Yulin Long's Obituary
Long, Yulin passed away on November 15, 2011, in Plano, Texas. Yulin is survived by his wife, Lillian Long, and daughters, Agnes Long Mah and husband, Yin-cher Mah, Beatrice Long and husband, James Ting, Christina Long and husband, Herman Lo, Wang-Chen Long and husband, Alex Tsou, six grandsons: Joseph Mah, Joshua Mah, Darren Ting, Christopher Lo, Adam Tsou and Tony Tsou. Yulin Long was born on February 28th, 1931, in Changhwa, Taiwan, during the Japanese occupation. He was the third of four children, with two elder sisters and one younger brother. His great grandfather was an aristocrat and an official of the Qing Dynasty, but because of the early death of both his great-grandfather and grandfather, as well as the subsequent squandering of the family fortune by his father, his childhood life went from being comfortable to being impoverished. His mother passed away when he was fifteen. To make ends meet and to continue his studies, he worked in a lab during the day to support his family, and at night, he studied at evening schools. He had a deep passion for learning and was accepted into the Chemical Engineering Department of Cheng-Kung University. During his University years, through a fellow classmate, he became a Christian – a calling that he followed faithfully until the last days of his life. He taught at Children Sunday Schools, and set his mind to serve in remote areas. After graduation, unlike most graduates who headed to large cities, he decided on a job in ‘Inner Mountains’- a small rural town called Hualien, and worked for the Taiwan Fertilizer Company. He served as a deacon, an elder, a teacher, and the principal of Sunday school at Mei-Luan Presbyterian Church, plus preaching and translating for the congregation, and taught the children’s curriculums and activities. In Hualien, he met the love of his life, Lillian Cho, with whom he married in 1960. Together, they raised four daughters: Agnes, Beatrice, Christina and Dorothea (Wangchen). In 1964, Yulin received a grant from the Presbytery to research in Japan on the topic of evangelism in industries and factories. Upon his return, he organized bible studies for engineers and preached gospel to workers in the factory. During 1967-1969, he was awarded a full scholarship from the government of Germany to study Industrial Management in Germany. During breaks from classes, he traveled throughout Western Europe, and was deeply absorbed with classical music, art, history and architecture, which remained his passions throughout his life. After returning to Taiwan, he provided presentations on history of western art and music with slide shows for schools, neighbors and churches. At work, he was promoted to Vice President of the Taiwan Fertilizer Company’s Hualien Factory in 1974, and later to Deputy Chief Engineer of the Taiwan Fertilizer Company. In 1988, he took an early retirement and immigrated to the United States. He initially worked as a Quality Control Manager in a commodity company in New Jersey, and later he and Lillian moved to Dallas, Texas to help his brother-in-law’s business. In the Dallas area, he served in the areas of senior evangelism and adult Sunday school in Denton Chinese Church and Northern Texas Chinese Church. The one person Yulin most admired was Dr. Albert Schweitzer, who had three PhD’s (Medicine, Theology and Philosophy), but gave up a secure and comfortable life to serve in Africa. Yulin had provisioned a column in Taiwan Christian Forum, and published various articles in magazines such as Taiwan Church Bulletin, Biographical Literature, and The Challenger, etc. He is the author of the book Memory of Europe, distributed by People Book House publisher. Recently, he had translated the book, The Scholarship and Contribution of Zhu Zaiyu in the Cultural History, East and West, by Gene Cho into English. Throughout his life he enjoyed studying and was fluent in multiple languages: Chinese, Japanese, English, German, and French and participated in numerous hobbies: stamp collecting, reading, traveling in US and abroad, music and art appreciation, painting, and collecting photographic records of his family life. He was very fond of children and was considered a great story teller. He is remembered by many as compassionate, intelligent, peace-loving, artistic, and almost child-like. He was deeply devoted to his wife, four children and their families, and his church. In his last days, he wished to be remembered as someone whose life can be described as “God loves me, and I love God”. (Yulin returned to the Lord’s embrace peacefully during his sleep on November 15, 2011 at 6:30 AM.)
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