Charlene Kuo Hsiao was born in March of 1950 in Tai-nan, Taiwan. She had one older brother, one younger sister, and one younger brother. As a young child, Charlene enjoyed Chinese dance, ballet, sing-alongs, and piano. She was a diligent student and attended Tai-nan Girls Junior and Senior High School. As a teenager, she had a passion for social justice and subsequently studied sociology at National Taiwan University to help the disadvantaged. During college, a friend brought her to church and Charlene dedicated her life to the Lord. In 1971, she was baptized at Ho-ping Presbyterian Church in Taipei and joined its choir. Upon college graduation, Charlene worked as a social worker at a local Christian hospital. She enjoyed hiking and would often go to the mountains with her friends.
In the summer of 1976, Charlene met a young resident obstetrician/gynecologist at a church reunion. She admired this young doctor’s family, and in February 1977, Charlene moved to the United States to marry Luke Hsiao. They were married March 5, 1977 and lived in Buffalo, New York where they had their first child Andrew. In 1979, the young couple moved to San Bernardino, CA where they had three more daughters Angela, Janet, and Shirley.
Charlene dedicated her life not only to being a diligent wife, mother, and daughter/sister-in-law, but she also managed her husband’s medical practice, dabbled in day trading, and became an avid real estate investor. She was constantly challenging herself and striving to learn new things by taking golf, glass-blowing, yoga, flower arranging/pressing, computer programming, and art history classes. Charlene enjoyed socializing with her friends, gardening, taking long walks, and spending time with family. She was also active in her church community and enjoyed serving the Lord through church ministries.
Charlene and Luke loved to travel and have been to all the national parks in the western US as well as to Japan, China, Taiwan, and all over Europe. They had just celebrated their 30th anniversary when Charlene discovered that she had been diagnosed with gallbladder cancer. On May 28, 2007, Charlene went home to be with her Lord Father.
Charlene is survived by her husband Luke, who is still practicing in San Bernardino. Her first born Andrew, is an orthopedic resident at Mount Sinai in New York while her second child Angela, is an endodontic resident at Baylor College of Dentistry in Texas. Her third child Janet, is a chemical engineer in Pasadena, CA, and her youngest child Shirley works in the
administrative offices of the UCLA Department of Neurosurgery.
