Rosemary Chu

1928 - 2021

Rosemary Chu
April 7, 1928 - December 9, 2021
Lee's Summit, Missouri -
Rosemary Yang Chu, 93, died peacefully on December 9, 2021 at her John Knox Village home. Born in 1928 in Qingdao, China, her parents slipped her out of China by herself as a teenager during the Chinese Revolution of 1949. She bypassed 141 government interrogations, but never saw her parents again. Rosemary first immigrated to Hong Kong, and then the United States, where in 1955, she met and married Finley Chu in Chicago. They moved to Shawnee, Oklahoma where Dr. Chu was an economics professor at Oklahoma Baptist University and later at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas until he became ill. Following his death in 1967, Rosemary and their daughter Jane moved into the dormitory on the Ouachita campus where Rosemary worked as a Resident Hall Director. She was a Dorm Mom for tens of thousands of university students over the next 41 years. Upon her retirement from Ouachita in 2009, the university named a new dormitory – Mom Chu Dormitory – in her honor. She moved to Lee's Summit, Missouri where she was active in the First Baptist Church of Lee's Summit. Rosemary is survived by her daughter, Jane Chu, Washington, DC, and many nieces and nephews in China, including Yuming Yang. A memorial service will be held at 10 AM on January 6, 2022 at First Baptist Church, Arkadelphia, Arkansas. Memorials may be made to the Rosemary Chu Scholarship Fund at Ouachita Baptist University, Box 3754 – Development Office, Arkadelphia, AR 71998-0001, or the First Baptist Church of Lee's Summit, 2 NE Douglas Street, Lee's Summit, MO 64063.