Susan Kam Chee 朱鄺錦嫦

It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of our mother, Susan Kam Chee, on March 22, 2025 at the age of 92 in Elk Grove, CA. She passed away at 04:30am at home with daughter Becky at her side. The rest of the family rushed over. Her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, cousin, niece-in-law, grand niece surrounded her as she left home at 03:00pm. She lived in Sacramento for 38 years and in Elk Grove for 20 years.   

Our mother was born on October 22, 1932 in Toisan, Guangdong Province, China as the eldest of nine to Qiang Xiu Kuang and Zhang Di Yu. As a young woman living in Canton, she went to businesses to collect rent on behalf of the Chee family and had to negotiate during the hard times. In the late 1950s, she moved to Hong Kong where she beaded patterns onto sweaters for high end fashion. She enjoyed Huangmei tone黃梅調, the opera music genre at the time. In 1967 she immigrated to Sacramento and worked 32 years seasonally at Hunt Wesson Cannery in Davis and as a seamstress off season, often late into the night.

She was the matriarch of our family for four generations and a wonderful homemaker. Our mother raised three children and helped overlook the growth of six grandchildren and eight great grand-children. They were her pride and joy. As her grandchildren would fondly say, “ 'Ah Ngin' not only took care of our father's generation, she also took care of us and our next generation. That is hard to come by.” She also cared for three dog members - Corky, Paula, Coco.

In the 1970s our mother studied English in order to get naturalized to become a U.S. Citizen and bring her family to the U.S. Her determination and diligence helped her successfully become a U.S. Citizen. She, with the help of her son, petitioned her siblings and parents to come to the U.S. In 1988 the first batch of 30 family members boarded the same flight to the U.S. She was overjoyed and grateful. She wanted everyone to remember her son as her and as their "big, big benefactor" 大大的恩人 .

Our mother loved and looked forward to family gatherings to celebrate birthdays, holidays and other events. If the occasion was for a banquet, she would prepare days in advance to look her best and reminded everyone to dress beautifully and appropriately in order for us to be presentable.

She was preceded in death by by her husband - Harry Wing Sun; father - Qiang Xiu Kuang; mother - Zhang Di Yu; four brothers - Min Lek, Xin Hua, and two others.

She is survived by her three children: son Wen Jom with wife Sun Sun; daughter Mei May with husband Sui Sung; daughter Becky. Forever cherished and remembered by her six grandchildren: Edward with wife Lin; Kenneth with wife Jenny; Brandon with wife Kristina; Cynthia with husband Alan; Anna with husband Jeff; Angela. Sorely missed by her eight great grand-children: Emily, Kristina, Sarah, Nicole, Cameron, Weston, Paxton and Alix. Always missed by her siblings - Kam Ping with husband Bing Wah; brother Sun Fung; Kam Tong with husband Yuk Fung, Man Sun with wife Lai Kwan and two sisters-in-law and many nephews, nieces, grand nephews, grand nieces, great grand nephews, great grand nieces, and many other family members and friends.