Eulogy 1

From Memory

This is what I said at the Memories of Anna part of my mother's funeral Mass

Here are a few of my memories of my mother.

From my earliest memories, I knew my parents as Mama and Papa. It wasn’t until I was six that I learned they were Anna and James Yao. So strong was the name association that my wife and daughter also called my mother “Mama.”

When I was very young, I had a firm belief that my mother was the most beautiful woman in all the Earth. As I grew up, I came to appreciate that her beauty was more than just skin deep. She possessed great kindness and compassion, true warmth of spirit, the courage to be strong in the face of her fears and a tremendous devotion to God and to her family.

Mama loved reading and telling stories. Before I was seven, she had read to us kids tales from 1001 Arabian Nights and the King Arthur books of Howard Pyle. She always encouraged us to read and we regularly visited the library to check out bunches of books.

I remember Mama’s endless gentleness and kindness in nurturing us kids when we were ill. She was the cool hand on a fevered brow in the dark of night with only a flashlight to guide her. She was always ready with a patient and understanding ear when we needed advice or just to talk; and, after we grew up and moved away from home, she called us every week and wrote us many compassionate and sweet letters.

Mama treasured and deeply loved my father. I remember her painstakingly peeling grapefruit to serve to him and to us kids.

Mama always dreamed of going to Hawaii. We were fortunate to see her accomplish this dream in 2000. I will never forget the look of utter joy in my mother’s eyes when my father spontaneously got up during a luau to ask her to dance with him beneath the stars.

Mama loved her five brothers and four sisters. She wrote to them often and shared with us news from this larger family, helping my sisters and me to feel a part of the Lee family.

Mama fiercely loved her daughters Tina and Shana and her son-in-law Peyton and her daughter-in-law Nan. She took great pride in all their accomplishments and prayed for their happiness.

Mama greatly loved her granddaughter Kristiana. She always enjoyed playing with Kristiana; and I will always remember the sounds of them laughing and giggling together in the back of the car as they played various finger games or told stories.

Mama enjoyed playing games, though I think for her games were less about the competition and more about the interaction with the other players. One summer when I was in fourth grade, she let me teach her how to play chess just so I would have someone to play chess with.

Mama taught me how to love, how to dream, the value of education and the meaning of discipline and sacrifice. She also taught me how to ballroom dance. I remember learning to waltz, fox trot, rhumba and jitter bug in our carpeted living room, with Mama in her slippers and me in socks. Many years later at the University of Illinois, I took a ballroom dance class where I met Nan, who became my wonderful wife.

Thank you, Mama.