Sau Wa Ho Wu

Mrs. Wu was born into a poor family in the bustling city of Canton, China. She was the third oldest of eight siblings. As a young child, circumstances forced her to grow up quickly. She had to carry the burdens and responsibilities of an adult at a very young age. She was entrusted with the care of her younger siblings and ailing grandmother. Despite her familial responsibilities, she achieved top marks in her schooling.

Later, the chaos of the Cultural Revolution meant that she found herself uprooted from her home and deprived of the opportunity to attend a university. She was sent off to reeducation camps in the Chinese hinterlands. With fearless determination, she escaped the camps and traveled to the coast of southern China. There she became one the “freedom swimmers” who successfully navigated the dangerous nighttime swim from Communist China to the freedom of British governed Hong Kong.

She loved her family and felt deeply responsible for taking care of everyone around her. Her childhood experiences of helping to raise her siblings never left her and she spent the rest of her life watching over them and making sure they were okay.

She was the first person in her family to make it to the U.S.A. when she arrived with her newly wed husband in 1974 in a foreign land not knowing much English. She was able to bring her mother and consequently all her siblings to America. Because of her efforts, the Ho clan in Boston now numbers over 50 family members.

She was a hardworking, industrious woman who worked various jobs to support her family - a seamstress, a book keeper, a money counter. When she had children, she had two great hopes for them. She wanted them to be able to enjoy the carefree childhood that she never got to experience growing up in China. And she wanted them to get a first rate education in America, the education that she was denied in China.

To that end, she made sure that her children never had to do any household chores when they were growing up. Their only jobs in life were to laugh and play and get straight A’s at school, a hope that her children fulfilled by graduating at or near the top of their respective classes at Boston Latin School. She proudly watched them further their education, with Nora at Boston University and Simmons College and Ray at Harvard University.

She was fiercely independent and stoically battled lung cancer for the last 12 years. During that time, she was able to enjoy many healthy years, with time well spent traveling with her family, walking by the Charles River almost daily, and watching the 6 o’clock news. She had a particular interest in the natural beauty of the U.S. National Parks and visited 39 of the 63 through the course of her life.

One of her greatest wishes was that she not be a burden to anyone. Despite her increasing physical decline, she insisted on doing as much as she could for herself. In her final days, she had a remarkable clarity that she would pass in the next couple of weeks. She spent this time surrounded by her husband, children, and extended family.

Mrs. Wu is survived by her devoted husband of nearly 50 years, Mr. Ping Wing Wu, and her loving children, daughter Nora and son Raymond. She is also survived by two brothers, three sisters, and countless nieces and nephews.

She will be greatly missed..