Pi-Chen Chen's Obituary
Pi-chen Chen passed away peacefully at home in San Marcos on January 3, 2025 at the age of 87. Up until the end she maintained her kindness and love for family and friends.
Pi-chen was born in Taichung, Taiwan into a loving family and enjoyed growing up with her five siblings. She earned a BS degree in agricultural chemistry from Taichung Agricultural College, then traveled to Canada where she earned an MS in food science from the University of Alberta. Later in life, she was awarded a BS in computer programming from Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville (SIUE).
She met and married Ching-chih Chen and after a few years living in Boston, Massachusetts where both of their daughters, Anne and Jennifer, were born, they moved to Edwardsville, Illinois to raise their young family. Pi-chen enjoyed teaching and tutoring Anne and Jennifer. She was especially handy with a sewing machine, making clothing for herself and the girls. Her knowledge of food science inspired her early adoption of the health food craze, and she home made granola and yogurt from scratch, reducing the sugar to a fraction of what was called for. This was not at the time appreciated by her children. Pi-chen was known for making excellent dim sum and hosting large dinner parties.
While raising her two children, she also aided in advancing her husband’s academic career by helping him with his lecture materials and typing various drafts of his doctoral thesis. Pi-chen juggled her personal responsibilities and hobbies with her own robust career. She worked as a lab researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital and at the SIUE biology lab. In 1981, after she completed her BS degree in computer programming, she commuted to St. Louis and worked at McDonnell Douglas and EDS until her retirement in 2000.
After her husband’s retirement in 2002, they moved to Southern California where she volunteered at Quail Botanic Gardens in Encinitas (later renamed San Diego Botanic Garden) for a few years. Family was always her priority and she loved to be with them. In 2009, she and her husband moved to Pittsburgh to help raise and care for her only grandchild, Xing, before moving back to San Diego County in late 2019. Pi-chen is survived by her loving family: her husband, Ching-chih, her daughters, Jennifer Chen and Anne Chen (Carlough), and her grandson, Xing Carlough.
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