Not an avid dancer, Xiujuan Yu decided to step out of her comfort zone and visit a Monterey Park dance studio for the first time on Jan. 21.
“It was just like a spontaneous invite,” said her niece Kathleen Fong. “Like, ‘Hey this place is having a Lunar New Year celebration. You should go out.'”
Fong fought back tears as she shared her aunt’s story. She described her beloved aunt as a hardworking, diligent and family-oriented woman, which is quite evident after the 57-year-old left Guangdong, China to pursue a better life and education for her three children, nearly a decade ago.
She carried with her the American dream that many immigrants have: to see their children succeed. Unfortunately, Yu will never see her children’s lives flourish.
“She won’t be able to see her daughters graduate from college,” said Fong. They’re the first ones in their family to graduate from college and I know that’s a dream for a lot of immigrant families.”
On Saturday, she had time for herself and decided to have a nice night out at the Star Dance Studio with her friend Lilan Li. As the two stood amongst the crowd at the Monterey Park ballroom, a 72-year-old gunman unleashed a flurry of bullets on them and everyone else. Caught in the line of fire, Li and Yu were among the 11 that died that Saturday night.
Fong, like many other families that lost a loved one to this devasting act of violence, looks back at the many experiences she had with her aunt that many of us take for granted.
“It happened so often,” she said while tearing up. “We’d go to dinner, that sort of thing. ‘I’ll see you next time!’ Now there’s not going to be a next time.”
Fong said she feels an odd, regretful feeling knowing that when she lights incense for her ancestors one will be for auntie Xiujuan, whose spirit she hopes will live on forever.
“I hope she’s resting in peace,” Fong said. “I hope that if she is able to, she can witness her daughters’ successes in life, even if she’s not able to be there physically in person. And I hope that my cousins can also feel that, in the same way, that their mom is with them.”
Yu leaves behind a husband, son and two twin daughters.
