Rose Chin Hong (1939-2026)

Rose Chin Hong

Rose Chin Hong was born on May 17, 1939, in Oakland, California, to Chin Pak Yick 陳伯釴 and Tso Mee Shew 曹美秀. Her Chinese name was Chin Joong Sen 陳仲仙. She died on April 23, 2026, at age 86, from complications following surgery, surrounded by loved ones. She is interred with her husband, Jack, at Skylawn Memorial Park in San Mateo, California.

Oakland Beginnings

Rose grew up in a small Oakland Chinatown house filled with family: an older sister, four younger brothers, and nine older half‑siblings from her widowed father’s first marriage. Money was tight, her father was strict, and there were no after‑school activities or extras. Rose went to school and then came straight home.

May 16, 1941, Oakland, CA: Rose, brother Allen, mother Tso Mee She, and older sister Mabel

There were, however, backyard chickens, a small garden, simple celebrations, and a pair of roller skates. She often recalled skating around the block “around and around and around,” happy just to move. She was the quiet thoughtful one in a family that wasn't shy about being loud in house where you couldn't help but be on top of each other. Those early years in Oakland shaped her lifelong unflappable calm and practicality.

Rose in her own words:

On August 2, 2009, Rose recorded her memories of the past 70 years. About her parents she said:

“My mom came over not knowing any English, marrying my father after his first wife passed away. So she came over being the stepmother of nine children.

"The house was always crowded. I have four younger brothers. They all came within almost a year of each other. I don't know how my mother did it, but she did. She had a very hard life actually.”

“My father’s calligraphy was beautiful. He had really good writing. He wrote poems… My mom kept a lot of his writings. I just don’t know how to read them.”

She also reflected on what it was like growing up:

"Oh, I can’t remember very many [happy memories]… It just seemed like we were always so busy just trying to survive. I remember not having very much. We wore hand‑me‑down clothes. Shoes that had holes in them, patched with cardboard.

“I remember one birthday— I don’t remember which one—when we went out and got an ice cream cone. That was it.”

1945:  Nephew Edward, Rose, Siblings Dennis, Fred, Mabel and Allen

“They were very strict, old‑fashioned. We were never allowed to stay after school to play or join clubs. We had to come home and learn how to cook and sew, learn Chinese, which I didn’t do very well at.

“One thing we did have freedom to do was ride our roller skates around the block. I just went around and around and around. It was just like being free and having all the air flying through your face."

"[The roller skates were] something that we bought at the thrift shop across the street. And to this day, I love shopping at the thrift shops.

1950 - Front: Dinnes, Fred, Pak Yick, Jimmy, Allen
Back: Edward W., Morris, William, Edward K., Henry, Bruce

1950 - Front: Rose, Mee Shew, Mabel, Diane 
Back: Else, Elsie, Edith, Helene

“Once my sister Else took me on my first train trip to San Francisco. We went shopping, and she bought me a coat for my birthday. It must have made me happy because I remember the trip and don’t remember much else.”

1957: Rose Senior Prom

Rose attended Lincoln Elementary School and Westlake Junior High before graduating from Oakland Technical High School in 1957. She recalled:

“I remember thinking in high school, how was I going to tell them I wanted to go to the prom, because I didn’t even know how to explain what a prom was.”

After high school, she studied executive secretarial skills at Oakland Community College and took tailoring classes, proudly sewing many of her own clothes. She later attended San Francisco State for a semester of general education courses before the sudden death of her father in 1958 led her to leave school and begin full‑time clerical work for Alameda County, first at the Health Department and then at the Public Defender’s Office, helping support her mother and younger brothers.

Meeting Jack and Settling in the San Mateo Highlands

Rose met her future husband, Jack Lan Hong, at a house party in Oakland, after he obtained her phone number through his sister Lily. His persistence and easy charm soon won her over. They were married on March 18, 1963, and she was warmly welcomed into the Hong family by Jack’s parents, Hong Hock How and Chu Tui Goon.

“I met Jack when he came to a house party in Oakland. Later he called me up, but I didn’t remember who he was… He was the first person I dated steadily. I liked Jack and his friends and was amazed that he knew so many people.”

March 18, 1962, San Francisco: Rose and Jack Hong

The couple began their married life in a one‑bedroom apartment on Jackson Street in San Francisco’s Chinatown, where Rose worked as secretary to the president of the Bank of Trade.

“I was a secretary, typing letters, reports, minutes and stuff for the president and the chairman… My schooling at Oakland City College’s executive secretary course was really good. I could type letters and take shorthand very easily. I would get a letter out for my boss in minutes. He would take a break and go to the bathroom, come back, and everything would be done. He would go, ‘Wow.’”

In 1964, they purchased an Eichler home in the Highlands neighborhood of San Mateo, drawn by newer homes, good schools, and proximity to her brother Edward’s family. It was the first and only home they ever owned, and Rose would live there for more than 60 years.

Building a Home and a Rhythm

Rose and Jack welcomed their daughter, Carole, in 1965 and their son, Kenneth, in 1967. With two young children and a husband whose work often took him out of town, Rose devoted herself to creating a stable, loving home. Weekdays were filled with caring for the children, ferrying them to swimming and basketball practices, and managing the household. Weekends revolved around sports, visits to grandmothers in San Francisco and Oakland and potluck dinners that brought together extended family and friends.

“After we bought the house, Carol came along a year after and two years later Ken… On the weekdays I mainly took care of the kids and the cooking and cleaning. On the weekends, we visited the grandmothers’ houses… On Saturdays we went to Jack’s mom’s house for potluck dinner and mahjong. On Sundays we went to my mom’s house on 7th Street.”

“Carol was a really easy child to take care of… Ken was another story. We had to roll him around in the stroller to get him to sleep. But they were both good children. Not much trouble or not any trouble actually. They both did well in school. They kind of pushed themselves along. I didn't have to push them."

On other family traditions, Rose said:

“We would go to the cemetery certain times of the year… Ching Ming, which is remembering the ancestors. There’s Chinese New Year. We also did the American thing of the Christmas, Thanksgiving gatherings… The family has grown so big… We have to make the effort to see each other because at this time we’re all in our 70s and 80s and if we don’t get together to see each other now, who knows, the next day someone might be gone.”

1968 - Jack, Carole, Rose, and Ken

Within the family, she also became an informal editor and writing coach. During her children’s school years, she read their papers, corrected spelling and grammar, asked questions, and pushed for clearer thinking. Long before computers offered spellcheck, Rose filled that role at the kitchen table. She later down played her role and how own writing skill, saying:

“[Did you have any worries about raising your children?] Not really. Just take it as it comes. I don’t think I ever read a book on how to take care of kids. Dad was out of town a lot, so I had to do everything myself, cooking, cleaning, shopping.”

“I don’t remember ever… helping them with their homework, did I? Just doing the proofreading. I didn’t help with the contents because I was not good at writing.”

Rose with in-laws - Front: Paul and Liane Hong
Back: Lily and King Fong; Mary and Gene Lee

Travel, work, and opening the world

Once her children were older, Rose returned to part‑time work with Morrison Travel and several other travel agencies, assisting with reports and office operations. She worked for a number of different agencies, and eventually for travel-tech start-up TriWorldTravel. Over time she also became the family’s travel expert. Her position in the industry provided access to familiarization trips and other travel opportunities, which she used to broaden her family’s world.

“I then worked at San Carlos Travel and Travel Loft part time, which led to working for TriWorld Travel and Vajid Jafri. Jafri tried to scale TriWorld Travel… by opening branch offices and developing technology to send tickets to their branches or other companies which would deliver the tickets to customers.”

Rose and Mee Shew in New York City

Rose and Jack traveled extensively and took Carole and Ken on a cruise to Alaska, a whirlwind bus tour through eleven European countries, and memorable trips to Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China in the late 1970s, when streets were filled with bicyclists in blue cotton jackets and the country was just beginning to reopen to the outside world. As travel to China became more accessible, Rose and Jack organized and led group trips for extended family and friends, helping others visit relatives and famous cities.

One particularly meaningful journey took place when Rose accompanied her mother back to China to reconnect with relatives.

"[A] big trip was going to China, taking my mother back to see her relatives after not being back for over 50 years. She was able to track down her sister-in-law, her nieces and nephews. And seeing how poorly they were doing in China, she vowed that she would sponsor them to the United States.

"So when she came back, she studied for her citizenship, passed that and it took over 10 years before she was able to bring her nephew and niece over. So now they in turn have sponsored their children. She was happy about that."

2016 - Rose cutting grandson Miles' hair

During these years she also earned her cosmetology license from Don’s Beautician School in San Mateo and spent many hours cutting, perming, and styling hair for relatives, adding yet another practical skill to the long list of things she could quietly do for others.

Work behind the scenes

Professionally, Rose worked mostly behind the scenes. She worked as an administrator and business partner in Jack’s financial services business, which spanned tax preparation, business accounting and bookkeeping, real estate, and personal financial and estate planning. Clients knew Jack as the face of the business, but family members understood how much depended on Rose’s bookkeeping, organization, and steady presence.

“After Ken was born… I just stayed home. But Dad had an accounting business on the side from his job, so I helped him with that. So I actually have been working ever since at home.”

After her children left home, Rose also became an enthusiastic advocate for healthy living. She joined multi‑level marketing organizations offering KM and Tonic health supplements, sharing products she believed in with friends and family. Those who knew her remembered that she did not try to build a business so much as focus on using her position and discounts to make wellness products accessible to people she cared about.

Rose with Family Vision Care & Vision Therapy Staff

For more than 30 years, Rose served as the backbone of her daughter’s optometry practice, Family Vision Care and Vision Therapy, managing everything from payroll and benefits to many back‑office operations from its inception until her final illness. Patients experienced her as a calm, welcoming presence at the office; behind the scenes, she ensured that the practice ran smoothly.

Grandchildren, friendships, and fierce independence

Rose cherished her six grandchildren — Collin, Caitlyn, and Camryn Low, and Spencer, Miles, and Alexander Hong — and loved watching them play basketball and other sports and grow into young adults. She maintained long‑standing friendships from Lincoln Elementary School, junior high, the Highlands neighborhood, and the Foster City Chinese Club, sustaining connections that spanned decades. 

Speaking of her grandchildren in 2009, she said:

“Well, I guess when you were young, you guys belonged to the swim team. But it seems like now with Carole and her kids, they’re into everything… It’s never ending… It’s too much for me.”

"Well, [my grandchildren are] certainly different from my children or they're more Americanized. They don't think of themselves as being Chinese. Well, they have their own personalities."

"Caitlyn says, I'm going to be a basketball player when she grows up. She calls herself a tomboy. Collin hasn't expressed anything about what he wants to be. Although he probably wants to be a basketball player too. Camryn, she's the girly girly. She calls herself that."

"Well, Spencer seems to be more quiet than Miles. Spencer seems to just take it easy going. Now, he keeps saying he's the big brother and he's going to take care of Miles at school. So sometimes when I call him my babies, he says, I'm not. I'm the big brother."

"Miles has a temper, I guess. He seems to know what he wants and no one can change his mind."

"And AJ already seems to be starting to show his preference for things."

Rose with Alex, Miles, Ken, Spencer, and Agnes Hong 

Rose with Ken, Spencer, Alex, and Miles Hong

She cared for her mother in later life and for Jack during his illness. At the beginning of Jack's decline in 2009, Rose said:

“I like to cook. I actually have not been cooking very much. When Dad retired, he did all the cooking. But now that he is not so well… I try to keep him out of the kitchen. I don’t have any favorites. It depends on what’s in the refrigerator and I just throw it together. Everything with a Chinese flavor, stir fry.”

"Now I'm dealing with dad and his Parkinson's disease. Don't have to really take care of him as such right now. Though I have to kind of watch what he's doing because he doesn't watch himself. 

"We have stopped him from driving because the last couple of times he went out, he bumped into people, parked cars and so forth. So we insisted that he doesn't drive. So he has not protested since. But it's a chore having to drag him everywhere. He signed up for two classes at the community college, so that's four evenings a week for eight weeks. Well, he's keeping his mind going, but I think it's too much work. He needs to spend more time on his body, conditioning his body, doing his exercise because he's neglecting his exercise."

After Jack’s death in 2013, she remained in their Highlands home. She lived independently there for more than 60 years, driving herself where she needed to go and exercising daily until her final days. Two years before she died, she survived a stroke and worked her way back to a full recovery, renewing her driver’s license and resuming her routines.

Rose with Carole's Family, Collin, Camryn, Caitlyn, and John Low

Rose with Collin, Caitlyn, Camryn, Carole, and John

Over the course of her life, Rose moved from a strict, wartime and post‑Depression childhood in a crowded household to supporting a widowed mother and younger brothers, and into the long project of building a stable, middle‑class life for her own family in San Mateo. Family remember her as someone who spoke little about her own efforts, rarely complained, showed up, and always, always got stuff done.

Rose and Carole

Rose and Ken

Sources:

• Rose C. Hong's Memorial Service at Skylawn Cemetery, San Mateo, CA. 22 May 2026.
• Hong, Kenneth J. “Rose Chin Hong Interview.” San Mateo, California. 2 August 2009.