Memorial services for Amy Wong Yee, 94, will be at 11:00 a.m., Saturday, July 29 at First Baptist Church, Leland. She passed away peacefully on May 9, 2017 in California. Burial will be in the Greenville Chinese Cemetery under the direction of Boone Funeral Home, Greenville.
Wife, mother, sister, aunt, grandmother, and great-grandmother, Amy was born in Fargo, ND, on February 2, 1923. She lived there until the family returned to China when she was 3 years old. She returned to the United State when she was 17 to marry Danny Yee. He had traveled from Detroit, MI, to Shelby, MS, where he met and married Amy. They moved to Leland to open Leland Food Market, which they operated for 40 years before retiring.
For most of her life Amy lived in Leland working beside Danny where they would support and educate their family. During that time they raised four children Sylvia, Priscilla, Albert, and Edwin. She learned to cook from her brother and father-in-law. She not only excelled at cooking, but also at baking. Treating the family to her delicious German chocolate and white coconut cakes, as well as chocolate chip cookies on special occasions were soon expected by all. Even after everyone left home and married, her signature cakes and cookies were always waiting when they returned home for visits.
Amy attended First Baptist Church in Leland and read her Bible daily. When she and Danny retired in 1980, they moved into their newly built house. It was in the backyard that her green thumb was evident, overflowing with Chinese vegetables and flowers. She spent hours each day working the yard into a lovely place to relax and even hosting family birthday parties. Many years after Danny preceded her in death in 2008, she realized her dream of moving to California to be near family. She lived there until she passed away.
Amy is survived by her children and their families – Sylvia (husband Daniel Louie), Priscilla (husband Kenneth Jue), Albert, and Edwin (wife Paula). Sylvia’s family: sons Scott (wife Alex) and their children (AnnaMarie and Sarah), and Michael; Priscilla’s family: daughter Amy (husband Rob Kageyama) and their children (Kenji and Kendall), sons Stephen and Gregory; Albert’s family: daughter Amber (husband Michael Zazucki) and son Nicholas (wife Alora) and children (Arya, Brandon, and Benjen); Edwin’s family: son Jordan (wife Bre) and children (Eilley and Ethan), daughter Kinsey (husband Ian Culley) and son Jeffrey (wife Iti Agarwal).
The family request that donations be made to First Baptist Church, 103 S. Broad St., Leland, MS 38756 or Alzheimer’s Association, PO Box 96011, Washington, DC 20090-6011.