A Service of Thanksgiving for the life of. Dorothy Chiu Au August 8, 1917 June 29, Calvary Chapel Burbank 2707 N. Glenoaks Blvd.

Transcription

1 A Service of Thanksgiving for the life of Dorothy Chiu Au August 8, 1917 June 29, 2011 Calvary Chapel Burbank 2707 N. Glenoaks Blvd. Burbank CA Saturday, July 9, 2011

2 This service finds all its meaning in the resurrection. Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we, too, shall be raised. The service, therefore, is characterized by joy, in the certainty that neither death, or life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. This joy, however, does not make human grief unchristian. The very love we have for each other in Christ brings deep sorrow when we are parted by death. Jesus himself wept at the grave of his friend. So, while we rejoice that one we love has entered into the nearer presence of our Lord, we sorrow in sympathy with those who mourn.

3 A Service of Thanksgiving for the Life of Dorothy Chiu Au Music before the service Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Autumn Song, op. 37 Edvard Grieg, Remembrances for piano, op. 71, no. 7 Charles Austin Miles, In the Garden Pavel Petrov, piano Sergei Rachmaninoff, Vocalise Yao Wang, cello Opening Remarks Pastor Brian Gerlach Scripture Reading: Psalm 103 Doris MacDonald Song: Amazing Grace Grandchildren Scripture Reading Romans 8:28-39 Rick Au Prayer: John Low Eulogy: Jim Au Song: I Know Whom I Have Believed Au Children Message: Pastor Brian Gerlach Prayer: Pastor Brian Gerlach Song: A Life Well Lived Doris MacDonald Video Presentation Closing Remarks: Carl Crosier Postlude Frédéric Chopin, Nocturne in C sharp Minor Anton Rubenstein, Romance, op.44 no. 1 Mary Au, piano You are invited to share stories of Dorothy at the reception which immediately follows the service.

4 Almost 94 years ago, a special child was born to Yan Tze and Kwei Ching Chiu. They named her Dorothy Fuk Chun, which means True Blessing. Little did they know how appropriate that name would turn out to be. Dorothy was the first of five children. She grew up in China, where her parents were well-respected educators. Every day, Dorothy was required to read, study, and practice the piano. She became an accomplished musician, and at one time dreamed of being a concert pianist. At age seventeen, she won a piano in a competition, and promptly donated it to her school. She had top grades in high school, and was chosen to be valedictorian, even though she was very shy. During this time of her life, Dorothy made a personal commitment to Christ. She had a rich spiritual heritage, which included her great-grandfather, Wong Mui Chui, who was known as the Chinese Martin Luther. Her heartfelt desire was to witness to others about the Lord. This continued throughout her life. Dorothy attended Ling Nan University, where her father was a professor. She decided against pursuing a musical career, feeling that her fingers were too short to play the piano in concert, and took a pre-med course of study. She made the Dean s List and was inducted by the Honor Society. Dorothy graduated in She then went to National Shanghai Medical College, where she met her future husband, Kitman Au. In 1946, Dorothy emigrated to the United States to do her residency in pediatrics. An acquaintance of her father, Mary Granaas, convinced her to come to Burbank and they became lifelong friends in fact, Mom Granaas lived with the Au family for over 50 years. Kitman came over a year later, and he and Dorothy continued their medical training in New York. They married on December 29, Dorothy made her own satin beaded wedding gown by looking at a pattern and following it. Dorothy returned to California to give birth to their first child, Kathy in Kitman was unable to join her until he completed his position, two and a half months later. Meanwhile, both came closer to finishing their medical training.

5 Dorothy studied at Glendale Sanitarium (now Glendale Adventist) and Children's Hospital. In 1954, she got a job with Los Angeles Unified School District as a school doctor, and started her own practice in Burbank by She moved her practice to San Fernando two years later, having heard of the great need for qualified physicians in the area. A wide spectrum of interests marked Dorothy s life. In addition to being an excellent seamstress, she enjoyed knitting, crocheting, and quilting. Never one to shy away from a challenge, she attended adult school at night to learn Spanish to better communicate with her patients. The love for music was always a part of Dorothy s life. She made sure that each of her five children learned to play the piano at a young age. From time to time, family recitals were given at home, with many invited guests filling the living room. Another interest of Dorothy s was traveling. She and Kit traveled all over the world, and she continued the tradition after he passed away in In recent years, she joined Dr. David Jeremiah of Turning Point Ministries on 5 cruises or trips to such far-flung places as The Holy Land and Oberammergau. Upon retirement from medical practice at age 83, Dorothy took up piano lessons once more, and also learned to play the harp. Over the years, thousands of people have been to The Au Hotel and Restaurant on Sunset Canyon Drive, thanks to her and Kitman s hospitality. She has indeed been a true blessing to all who have known her. Dorothy passed away on June 29, 2011 in Burbank, California. She is survived by her children, Kathy (Crosier), Margo (Ewing), Doris (MacDonald), Jim, and Rick Au; sisters Christine Luk and Bessie Chui; twelve grandchildren, and two greatgrandchildren.

6 There s no question that I am a musician today because of my mother. I started piano at age four and she was my first teacher. I vaguely remember being in the first grade and when asked how long I had been playing, I remember saying a couple of years already. I don t ever remember a time when I wasn t able to read music. My sisters and I were blessed with perfect pitch and we never practiced for our piano teacher, Mae Driver. We were all able to sightread easily and faked her out every week! When I was thirteen, though, we were fed up with piano lessons and collectively went to our parents asking to quit. But instead of caving in to our demands, my mother suggested that we try other musical instruments. I chose the organ and my sisters both took violin. It was my mother who bought me an organ to practice on at home. I still remember being shocked at the price: $4610 (in today s dollars, $34,042). There is something my mother said to me early on in my study of the instrument that I still say to all my organ students today: If you don t know the piece, don t play so LOUD! When I had an opportunity to study organ in France with famed virtuoso, Marcel Dupré, my father s initial reaction was No. Not only was I just 17 years old, there were student riots in the streets of Paris at the time. But through my mother s gentle persuasion and Mom Granaas offer to take me there, he changed his mind and off I went. Over these many years, my mother attended many of my solo recitals in addition to some of our concerts in Hawaii. I returned to Burbank in January to play the organ for my high school choral teacher s funeral, and she kept saying over and over how proud she was that I was chosen to play. Most recently, in May she came to both of our performances of Bach s monumental Mass in B Minor, and sat in the front row. She was so immensely proud of her son-in-law, Carl Crosier, and couldn t get over how he was jumping for two hours on the podium and not getting tired. In subsequent phone calls, she always mentioned how happy she was to be there. Thank you, Mother, for your unconditional love and belief in all your children. (Kathy Au Crosier)

7 I will be forever grateful for my mother's unflagging belief in me and my abilities. She always encouraged me to keep trying and doing my best, with God's help. Music lessons were an important part of growing up in the Au household. Mine started on the piano when I was 4 years old, which was probably a little early. Mrs. Driver, my piano teacher, had a serious discussion with my mother one day after a lesson. "She's just not ready," she explained. "I think you should wait until she's a little older." "Just give her another chance," implored my mother. Eventually I began to make progress. By the time I was in 5th grade, I played for an assembly at school and won a local competition. Mother was always available to take all of us to our music lessons. I never practiced, because I could sightread well enough to fool my teacher, but my mom found a way to make me do it. She paid me 10 cents for every half hour I practiced. It worked! As a teenager, when I was tempted to quit playing the piano, she wisely refrained from forcing any kind of decision. Although she gave her consent, I ended up changing my mind all on my own when I started accompanying the high school choir. Eventually, I attended college and majored in piano and music education. I'm glad my mother never said I couldn't quit, because that would probably have made me even more determined to stop taking lessons. My piano skills have offered me many opportunities for ministry throughout my life, including The Quartet (with my sister Doris and the Mast girls) and being the rehearsal pianist for Grace Community Church's choir. An area of my life greatly influenced by my mother is my Christian faith. As the old hymn says, "My mother's prayers have followed me." She was a true woman of prayer, and her first response to any crisis was always, "We must pray. That's all we can do." Not a day went by that she didn't pray for each one of her children and grandchildren, by name. Now she has passed the torch onto us to continue that spiritual legacy. What a blessing to have had such a godly woman for a mother. I hope I have at least half the impact on others that she's had on me. (Margo Au Ewing)

8 For most of my life, I did not know my mother beyond her outward, daily routines waking us up with her singing of Praise the Lord in Cantonese, reading scripture in both Chinese and English at the breakfast table, and praying through the long list of names in her journal. She was a busy pediatrician, and so well respected that she was often called to assist with C- sections or high risk deliveries, receiving calls just as she was putting dinner on the table or in the middle of the night. Her career never kept her from doing so much for us buying groceries, cooking, making sure we had clean clothes, rides to music and art lessons and swim lessons. She taught us girls to sew and I ll never forget the time I was in high school and needed a costume for the next day, pieced together from several different patterns. She stayed up late into the night to make it for me, even though she d worked all day and had to get up for work the next day. I did not get to really know her until she visited me as an adult when I moved to the Philippines then visited with my dad in Texas, Hong Kong and Virginia. When my dad passed away, she bought me an expensive piano to remember her by, and invited me to go on a couple of cruises with her. She never failed to remind me how much she loved me, Alan, and our children-- how proud she was of each one, and that she prayed for us every day. When she was 89, she told me what she considered to be the secret of her long life: I trust the Lord. I am careful in my eating the typical American diet has too much fat, sugar and red meat. I exercise. In China, people who reach 80 think they re too old. But I don t! I learn new things even when you re old, you can learn new things. Mother, we miss you terribly but rejoice that perhaps right now you and dad are doing that funny dance you used to do in the kitchen giggling, talking with Mom Granaas, and singing that funny Cantonese praise song before the throne. (Doris Au MacDonald)

9 My mother lived out the very things she taught me throughout life, and I learned to follow her example. When I was in high school, she got the idea she wanted to play tennis to improve her health. A few times, she drove me early to school and I got to be her tennis teacher. Starting that same year, I began to make exercise a serious priority in my life. Not long after that, boxes and boxes of aloe vera started showing up around the house. She led the way for me to take personal interest in natural vitamin supplements and Chinese medicine. In the last five years of her life, we took many of the same things together. I would often call her long distance to find out if she had taken her vitamin juice and medications for the day. The fact that she always did shows me her mind was pretty sharp all the way to the end; many attest to this fact. I observed her keeping copious diaries for years and years. I have never been as consistent as her in journaling, but was able to pen my thoughts during some of my life's most significant moments. She was exemplary in praying for her family and ingesting God's Word the Bible everyday. She taught me to love the Lord Jesus with all my heart. Most important of all to me, her kindness, generosity, grace, forgiveness, and unconditional acceptance of me were evidence of an undying love that I yearn to possess always. In recent years, she took me in after I had major brain surgery and cared for me so I could get back on my feet. As I got stronger, she began to decline slightly, and I had the privilege of caring for her in many ways. Yet to the very end, she continued to shop for food, cook healthy, delicious meals, do dishes, pray for us, read the Bible, do T'ai Chi together, play the piano beautifully, and be my mom. She was right about that one thing, and reminded me of it many a time. No matter how old I ever got, she would always be my mom. (Jim Au)

10 I think it can be said by each of my siblings that our mother believed in each one of us, and she let us know it each time we talked with her. My mother never let me forget that I was her bonus baby. After giving birth to my brother, Jim, her doctor urged her to have her woman equipment removed, since she was approaching her mid-40s, increasing the chance for complications in pregnancy. She absolutely refused to do that. Two-and-a-half years later, I was born into the world, a companion for my brother, who would otherwise have had to grow up the only boy with three older sisters. Even in what was to be the last week of her life, my mother never ceased to remind me that I was her bonus baby. After going to the Y for a number of years without ever advancing or learning how to swim, my mother sent me to the Lucille Cowle swim school where I received private instruction, and finally learned how to swim. She never made this a source of personal shame nor did she ever talk about it in front of others to pressure me into conformance, but she was persistent until a way could be found that I might obtain this important skill. The private lessons were more expensive than the group swim lessons at the Y, but she never mentioned anything about it costing more money. When my first real job out of college didn t pan out, she was very supportive in my finding another line of work, even if it wasn t in my field of study. As I progressed in my professional development in a different field, she never ceased to brag about it to her friends. After my marriage disintegrated, my mother never tried to dissect the reasons for the failed relationship. It made her sad, but she never made it a divisive issue in my relationship with her. When I moved in with her, she found a new way to encourage me. Every morning, before I left the house for work, she told me a saying in Chinese: Go out in peace, come back (in peace). She also told me every day, in English, Be salt and light. After a time, I tired of these sayings, and wondered why she never said these words to anyone else. Yet, she persisted in telling me these phrases every morning, for over 9 years. Through her persistence and her prayers, I think I may have become that person: a man of peace who makes a difference in the world. Mom, thank you for your persistent love and graciousness. Thank you for believing in me, even when I didn t believe in me. (Rick Au)

11 Donations in Dorothy s memory may be made to: Turning Point Ministries P. O. Box 3838 San Diego, CA Donate Now option Please designate Dorothy Au Memorial Fund

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