Short bio

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Anna Lee Yao Anna Lee Yao was born in 1933 in Shanghai, China, the third eldest of ten children. Her parents were King-Woo Lee and Mary Liu Lee. In her wonderful life, she was a devout Catholic, a dutiful and loving daughter, a sweet sister, a tender wife and helpmate, a devoted and hardworking mother and a very giving grandmother. She is cherished and much loved by her family and many friends. Anna grew up in Shanghai during the years of the Japanese occupation in WWII. She moved to Hong Kong in 1948 and then on to the US in 1953, attending St. Lawrence Catholic School at the University of Kansas for one year before transferring to the University of Illinois. It was that year when she first met James Yao. He was shy and didn't ask her out for three years but then made up for lost time. They were married on June 14, 1958.

Anna graduated with a BA in Accounting in 1958 and took a job in the bursar's office at the University while Jim finished his graduate studies. In the summer of 1961, they moved to Albuquerque, NM, where Jim took his first teaching position at the University of New Mexico. In 1964, just after the birth of their second child, Anna managed the family alone while Jim took a year's leave from his job to pursue a post-doctoral study at Columbia University in New York to change his career specialty. Anna and Jim had three children; and both became naturalized citizens in 1969. Because of the value they placed on education, in 1971 they moved the family to West Lafayette, IN, a community well known for its quality school system.

In the late 1970's, after the children were older, Anna went back to college--an uncommon move for women at the time. She successfully completed computer science classes at Purdue and took a position as bookkeeper at the Tippecanoe County Area Plan Commission. In 1985, Anna suffered but survived a non-cancerous pituitary gland tumor. The operation cost Anna her memory and some of her eyesight and mobility, and it took a year of very difficult effort to learn to walk again. Her memories were slow to come back, but her love of her family was very strong. In 1988, Jim was invited to be the Civil Engineering Department Head at Texas A&M University. He accepted this offer so that Anna could be in a warmer climate, and they moved to College Station. There they enjoyed many years of Texas life, including frequent trips to the Houston Chinatown. Jim retired in 2003; they moved to Lisle in 2004 to be nearer to their granddaughter.

Anna made many friends with her warm smile and personality. She avidly pursued her interests in Bible study, reading, sewing and crafts, letter writing, cooking and exercise. She loved to dance, play games and to watch movies. She was the heart of her family in keeping everyone in touch and in planning the Yao family vacations. Anna devoted her life to being a helpmate to her husband and a nurturing mother to her children, who all graduated from college. She was a very imaginative romantic with strength, courage and discipline and an eye for detail. She achieved many of her life goals, including becoming a grandmother at the birth of Kristiana Yao in 1996.

She passed away March 13, 2006 and is survived by her husband Jim Yao and her children Tina Yao, Tim Yao (married to Nan Fancher), and Shana Yao; her granddaughter Kristiana Yao (daughter of Tim and Nan); and her four sisters (Nancy, Lily, Helen and Dora) and five brothers (Benson, Daniel, Roberto, Thomas and Jackson).