Pai Chieh Lin

Pai Chieh Lin was born in the Lin-seng County of Fu-jian Province in China on December 4, 1921. His parents recognized that he had an aptitude for study and encouraged him to pursue higher education. He attended Amoy National University during the Sino-Japanese war years on a government scholarship, and graduated in 1947 majoring in civil engineering. Following the Communist takeover of mainland Chin, he moved to Taiwan with the Nationalist Government, and worked for the Taiwan Highway Bureau. He surveyed and built roads and bridges throughout Taiwan, particularly in Yilan, Suao, Taichung and Jiayi. In 1955, he received a special merit award from President Chiang Kai-shek in person. By late 1950s he was promoted to the chief of engineering of Yilan highway district. However, he yearned to study abroad and broaden his horizon, and came to the U.S. in 1958. He enrolled at the University of Washington, and received his Master’s degree in civil engineering in 1961, specializing in structural engineering. He joined the engineering firm of Olsen & Ratti after graduation and at the same time brought his family over from Taiwan. He became an accomplished structural engineer, and was especially praised for his renovations of the buildings in Pioneer Square of Seattle. He started his own firm, Pai Lin Engineering, in 1988, and was still very active until he was struck down by a devastating stroke in September of 2008.

Pai Chieh became acquainted with the Bible when he was a student at the Ge-zhi High School in Fuzhou. In 1962, after settling in Seattle, he began attending the Bible study group led by Elder Philip Tang, who co-founded in 1967 the Evangelical Chinese Church (“ECC”) of Seattle. He and his family were baptized in 1968. Despite his engineering work six days a week, he found time to serve as a deacon for the ECC for nine years, and frequently led Bible studies. He was humble and soft-spoken, and was well liked and respected by all. In the 2007-celebration booklet “40 Years: One Blessed Journey,” he wrote an article on the history of ECC as one of the few remaining original eyewitnesses. With his expertise in structural engineering, he also served as a voluntary consultant for building projects in several Chinese churches in King County.

Pai Chieh loved the outdoors and always wished he could have gone camping and fishing more often. He was a hard-working man, a loving husband and a devoted family man. He died on November 29, 2011. He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Yu Hsieh, three children, Paul, Christine, and Jeannette, and four grandchildren. Our hearts ache with his loss, but we are happy that he is no longer suffering and in a better place.

Arrangements under the direction of Acacia Memorial Park & Funeral Home, Seattle, Washington.