German Javier Chi
Inurnment (of Ashes)
Monday, August 25, 2019
9:30 AM
Forest Lawn Memorial Park
3789 Royal Oak Avenue, Burnaby, BC
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Obituary
Obituary for German Javier Chi
October 12, 1934 – August 19, 2019
German Javier Chi was born and raised in Taishan, Canton, China on October 12, 1934 to a farming couple: Chu Shek Kau and Fung Ho Tam. He was the oldest of 2 out of 9 siblings that survived. Being the oldest and the only boy left, he was the favorite of his family growing up. Because of the Chinese War and its hardships, German was forced to move out to Hong Kong where he studied hard to be able to go back to his home province and he became a teacher.
Back in Hong Kong, German started his family young, which grew to include 6 sons and 4 daughters, 14 grandkids and 5 great grandkids.
German travelled the world throughout his life due to his extensive career as a businessman, exporter & importer, wholesaler, owner of grocery stores, restaurateur & bar owner, and an acting commercial & residential landlord for his beloved mother-in-law Amalia. Subsequently, he helped to support many of his fellow businessman, associates, friends, family and local Chinese business associations through mentoring and business development fellowships.
He migrated from Asia to Central America, settling in Honduras in the ’60s, then migrating to Florida, USA in the late ’70s and then Vancouver, Canada in early 1982. He often would go back to these locations as each of his offspring became of age and subsequently started their own families. Due to these international travel, German and his brew spoke Taishan Chinese from his province, Hong Kong Cantonese, Spanish and English. Very often German’s brew would leave many astonish how a topic was communicated in one language, answered in 2 different languages and then finally responded again in a 3rd language.
German was a huge collector of beautiful things: someone said that maybe this was his weakness. His collection included Chinese art, cars, a wide variety of gourmet blends of Chinese teas, swords, guns, business suits, pocket knives and leather goods. It cannot go unmentioned that he was a great chef who loved to express his artistic self in creating delicious new dishes for his many Chinese restaurants. His flair would sometime show up in turning ordinary fruit and vegetables into flowery scene displays. He was also a passionate collector of cars to the point it influences all his sons to become great mechanics and/or chefs.
In 1990, German won the Mahjong Championships in the Bahamas. He also loved, loved his card games, music, karate movies, going out to eat, the horse races and anything artistic. Many throughout the years would mention that German had a flair with the brush whether he was doing his Chinese calligraphy in his shops to the art classes in his seniors home. His acuity for counting cards and for numbers remain very strong till the very end.
The only woman in his life, other than his dear mom (PoPo), who believed in him from the beginning to the very end and through all his ventures and his truly long life was his much-beloved sister, Gonlen. The saying that behind every successful man and a good man is a good woman holds true as German was blessed with at least 2. Only they two could get away with telling him what and what not to do.
German is fondly remembered for pulling a prank on his mom (PoPo) and his dad (Acon) just after a few days of being heavily lectured about hanging around with some of his heavily party-going associates. One late summer evening, German decided to pretend to be an extremely disheveled drunk as he walked unbalanced and incoherent into their kitchen knocking things all over. He got the biggest Ajahings!…and Ajahs!… that were the heaviest lectures any man could have had! Much to PoPo’s great dismay, he got so heavily lectured!…. that to onlookers it looked like she wanted to smack him to his senses! He was lectured FIRSTLY, for looking and acting like an absolute drunk, ….SECONDLY, for driving drunk to their place with Joelin, Carolina and Eli in the car …. THIRDLY, when the ruse was up! German left them wanting to hug and love for not being drunk and strangle him at the same time for putting them through this joke. It took a while for them to recover from the joke. But they all laughed it off in the end.
He will be remembered as a truly kind, the gentlest of souls and an incredibly calm man who was always dressed very smart, sharp, dandy & dapperly and especially in his tuxedos or business suits. According to records, German was born on November 12, 1935 and passed away on August 19, 2019, at age of 83. But in reality, according to Chinese culture of wanting to appear younger on paper, German was really 84 years old at the time of passing! German passed away with his many friends and family visiting him before and after he peacefully and quietly slipped away to begin his journey to the heavens; where he would surely be greeted by his beloved Popo, Acon, his brother-in-Law Jose, his son Christopher and the many, many associates that preceded him, all eagerly waiting to queue up to play Mahjong of all games with him. He will be very much missed and always remembered down here on Earth.
Our most sincere sympathies to the family and friends of German Javier Chi..
Death notice for the town of: Vancouver, Province: Colombie britanique