感恩的心，感謝有你。

伴我一生，讓我有勇氣做我自己。

感恩的心，感謝命運。

花開花落，我一樣會珍惜。

-    《感恩的心》，歐陽菲菲 

My thankful heart, I am thankful for you.
You’ve been by my side, giving me the courage to be myself.

My thankful heart, I thank my destiny.
Flowers bloom and flowers decay, but I am grateful all the same.

-    “Thankful heart” by Ouyang Fei Fei

Above all, Wendy Lin Tai Chun-Tao was kind and compassionate. She loved her nine siblings, four children, husband, parents, and her countless friends.  Every day, she operated like the head of a village – taking care of everybody in her family and her circle of friends who needed to see a doctor, secure a loan for college, or find temporary shelter – there was nothing beyond her reach, capability or understanding.  Compassion was her most important trait, and her big heart the greatest gift to us all.

Born on July 15th, 1939, in Shakeng Village, Hengshan Township, Hsinchu County, Wendy was ninth of ten children. Raised in a warm and loving Hakka family, Wendy studied in Shakeng Elementary School and Zhudong Junior High School before graduating from Hsinchu Girls’ High School. With the support and encouragement of her siblings, Wendy became the first in her family to go north to Taipei to attend university. After graduation, she taught at Shiguang High School in Kansai for two years.

In 1965, Wendy fell in love with and married Gary Lin. In their first years of marriage, they lived on Chifeng Street near her mother-in-law’s famous meatball and braised pork rice stand, where she helped out. In that same year, Gary left Taiwan for Hawaii to study at the East West Center at the University of Hawaii, leaving Wendy, already pregnant with her eldest child, Susan. During that time, Wendy took care of her mother and sister-in-law and, with the help of her siblings, made it through a difficult and isolating time.

Gary returned to Taiwan in 1967, and Wendy gave birth to three more children: Shirley, Suzette, and Tom. In 1974, the couple decided to move to their home on Guangfu South Road, Taipei, to give their four beloved children a better home environment. They stayed here for many years.

Two years later, in 1976, Wendy departed from Taiwan with her four children, all still under the age of ten, on a Pan-American Airlines flight to New York to reunite with Gary, who had be re-assigned by IBM from its Taipei office to White Plains. After a series of trials and tribulations, including a detainment at customs when they transited through Tokyo, the family finally arrived in New York and settled into Riverdale, Bronx, New York City. They remained in New York for two years before returning to Taiwan. In 1982, the family returned to New York again, this time to settle in the Scarsdale, in the suburbs of New York State. A year later, Gary returned to Taiwan due to a heart attack, and Wendy stayed in America with the children to allow them to  continue their education. In order to sustain their life in America, Wendy took care of other families’ children, and worked at a Japanese restaurant, working night and day to support the family.

In 1986, Wendy reunited with Gary and moved to Hong Kong, where he had been re-located with IBM. For three years they lived on Broadwood Road in Happy Valley. Three years later, they moved to Tianjin, China, and finally returned to Taiwan in 1991. 

Wendy was a curious and devoted learner of the world; she always aimed to improve and work on herself. She attended community college in the United States when she first moved there, and studied Cantonese cuisine on her own. She was a multilinguist who taught herself English, Japanese, and Cantonese. And she always approached learning new things with an open mind. Her open-mindedness and curiosity is what allowed her to establish and build upon deep friendships with people of all ages from all walks of life around the world. She played matchmaker to many a happy couple and was always adept at reading people and connecting deeply with them. Her generosity of spirit, love, and hospitality made all those around her feel close to her.

Wendy was intelligent, capable, kind, and seamlessly managed all aspects of the household as the matriarch of the family. She was an excellent chef and talented financial investor. In an era of economic hardship, she helped her family acquire property through collective buying. After returning to Taiwan in 1978, Wendy and her siblings opened the Dai Handicraft Shop on Minquan East Road in Taipei, a thriving business which sold souvenirs to Japanese customers. In 2001, Wendy started running the Chez Moi  restaurant, a French restaurant house in the family's former home on Guangfu South Road.

As a beneficiary of her own education, Wendy was always a huge advocate of education. In 2002, at the age of 60, Wendy devoted herself to education and started the Xiaoxiang bilingual Experimental School in Zhuzhou, Hunan, China. The school is dedicated to nurturing talented students, allowing them to go on to serve society. Whether it was the quality of the cafeteria food or the school equipment and teaching materials the students had access to, Wendy always insisted on maintaining the highest standards in order to give her students the best possible education. She was unanimously loved and respected by all the students and teachers at the school, and retired as the chairman in 2016.

It is impossible to capture a person, much less their life and presence, in an obituary. Wendy was known for her kindness, to those near and far from her. She was the pillar and matriarch of the family, and always spread her wings to protect her family, provide warmth and strength, and always held the love and respect of all those she came across. But she was also a joy to be around. Wendy was a source of laughter, fun, and great happiness. She loved to sing karaoke with her siblings in Shakeng, and could often be found at home singing and swaying along to “Scarborough Fair” by Simon & Garfunkel or songs of gratitude and praise such as “Thankful Heart” by Ouyang Fei Fei.

Later in life, Wendy came to know the Lord through her dear friend Isabelle. She was baptized by Brother Lin Hong at the Taipei Church of Christ on January 5th, 2014. She wrote in her diary, "I was completely immersed in water, which washed away all my sins from the past seventy years, and my heart was abnormally calm. I have really found solace in my heart and warmth in my lonely soul after so many years, and I have God now."

Wendy was always in search of the joy and blessings she could be grateful for in her life. She helped many of those around her ground themselves in a sense of self because she always sought to better understand herself and reflect on her place in the world. Her diary was filled with entries of gratitude and self-reflection. She was never boastful, but rather, was humbly proud of her four children, all of whom graduated from Ivy League universities in the United States and are upright and kind individuals who excel in their respective fields.

As a mother, she taught her children that they each had as much of a say as their parents. She allowed them to speak their mind on everything from setting the maximum number of minutes per telephone call to whether our entire family should immigrate to the United States. When one of her daughters, Shirley, announced her dream of becoming a Broadway actress, Wendy not only patiently taught her how to drive, but also allowed her to use the family car to drive 40 minutes to the University  to take dancing  classes every Tuesday night until she smashed both bumpers, one at a time. She helped Shirley take private tap dance classes and drove her to and from auditions far from home, while taking care of three other young children. Wendy never complained, but simply waited for Shirley to realize show biz was not her calling  in life and to drop the idea on her own. Wendy not only gave her children the gift of autonomy but also of self-exploration.

Although her five granddaughters and two grandsons have lived abroad for many years, their grandmother’s words and deeds have given them a sense of belonging and self, and they have become shining reflections of their grandmother in their curiosity about the world and lifelong pursuit of learning. Although her children were not always there for her in her old age, she was grateful for the company of her relatives and especially her nephew Dr. Tai Chunhui's attentive care for many years, which gave her great comfort.

Wendy is survived by six of her siblings; her husband, Gary Lin; her four children, Susan, Shirley, Suzette, and Tom; her grandchildren, Stefani, Samantha, Megan, Lucy, Kyle, and Aiden; and many other beloved relatives and friends.