Kim Quach Thai

In 1975, Kim and her family immigrated to the United States of America seeking refuge in the pursuit of the American dream. They found this in the Central Valley of California. Kim was a mother to eleven children and wife of 61 years to her late husband, Thanh Huu Thai. While she spent most of her working career in Quality Assurance in the Semiconductor Industry, she also worked tirelessly and at the same time, as a business owner alongside her husband.

She was extremely hardworking, maintained a balance of life and work and ultimately raised her children into successful adults; never complaining about either. She loved her large family and showed it through her selfless acts of service. Kim loved cooking, reading, gardening, crocheting, but most of all, spending time with her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren at celebratory family gatherings. She was artistic, intelligent, and had a great sense of humor.

While English was her third language, she spoke Vietnamese and three dialects of the Chinese language, Mandarin, Cantonese, and Fukienese from her ancestors' origin in the Fujian province. Her passions could be found in the countless collections of cookbooks, cooking videos, and classic Chinese music from the 50’s and 60’s era. Kim was known for creating amazing recipes with minimal ingredients. Her culinary talent of stretching leftovers into an edible work of art had neighborhood friends visiting just to enjoy her food.

In her retirement years, you could find her happily watching the Food Network, Hallmark Channel, and Chinese melodrama movies…of course, it would be remiss to not mention she loved the occasional trips with her children to local casinos for a chance at a lucky strike on a penny slot machine.

She will be forever missed, never forgotten, and always be referred to as “Ma”, “Mom”, “Ama” and “Acho.” Kim, the matriarch to many, was considerably loved and respected by her surviving family of eight children, their spouses, 28 grandchildren, and 38 great-grandchildren.

Visitation will be held from 12:00 PM to 6:00 PM on Saturday, February 3, 2024, at Lima Family Erickson Memorial Chapel, 710 Willow Street in San Jose. A private family funeral service will resume the following day on Sunday, February 4, 2024, from 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM, also at Lima Family Erickson. Following the funeral service, there will be a private family burial from 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM at Oak Hill Memorial Park 300 Curtner Avenue, San Jose.