan was able to acknowledge her difficult and hard life situation in China and claim a new and promising life with Ben in America.
The Apostle Paul experienced such hardships as well when he wrote in Romans 5, “We boast in our suffering, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”
Like the people of Israel who were captives in Egypt, Susan believed that when she was able to finally come to the US in 1953, she named it, “a miracle of deliverance.” When she didn’t have a warm and caring home growing up, she made a promise to her own children to always do better as a mother to Brenda and Brian. And when she felt she let them down, she was authentic to share her regrets and try even harder. When she didn’t have enough to eat, she promised that her children will always have enough and never to serve them TV dinners!
Breaking the chain, leaving the old to embrace the new, knowing suffering that leads to a strong character are all the many ways Chinese Americans like Susan Lee are blessed with a new opportunity to create a new life. We can all blame our circumstances and become victims of a tragedy play. Susan didn’t want any part of that. Instead, she took control of her own life journey to get an education, seek employment, met Ben, the love of her life, start a family, and enjoyed the abundance that this life has to offer.
Susan and Ben are very generous people. We have received their generosity of which we are very grateful. Whether it was receiving fresh fruit from the trees of their San Anselmo home to enjoying a banquet-like Chinese food in a local restaurant, Susan and Ben were always giving. Since they gave so much, Joy and I over the years, would bring them their plates of turkey and all the stuffing from the church’s Thanksgiving luncheon to their home on our way home on that particular Sunday. Seniors eat free! They taught us to give back.
My last reflection of Susan is when she sang in the church choir. When I watch Susan singing, it was like she was inviting me to sing along with her. I was invited to add the words on her mouth. In the end, it was never what comes out of our mouths when we sing, it has always been what is singing in our hearts. In Susan’s heart, she was singing the joy of God.
Susan Lee’s life modeled for us to live a life worth-living because against great odds, we survive; against tribulation, we endure; against the challenges of stormy days, Susan said, God granted her a rainbow, more colorful than any of the times after storms. May God continue to watch over Susan Lee as she watched over her family and us in her life.