Jing Fong Liou

On the evening of Wednesday, December 18, 2024, Jing Fong, 86, died peacefully at Corewell Health Grand Rapids Hospital surrounded by family members. She was a beloved wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother.

Born in Pakse, Laos, on May 5, 1938, Jing Fong was the 4th of 5 children, the only daughter. At 17, Jing Fong married Mathiem Liou, with whom she shared nearly 70 years of marriage.

She is survived by her husband, Mathiem; her ten children, Ailian (Soh Ming), Thongbay (Ing), Aifang, Zhe, Amy Ai-Ing (David), Lucy, Jing (Rene), Lang (Phet), Chai (Danny), Bing (Sam); thirteen grandchildren, Inchai (Elliot), Syhming, Christine (Robert), Kevin (Kelly), Jonathan, Bebe, Edison, Nathaniel (Jenny), Elizabeth (Mitchell), Nikita, Tyler, Mallaurie, and Aiden; and two great-grandchildren, Sebastian and Matthew.

In Pakse and Vientiane, Laos, Jing Fong sold wholesale clothing at the markets to support a growing family. Then, in search of a better life, the family found themselves at a refugee camp in Nong Khai, Thailand. After a few years, fate led her and her family to a life-changing sponsorship from the Church World Service of New York and First Baptist Church in Olympia, Washington, to move across the ocean to the United States. 1982 marked her courageous journey into a new environment of customs and culture. While living in Saint Joseph, Michigan, and raising her youngest four children and three eldest grandchildren during the 1980s and 90s, she worked tirelessly for Lake Shore Studios, a lampshade company. Jing Fong handmade lampshades of many shapes, sizes, and colors as she covered and stretched a variety of fabrics over their metal frames with great skill.

She enjoyed playing card games, watching soap operas, and listening to her cassette tapes of Chinese operas, among other things. As a great cook, she was always thinking of others, making sure to ask, “Are you hungry?” or “Have you eaten?” and then feeding them a nice home-cooked meal. But her true life’s work was as a selfless caregiver to the generations of family surrounding her.

A visitation to remember Jing Fong will be held at the Dykstra Northwood Chapel on Thursday, December 26, 2024. Visitation is from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Immediately following will be the procession to Lake Michigan Crematory.

A graveside service will be held on Friday, December 27, 2024, at the North Holland Cemetery at 1:00 p.m.