Yin-sung Hsieh Kwei, of Saga, Japan, died on June 23, 2013 at Phelps Memorial Hospital, in Sleepy Hollow, NY. She was 85.
She was born on May 24, 1928, the second youngest of 8 siblings. The Hsieh family were overseas Chinese, antique dealers living in the southern Japanese island of Kyushu. She attended elementary school in Saga prefecture, and at the end of the second World War, when the Chinese were asked to leave Japan, followed her parents to Shanghai, China.
Yin-sung attended middle school in Shanghai, and in 1949, with the entire Hsieh family, sailed to Taipei, Taiwan. She attended the "Teacher's College Adjunct High School", and later, National Taiwan University. The exceptional characters who became her classmates and friends formed a wide, but tight social circle that lasted over 6 decades, and were the pillars of her life-long identity and pride.
Yin-sung and Tsung-chun Kwei were match-made through mutual friends, and after 2 years of dating, married in 1959, in Taipei. T.C. Kwei was already an officer of the R.O.C.'s Foreign service, having just returned from his first assignment, 7 years in Ottawa, Canada. Yin-sung's family whole-heartedly supported their union, despite the fact that he was penniless, having recently lost his fortune to a swindler.
With their 2 year old first child, Tsung-chun and Yin-sung started their diplomatic journey with their first posting to Athens, Greece, 1962. They went on to serve in the Chinese embassies on 4 continents--Tokyo 1964, the United Nations 1966, Wai chao pu,Taiwan 1971, Seoul 1976, Pretoria 1980 and, their final post together, as Ambassador and wife at the Chinese Embassy in Lesotho, Southern Africa 1990. Yin-sung was a natural at socializing, and complimented her husband's oftentimes scholarly/aloof character with confidence, class, warmth and intelligence, remaining a respected and well-loved role model to many of the embassy members.
Yin-sung's memorial service will be held at 11:00 am on Saturday, July 13, at the Edward Carter Funeral Home in Croton-on-Hudson. Her ashes will be buried alongside her husband, at Woodlawn cemetery, Bronx, NY. She is survived by her daughter Gloria Kwei of Needham, MA, Eleanor Kwei of Croton-on-Hudson, Frank Kwei of Wilton, CT. Also survived by her son-in-law Aron Lindholm, daughter-in-law Jeena Choi. Grandchildren, Leif Lindholm, Ariel Lindholm, Isabella Kwei, and Lucia Kwei.
Published on NYTimes.com from July 8 to July 9, 2013