Jeni Kay Fung
January 6, 1925 - November 16, 2023
Obituary
January 6, 1925- November 16, 2023
On November 16, 2023, at the age of 98, Jeni Fung died peacefully with her daughters at
her side, and joined husband Cal, her siblings, family members and lifelong friends who had
passed before her. Jeni was predeceased by her husband Cal; her parents Charles and Lam
Shee Kay; her 4 older siblings Henry Locke, William Kay, Donald Kay, Francis Wick. She is
survived by her sister Mary Mar; her daughters Janine Chan (Brian), Alicia Davis (Mark);
grandchildren Natalie Rodgers (Blake), Carlyn Bisset (Denver), Jordan Davis (Kylie), Paul
Davis; great grandchildren Reagan, Nelle, Eli, Layla, Ava, Goldie; and numerous nieces and
nephews scattered throughout the West Coast and British Columbia, Canada.
Jeni was the youngest of 6 children. She was born into the second Chinese family to settle in
the Washington state capital of Olympia. Her family, along with other new settlers from
China arriving on the West coast, found the strength and tenacity to support themselves,
raise their families and survive the adversities of being Chinese during that time. The family
sustained itself through their father’s abilities as a chef at various hotels and restaurants up
and down the West Coast and the opening of their first Chinese restaurant, the Nankin, in
Olympia. Life in America became precarious when the depression hit in 1930 and it was
decided that the family would return to their village in Toisan, China. They travelled on the
steamship SS Jefferson for 23 days in steerage. Jeni was 5 y.o. at the time. Family members
started returning to Olympia in 1931 and the children got busy finishing grade school and
high school while also holding down neighborhood jobs to support the family. By 1941,
Jeni’s parents decided to open Kay’s Café in Olympia and the children still living in Olympia
helped in the restaurant after their school day ended. Jeni said, in her written reflection of her family history, “the hardships they lived through instilled a strong sense of independence, fairness and the ability to survive.”
Jeni was determined to be more than a high school graduate and was the only child in the
Kay family to pursue University studies. She saved sufficient money from waitressing at the
family restaurant and her second job at Jean’s Dress Shop, in downtown Olympia, to pay
tuition and dormitory fees for 2 years at the University of Washington starting in 1945.
Although her parents initially hesitated at the thought of her moving away for a post
secondary education, they relented and she began her studies in journalism at the UW.
Regrettably, her 2 years ended with Jeni leaving the UW to become a caregiver for her
future diabetic father-in law, Mr. Fung Ming, until his passing. She returned to the UW 20
years later as an employee (1965-1988) and had married and started raising a family since
her last step on the campus as an undergraduate journalism student. She established
herself as a valuable administrator on campus through helping solidify the birth of the UW
Continuing Education Program, then working as the Assistant Administrator to the Dean of
Dentistry followed by the same appointment to the School of Nursing. Jeni introduced
Apple Computers to the Nursing Program and remained a Mac computer user into her 90’s.
Her work in the School of Nursing gave great purpose in her life as she helped make a
difference in the lives of students training in a health service discipline. She was involved in
the birth of key programs being developed under the wing of Dr. Rheba de Tornay (former
Dean of Nursing), one of which addressed health care needs of the aging population. After
her retirement in 1988, former Washington Governor Gary Locke appointed her to the
Washington State Nursing Care Quality Assurance Commission as a public member (1997-
2000).
Jeni and Cal were married for 74 years when Cal passed away in 2022. Family life and career
work at the University of Washington and The Boeing Company, respectively, kept them
busy. A ‘two year vacation’ described the family’s life as they drove across the southern
United States and relocated themselves in Cape Canaveral Florida (1968-1969). Boeing had
partnered with NASA in the Apollo Space Program at that time. Travelling through the deep
South in the late 60’s was an eye opener for the family and those they met along the way
who had never met Chinese Americans. As they settled into daily life in Florida, Jeni saw an
opportunity to help establish the first public library in the little town of Cape Canaveral.
Regular family life in Cape Canaveral would be walking 2 blocks to the beach and watching
the Apollo missiles being launched into space from Kennedy Space Center. The family
travelled to various cities in the state of Florida and visited Nassau (Bahamas). Their
daughters learned how to swim like fish in the Florida sunshine. Late 1969, Jeni and Cal
brought their family back to the Pacific Northwest and settled on Mercer Island. The 2 years
of family life in Florida helped their daughters broaden their perspective of the USA and its
diversity, its people and the impact travel can have on your personal perspective of the
world. Both daughters completed their post-secondary schooling and enjoyed the
experience of living on campus with the help of their parents. It was important to Jeni to
give her daughters the opportunity to have the full college experience as she had done in
1945-47.
Retirement in 1988 allowed Jeni time to continue supporting the Seattle Chinese
Community by joining other volunteers in the Wing Luke Museum “Oral History Project.”
The interviews filled two editions of the books titled “Reflections Of Seattle’s Chinese
Americans. The next 100 years” and they were edited by Ron Chew and Cassie Chin. Jeni
and her husband, Cal, were integral participants in the enormous fundraising efforts to build
the Nation’s first Bilingual Chinese American Nursing Home, Kin On, in Seattle. Their endless
energy and completion of important community-building tasks made them valuable
volunteers. If she wasn’t writing Kin On newsletters, Jeni and Cal enjoyed their time
grandparenting, playing golf and travelling the world with their close friends. Jeni loved life.
Those who knew her will remember her smile, laugh and enthusiasm for life, her honesty
and positivity, her work ethic and ability to solve problems, her sense of volunteerism and
curiosity to learn.
She was often known to have said “You don’t know where you are going until you know
where you have been”. This belief energized her to research her family’s story spanning over
75+ years starting in 1875 with the arrival of her grandfather, Charley Yeck, immigrating
from China to the US. She wrote the family’s story, gathering government documents and
historic pictures to create the 100 page account of her family’s ancestral story. This
document was given to all family members in 2002, in an effort to educate and preserve the
Kay family story for generations to come.
The family would like to express their heartfelt thanks for the wonderful care Jeni received
while living at Cornerstone Adult Family Home. Erin Liang and her staff of caregivers will
always be considered part of our extended family. We will always remember them for the
care and comfort they provided to mom.
Jeni will be interred at Lakeview Cemetery in Seattle and a celebration of life will be held in
summer 2024. If you wish to honor Jeni’s memory, please consider donating to the
Alzheimer’s Foundation, Kin On Nursing Home, UW School of Nursing, Wing Luke Museum
or a charity of your choice.
Your mother and grandmother was a colleague of mine, working with Rheba de Tornyay on the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Nurse Scholars program at UW. I was privileged to know Jeni when I joined their ‘team’ on this project. Your remembrance reflects her upbeat attitude and abilities.
Earlier, when Rheba was Dean of Nursing, Jeni would periodically sweep the school for Rheba to get a sense of how things were functioning–good news and concerns. She particularly included the staff in that sweep; that’s where the news was. She also knew the maintenance staff by name and genuinely enjoyed those friendships as well as benefiting the school through speedy facilities service when needed. In fact, she knew the maintenance staff so well that she would be invited to their office parties.
I saw Jeni last when she came with one of you to Rheba’s memorial gathering. While it was clear that her memory was failing, her presence meant a lot to those of us who knew Rheba and Jeni as close working partners.
Thank you for taking such good care of her through these final years. It has been a long road.I grieve her loss and celebrate her presence among us.
If her service next summer is open to friends, please let me know the details.
(BTW I used a search engine to access the comments page through Bonney Watson. I wasn’t able to use the Seattle Times website to call up Jeni’s obituary more than once; then I was unable to access the link for comments and condolences.)
To Pat Dougherty: please send me an email so we can invite you to mom’s Celebration of LIfe on July 26. Janine Chan ( Jeni’s oldest daughter). Contact me at: ashs@telus.net