The siblings and their mother gathered in a circle around the family table.
One by one, they pulled items from the plastic bag they’d picked up from the hospital lobby. Their mother went first, selecting her husband’s reading glasses, devotional booklets and Bible, a reminder of their nightly routine of reading the word of God together.
The eldest daughter selected a shirt her father had worn in the hospital, as well as his cellphone, and two other sisters picked their father’s Virgen de Guadalupe prayer card and a rosary purchased on a trip to Israel. Their brother chose a ring, a nephew a pair of sweatpants and someone else the snow globe recently purchased at the hospital gift shop.
COVID-19 Memorial: Enduring Loss npr.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from npr.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Honoring COVID lives lost: Kuei Ching Chen, a grandma who taught her grandson Mandarin abroad Listen 7 min MORE Kuei Ching Chen immigrated to California from Taiwan in the 1970s. As her children grew up and started their own families, she eagerly became a grandmother. “The grandchildren all were so bonded with Amah. They think she’s the smartest one in the family,” says her son-in-law David Davis. Illustration by Mike Royer.
With her husband and three kids in tow, Kuei Ching Chen took the brave step of immigrating to California from Taiwan in the 1970s.
In the days following her arrival, she had a difficult time acclimating. “It takes a lot of strength and bravery to venture to another country where you just don t speak the language and aren’t accustomed to the food to pursue opportunity and a better life for your children,” her daughter Nancy Chen says.