Retired businesswoman Aurora Dy Tan, 77, died September 22, 2004 at 11:30 a.m. EST, of pancreatic and gallbladder cancer at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, Va. She moved to the United States in 1983 (her husband, Johnny Chin-hian Tan followed a year later) and settled in the south Alexandria area of Fairfax County to live with her son, daughter and grandchild.
In 1994, after more than a decade of volunteer work (she made countless teddy bears for sick children in area hospitals) while helping to raise her autistic grandchild, Aurora decided at age 66 to open a day-care business in her South Alexandria home.
Running a business was nothing new to her. Before coming to the United States, she had successfully operated a dress shop called Milady’s, a beauty salon, a clothing factory and real-estate brokerage (the last of which was in partnership with her husband, Johnny Chin-hian Tan) in the Chinatown section of Manila. She and her siblings also owned and operated a factory that manufactured automotive batteries.
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| Aurora and Johnny’s day-care business, The Village Kiddie Care, became the second home of a happy little army of babies and toddlers in Alexandria, all of whom “graduated” to regular schools confidently knowing how to read and write. She doted on her little “pupils” and kept in touch with them after she closed down the business in 2002, seeing them during holidays and attending their school performances, and dancing and piano recitals. The children returned that love in full, addressing Aurora and Johnny as “Auntie Mama” and “Uncle Papa.”
Aurora came by her poetic first name because she was born at dawn in a small town in Catanduanes, Philippines. Aurora is Latin for “dawn.” Her ethnic Chinese parents owned two department stores in their hometown. When her father opened a Chinese eatery called Oriental Restaurant, she became his assistant. She had natural talent in sculpture, and often her father’s catered banquets featured a centerpiece consisting of an animal or flower that had been hand-carved by Aurora in chilled butter. That experience of running a restaurant launched her on a lifetime of entrepreneurship. |
When the Japanese army invaded the Philippines around the early 1940s, Aurora, her aunt Ellen and older sister Rosario were drafted into the Women’s Auxiliary Corps of the Philippine guerilla forces who were fighting on the side of the Americans. Only 14 at the time, Aurora worked as a nurse behind the frontlines.
After World War II ended, she left her small provincial town for Manila, where she worked her way through her last year of high school and then insisted on continuing on to college even though society in the 1950s looked askance at higher education for women. Extra money earned from after-hours tutoring allowed her to send money home to support her younger siblings in the countryside.
On a rainy day in 1951, a young journalist with the Chinese Commercial News (Manila’s top business newspaper for the Chinese community) named Johnny Chin-hian Tan was trying to duck a summer rainstorm in Manila’s Chinatown with his best friend, Bin Sing. “I know someone around here,” Bin Sing suddenly said, “Let’s drop in to see her.” Ever since then, it seemed that virtually every time Aurora opened the door, Johnny was standing there.
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They were married in 1952. A couple of years later, she graduated from Far Eastern University in Manila with a degree in English and philosophy. Aurora never hesitated to give her relatives a helping hand. Two sisters (Daisy and Remy) and a cousin (Chebing) lived with Aurora and Johnny during the entire duration of their college careers. Their home was a busy one. At any given moment, the house teemed with dress-shop employees, dress designers, embroiderers, beauticians, sales agents and other domestic staff. It was a great environment in which to raise two business-minded children, Edwin and Evelyn.
A strong believer in doing good for society, she tried to walk the Race for the Cure (to support breast cancer research) three years ago but did not complete the race because age had already slowed her down considerably. One of Aurora’s proudest moments was voting in 2000 in a U.S. presidential election for the first time. She was disappointed at the result but did not give up on the democratic process. This year, because she considered herself a true friend of working people, she told everyone who would listen that she was going to vote for John Kerry. The last movie she ever saw was Fahrenheit 911. Alas, she died the day before her absentee ballot arrived. |
Her thirst for learning never abated. When she realized that Spanish was the unofficial second language in the Washington area, she decided at age 65 to learn it. She became a straight-A student in Spanish at Northern Virginia Community College. In her 70s, she learned how to use the Internet, became a regular at health and book websites, and gleefully emailed friends and younger relatives all over the world.
Aurora was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in June 2004 after returning from an Asian vacation. Unfortunately the cancer was caught too late and was inoperable. She underwent chemotherapy for two months but became very jaundiced and had to be hospitalized on Sept. 8. True to form, while in the hospital she insisted on doing as much as she could for herself. “I can do it myself,” she kept saying. She thanked the nurses for the littlest things and apologized for what she felt were unpleasant tasks they had to do for her. When she could barely speak she was reminding her children to write thank-you notes for the flowers and cards she received. The doctors marveled at the size of her entourage. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” one oncologist exclaimed. In typical Asian fashion, members of her immediate family (which by now included a sister, Remy, who flew in from the Philippines to help care for her) were with her around the clock at the hospital.
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Despite a biliary drainage procedure on Monday, Sept. 13, her liver continued to fail. On Wednesday, Sept. 22, she quietly stopped breathing while her son was swabbing her dry lips with water at around 11:30 a.m. The doctors say she was in no pain.
Aurora Tan is survived by her husband, Johnny Chin-hian Tan; her son Edwin, a Marlo Furniture manager; her daughter Evelyn, a journalist; her son-in-law Paul, an internet entrepreneur; and her grandson, Rudin, who works for the Wildflour bakery in Chantilly, Va. She is also survived by her siblings Rosario, Daisy, Mia, Tas, Remy and Roy, as well as many in-laws and great-nieces and great-nephews.
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Aurora Dy Tan