Catherine Young

Catherine Lee Young, born on 1 June 1922 in New York City, passed away peacefully on 19 August 2024, in Mount Vernon, New York, at the age of 102. Catherine was born into the Lee family, pioneers in providing financial and travel services to the Chinatown community in New York. She was the cherished youngest daughter of Harold Lun Lee and Sue Sang Lee.

Catherine was raised in New York's Chinatown where she attended public school and True Light Chinese Lutheran Church. She then attended a convent school in Hong Kong where her father had relocated the family due to Tong activity in New York. She returned to New York to attain her BA in English at NYU, graduating as a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. She then attended Columbia University for English literature. She met her husband, Paul Pau-Lien Young, a graduate student at Harvard, on a blind date. While at university, both worked for her father's Chinese movie theater, Catherine as a cashier and Paul as a translator. They married 2 November 1946 at Church of the Ascension. Catherine dedicated much of her life to supporting her husband in his accounting practice while raising their two sons, Bryant and Clayton. They lived over 40 years in Great Neck, Long Island where most of her siblings were also living with their families. In the summers, she and her sisters, their parents, and sisters-in-law would take turns caring for all the children together at their family beach house in Bradley Beach, NJ. She was deeply involved in the China Institute and the Ging Hawk Club, promoting Chinese culture and connecting with other Chinese-American women.

Known for her exceptional cooking skills and love of travel, Catherine was a pillar of strength and love for her family, which includes her two devoted sons; her daughters-in-law Rebecca and Cecilia; four grandchildren: Nicholas, Paul, Theodore, and Catherine; and her siblings and their children. She was known for her practicality, frugality, straightforwardness, and even temperament. Also, her stock picks. Her commitment to family and community was profound and deeply felt by all who knew her.

Services were held at Pinelawn Cemetery in Farmingdale, NY. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in Catherine's memory to the China Institute or the Museum of the Chinese in America, both located in New York. Catherine's legacy will live on through the many lives she touched and the cultural connections she fostered.