My mother Mrs. Mee Kuen Chin 陳林美娟 at Rockefeller Center in 1970, when she first arrived in America to join my father after 19 years of separation.

Thank you to everyone who has called and sent notes and letters of love and condolence. I am humbled by your solicitude and honor that you give to my mother and my family. In this most fundamentally lonesome of moments, I take great joy and comfort from the hands of community and fraternity that you’ve extended to me and embraced me within.

As my mother, a devout Buddhist and guardian of ancestral worship, wanted, we will see her off with an old-fashioned, traditional Chinatown funeral. You are all invited to join us for any part of this, but please do not feel obligated in any way; the Chinese traditions do not ask any except for immediate family to travel or otherwise make it a big deal, as we don’t have speeches or much Western-style ceremony other than to dress appropriately and be present if you wish:

Wah Wing Sang Funeral Home
26 Mulberry Street (next to Columbus Park at Worth Street)
New York, NY 10013

The viewing will be on Wednesday, September 14, from 3 - 7 pm. It is open casket, and we will be burning incense and paper representing gold and silver. If you wish to come towards the later part of the afternoon, I am thinking of gathering those of my friends who wish to have a drink afterwards nearby.

The next morning, Thursday, September 15, we will be taking her to bury her next to my father in Queens at 10 am. If you want to join us, please come at 9 or 9:30, and if you wish to come with us to the cemetery also, please let me know. If you have a car, please let me know if you have extra seats. If you wish to book a car through the funeral home, it is $80 round trip, or $20 per person. Again, let me know if you wish to do this so we can be as efficient as possible. We will be back in Chinatown by the early afternoon, and all who accompany us to the cemetery are also asked to join us for a meal after.

If you wish to send flowers (this is part of the traditions that have developed, the wreaths are displayed and then taken to the cemetery), the florist Brighten Florist at 24 Mulberry Street, 212-619-1188 next to the funeral home can take your order. Or you can use any florist in Chinatown, as they know the traditional styles of what to do. Please let them know that it will be for my mother, Mrs. Mee Kuen Chin 陳林美娟 at the Wah Wing Sang funeral home for Sept. 14-15, and they will take care of you. Please put in the orders by Tuesday.

We’ve had too many funerals this year, for Chris and Tim, and I hope that for me, this will be the last one for a very long, long time.