Maria Yen

Maria Anna Yen (Ruey-yun Chen) passed away peacefully, a happy and holy death, on March 11th, 2025, at the age of 93 . Born in Tsingtao, China, to Hai-Ting and Chiung-Yu Chen on August 13, 1931, she was the fourth of seven children.

Maria graduated from St. Joseph High School in 1949 and began her career serving as a substitute teacher for Air Force personnel's children.

Afterward, she completed her studies at Providence College in 1953. Following her graduation, Maria moved to Formosa (Taiwan), where she worked as a librarian at the Center for Catholic Reading Program.

Later emigrating to the United States, Maria attended Madonna College in Livonia, Michigan. She then worked alongside her sister as a medical technician at Elizabeth Hospital in Chicago. It was there that she met her future husband, Shee-Mang Yen-through trusted friends and with the approval of her brothers.

Maria and Shee-Mang were married on June 30, 1956 in Manhattan, Kansas at Seven Dolors Catholic Church and soon settled in Urbana, Illinois. Their engagement and move to Illinois where her new husband started his illustrious career as a pforesson in aeronautical and astonautical engineering marked the happiest times of their lives. Thereafter, Maria embraced the joy of life as a mother to four children, dedicated to their happiness and education, while an active member of both the university and elementary school communities in her volunteer work.

Maria was gifted in her love and care of infants and children in their formative years. She made the children's upbringing her top priority, and played an active role in supporting the university's foreign student club. She brought her kindness and warmth to the foreign students of the university as she knew how it was to be new to a country. Her most cherished years were seeing her children thrive in elementary school, where she taught them at home to a point they all skipped kindergarten as she taught them English while learning the language herself. The love of children continued as she took care of countless children after her own children had left the home.

Maria brought her Chinese heritage to her family in an immediate way by sharing her consummate skill in traditional Northern Chinese cooking in International opportunities at the elementary school and university events. Her dumplings and steamed buns were a specialty that she was renowned for. Both her and her husband brought the passion of mah jong to their American children. Maria and Yen Shee-Mang had a passion for calligraphy, and in their later years, took great joy in expressing themselves through revisiting calligraphy themselves. They had the opportunity to go to Lan Sun Garden in Portland, and were in sheer delight as they reveled in the beauty and grace of a Chinese home.

In later years, Maria cherished time spent gardening in she was happiest there with muddy fingers and gardening clogs-tending during the day and sprinkling with the watering hose in the evening. Neighbors would marvel at how flowers transformed throughout each season along Florida Avenue and Carle Avenue: from tulips heralding springtime to peonies blooming joyfully during summer; tomatoes ripening under warm sun; gourds adorning fall displays.

She is survived by four children: Robert, Elizabeth, Frances, and Deborah; six grandchildren: Anna Matthieu Nathaniel Theodore Marie Erica-who will cherish their memories with love forever.

The family is forever grateful for the love and support Maria received through the pastoral care of the Jesuits at St. Ignatius Catholic Church in Portland, OR - Rosary and Centering Prayer Group - and St. Thomas More Catholic Church in Decatur, GA. We would especially like to thank Barbara Ferer for tending to Maria's sacrament of Eucharist and Fr. Jim Stormes, who performed the Anointing of the Sick and listened attentively to her prayers.Maria and Shee-Mang also found solace at the Grotto, National Sanctuary in Portland, OR. We extend our heartfelt thanks to Trinity Lutheran Hillsboro Bible Study Group led by Pastor Steve Nicodemus for including her in their prayers during her last four years; Maria found great comfort knowing she was being prayed for by such a caring community. She often saw the group praying for her, which brought her peace and joy as they studied and proclaimed the Word.

Mama Yen's smile will be etched in our hearts forever; no matter the situation, when it was time to smile for a photo, she would always bring forth her beautiful smile. We find comfort in knowing that her smiles now reflect the joy of being reunited with her beloved family in heaven and basking in the light of Jesus' presence.

May she rest in eternal peace.

St. Thomas More Catholic Church 

636 W. Ponce de Leon Ave. Decatur, GA 30030-2951

In lieu of flowers, donations accepted at St. Thomas More at

https://stmgaparish.org/how-to-give