Betty Lin (1933-2020), a longtime resident of Palo Alto, California, passed quietly at home on May 6, 2020, after two brief but sharp rounds of colon cancer. She was a psychotherapist, healer, woman of faith, soul companion, mother and mother-figure to many. She lived with the challenges of Alzheimer's Disease from 2011 until the end of her life, and faced her situation with enormous grace, serenity, and gratitude for the people around her. Her death in May 2020 came at a time when she could still appreciate and recognize her friends and family.
Born in Ann Arbor Michigan to parents who had met in the US as college exchange students, Betty was also raised in the cities of Shanghai, Beijing, Nanjing, Hong Kong, and Philadelphia, where she graduated from the Philadelphia High School for Girls, or Girl's High as it was known then. After a brief time in Buenos Aires, Argentina, she attended San Jose State University before graduating from the University of Oregon with a degree in History. Later, after working as a social worker for many years in the San Francisco Bay Area, Betty went back to school for a Master's in Social Welfare at the University of California, Berkeley, and then received her license as an LCSW in the mid-1970s. After training and early experience at Stanford's Cowell Student Health Center and Stanford Children's Hospital, she spent much of her adult career as a counselor in private practice, bringing together her broad training that included Gestalt Therapy, Transactional Analysis, and Christian counseling. Betty's faith was central to her life and work, but her spirituality held a great openness to the manifestations of the Spirit in many places and people. She enjoyed reading the Christian mystics, practicing the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, and connecting with small groups of friends for prayer, consultation, and tea.
She is pre-deceased by her husband Po-Ping Lin, and survived by her two sons, Andrew Lin of Palo Alto, CA; James Lin of Oakland, CA, her brother Dr. James C. Ling and Ning-Fei Ling of Simi Valley, CA, and many nieces, nephews, cousins, and beloved friends who visited her when her disease made it difficult for her to go out.
We will miss Betty, but we are buoyed by the legacy of her many gifts of service and care for people that live on.
(Photos still coming -- the website isn't allowing photo uploads at the moment.)
(We'll have a memorial service for Betty in the summer or fall of 2020 when this Coronavirus crisis allows for safe gatherings again.)
