Esther Liu Obituary

Former longtime Durango resident Esther Tsong Tzu'Chiu Liu died Wednesday, May 12, 2010 at the home of her daughter

Margaret Liu in Lafayette, Calif. She was 90.

Mrs. Liu was born to Zhang Wei Nong and Sha Dan Qiu on Sept. 3, 1919, in Jiangsu Province, China, near Shanghai, the

fifth daughter of a wealthy prerevolutionary landlord. Her ancestor had served the imperial court in Beijing as a

senior advisor to the emperor and was granted land as a reward. Her mother also was from a prominent family and was a

medical doctor, unusual at that time.

Mrs. Liu was educated at the prestigious Fudan University, which has been called "the Harvard of China," then fled on

foot from the Japanese occupation of Shanghai during the Sino-Japanese War. She and her cousin walked more than 200

miles upriver, thereby escaping the atrocities visited upon Shanghai and Nanjing.

In 1949, she emigrated from China to the United States to attend graduate school at the same time the Communists came

into power. She had attended a British-run high school and already spoke English.

Mrs. Liu continued her education at the University of Minnesota, where she earned a master's degree in English

literature. In Minnesota, she met Hsin Kuan "Harry" Liu, who was studying for a doctorate in civil engineering. On

Aug. 22, 1953, the couple married in Minneapolis.

They moved to Denver, where she earned a second master's degree, this one in library science, from the University of

Denver. Their oldest daughter, Ingrid, was born in Denver. Mr. Liu joined the faculty at Colorado State University in

Fort Collins, where their other two children were born.

Mr. Liu was killed in an auto accident in 1960 when he was moving the family to California, where he was going to

teach at the University of California, Davis, leaving Mrs. Liu a widow with Paul, her youngest child, just 7 weeks

old. Church and family friends moved the young widow and her children back to Fort Collins. She went to work at the

Fort Collins Public Library, then found a children's librarian job at the Durango Public Library. She moved the

family to Durango, which she described as a warm community that embraced her.

While at the Durango Public Library, she started what became the very popular "story hour" for children, which

involved storytelling, skits, memorizing poems and small prizes for reading achievements.

She eventually was recruited to be a librarian at Fort Lewis College, a position she held for almost 20 years. During

that time, she earned a doctorate in education from the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley. Mrs. Liu retired

in 1983 as director of collection development for the library and was honored with the title of professor emerita.

Her family said she served as a mentor and friend to many of the students she met, especially through her activities

with the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and Chapel of Life, a nondenominational house church started during the

1970s that was a popular church for college students.

Mrs. Liu was proud of raising three successful children. When asked how she had raised them as a widow, she would

reply, "On my knees."

Her three children graduated from Durango High School as valedictorians (both daughters also were U.S. Presidential

Scholars). All three won Boettcher Scholarships for full rides to Colorado colleges, although her eldest daughter,

Ingrid, chose to forego that support to attend Harvard University. All three of her children went on to medical

school (Stanford or Harvard), and her daughter Margaret Liu recently was under consideration for the Nobel Prize in

Medicine for her seminal work in DNA vaccines. Her son is an associate professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School

and chief of surgery at Roger Williams Hospital in Providence, R.I., and Ingrid Liu is on the medical faculty at

Harbor-University of California at Los Angeles.

After retirement, Mrs. Liu volunteered at the U.S. Center for World Missions in Pasadena, Calif., where she organized

its library. She also volunteered overseas in Asia, then returned to Durango for several years before settling in

Laguna Hills, Calif., in 1995.

She successfully fought two forms of cancer, and despite being weakened by chemotherapy and radiation, she still went

on international mission trips to China, traveled throughout Asia, Europe, and Russia with friends and family, and

realized a lifelong ambition by traveling to the Holy Land with friends from Durango, Don and Debra Boyle.

Her family said Mrs. Liu's life was a triumph of faith and perseverance. Even near the end of her life, she would

quote her favorite Bible verses from Psalm 103.

Mrs. Liu was preceded in death by her husband, Hsin Kuan "Harry" Liu.

She is survived by her daughters Dr. Ingrid Liu of Palos Verdes Estates. Calif., and Dr. Margaret Liu of Lafayette;

son, Dr. Paul Liu, of Rhode Island; and seven grandchildren.

A celebration of life is being planned for Aug. 15, 2010, at the T. Chase McPherson Memorial Chapel at FLC. Details

will be announced at a later date.

Memorial contributions may be sent to a favorite orphanage ministry of Mrs. Liu's, World Challenge Inc., P.O. Box

260, Lindale, TX, 75771, or at www.worldchallenge.org.