Ya-Min Tsai-Han's Obituary
Jehovah is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation. - Psalm 118:14
The above verse was part of YaMin’s life story, especially in the years before her passing. After moving to the United States, she loved reading the word of God, and God truly visited and shepherded her life with grace. She often said, “His grace is sufficient for me” and “be joyful and thankful always to God.” She was a person who was overwhelmed and weighed down by the vanity of vanities (Ecclesiastes 1:2), but God turned her life into the Song of Songs. God was added and mingled into her being, and God was joined to her humble history through her contacting Him.
YaMin was born on October 4, 1926 in Shanghai, China. At the age of 12, in order to help her family of six make ends meet, she gave up her education and began working with her illiterate mother at their tiny store. In 1946, at the age of 20, she married ShangYi, a young man who was charmed by her beauty. He was from a wealthy family and a university graduate with a chemistry degree.
In December 1948, as the Chinese Civil War intensified, YaMin and her husband fled to Taiwan by boat. They brought with them their 5-month-old son, her mother-in-law, four young sister-in-laws, and four of ShangYi’s motor shop workers. The 12 of them lived cramped together in a small 3-bedroom apartment. YaMin would give birth to four additional children over the next five years. In October 1949, when the Chinese Communist Party took over Mainland China, connection with relatives who remained behind got cut off. She never got to see her parents again.
YaMin’s husband managed to make some income in Taiwan by selling motors which he had brought over from his shop in China, until he sold the very last one. During the initial years of the economic recession, he was unable to find other work. To provide income for their family, YaMin began working as a restaurant cashier and domestic helper. Later she also worked as a shoemaker after teaching herself the trade. She also diligently learned English. Through her hard work, their family was able not only to survive but also buy a house, and all their children completed college education.
In 1995, at the age of 69, YaMin and her husband immigrated to Palm Harbor, Florida to join their adult children. She began polishing her English language skills mainly by reading the New Testament of the Bible. They picked up part-time work as lunch aides at an elementary school, nursing home and garden, with loyalty, passion and love. They were even interviewed by a local newspaper for their courage to blend into a foreign culture at their retired age.
In their 73 years of marriage, YaMin was a real helpmate and support for her husband.
She was absolutely the best mom one could have in the world. She loved all her children as if each were her only child. She cared for them and was a solid rock to them through their adulthood, and even some grandchildren. She was helpful, kind, meek, and generous to others yet frugal to herself. YaMin and her husband never asked for anything from their kids even when they were in need. They continuously gave quietly without expecting anything in return. She was a model to all her children—positive, passionate, genuine, active and energetic throughout her life until the very end. Her virtues and sacrifices cannot be all told.
On April 24, 2021, at the age of 94, YaMin rested peacefully and joyfully from all her earthly labor and met her beloved Lord Jesus. She is survived by her husband, five children and their spouses, eight grandchildren, four great-grandchildren, and her younger sister, nieces and nephews. She was a special person loved by her family, friends and neighbors. She will be greatly missed and forever in the hearts of many.
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