In Memory

Nancy Ling

Nancy Ling



 
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01/18/14 11:56 AM #2    

Linda Schwartz (Ludwig)

I met Nancy Ling in 4th grade.  She moved to our neighborhood and did not yet speak English.

Yet, we immediately became friends.  Within months as I recall she was fluent in English.

She told me of her family fleeing from Communist China.  She introduced me in her kind and gracious way to a world far beyond Evanston.        

 

 


04/05/14 04:46 PM #3    

Stephen Smith

Nancy and I dated only 3 times and I didn't find out until the 10th re-union why: her parents only allowed her to date a guy for a total of 3 times and no more.

Also, previously, my mom had expressed her desire that I date only "nice Methodist girls". (I guess that meant that there were some not so nice Methodist girls out there, ...oh yeah). Well as it turned out, Nancy was very nice and also Methodist. (Ok, Mom, now what's the problem?...Chinese?...so what, she's still cute!).

Does anyone know if she married?

Sorry to hear of her passing, glad to know she was a successful artist. 


04/06/14 09:23 PM #4    

Holly Romans (Green)

I just googled the name E F Wen and was blown away that I spent four years of high school with her and never knew this incredible woman.  Tributes to her are posted on the Internet as well as pictures of her art, poetry, and a recipe of hers.  Steve, you can see her wedding picture and comments from her children.  It appears she had a blessed and grateful life.  I am saddened that I never knew her and that this gentle enormous talent passed away when she had so much more to contribute.


04/07/14 08:13 AM #5    

Patricia Richey (Wanzenberg)

What a beautiful soul...I so wish I had known her.  Thank you Holly for posting information about her obit on google.


04/29/14 05:03 PM #6    

Judith Cara (Hicks)

I met Nancy and her brother, Frank, as well their parents when I was in the 4th grade at Dawes School in south Evanston.  We all actually met first, I believe, at Hemenway Methodist Church, near Chicago Ave. and Main St. our parents became good friends and loved to play cards together so that gave the four kids plenty of time to spend together.  Nancy (who much later changed her name to Erica F. Wen) and I were always collaborating on one project or another.  Mrs. Ling taught us how to make the most amazing dim sum and scallion cakes.  My Mom and I, in turn, taught them about American customs and holidays from our perspective and baking cookies and cakes, etc.  The Ling family told us of their dangerous flight from communist China and also told us wonderful tales of ancient China and the customs they so treasured, and many of the sayings of Confucius and other Chinese sages.  As we got older, Nancy and I spent a lot of time doing church projects and singing in the choir together.  We were in the same confirmation class and youth group as well.  I can remember trips to the lakefront with our paints and construction paper.  Nancy's pastels were so beautiful and her poems so insightful.  I was in awe of her.  We lost track of each other after we went off to college and I had hoped to reconnect with her at the reunion.  I am so very sorry to learn of her passing.  The website set up by her family is wonderful and I have thoroughly enjoyed reading about her life and family as well as being able to read selected passages of her writings and look at some of her artwork.  RIP my dear friend.   I think of you often and wish we could share at least one more conversation, but I do believe we will meet again.  ??  Love from your old friend, Judy Cara Hicks. ??


05/01/14 11:05 AM #7    

Marty Campbell

i suggest her family might like to know of and view this "In Memory" conversation among us classmates of hers.  they might even like to place a link to this on their website in her memory.  i don't know how to arrange this, but thought others might.


07/01/14 03:10 PM #8    

Lory Rosenberg

I also met Nancy and her brother Frank in 4th grade at Dawes. She lived on the other side of Dodge, I believe? I remember her being quiet but very self-composed and talented.  I'm so sorry to learn of her passing.  It seems as though she and her family  amy have lived in Maryland, in Montgomery County,  not too far from where I've lived the past 15 years. How ironic and sad that I never ran into her - we often feel as though there are so few degrees of separation - everyone's somehow connected -  and yet, here was someone I knew from childhood hood, near me, but not known to me.   I'm so grateful to have learned of her memorial page  - what a beautiful being!


07/02/14 10:45 PM #9    

Judith Campbell

I also didn't know Nancy during high school and read about her wonderful family and all of the creative things that made her life so full.  This website has pointed out to me that we have so many wonderful classmates who over the the years have led such interesting lives  I love all the news!


08/22/14 04:35 PM #10    

Ruth Roberts

E.F. and I were locker partners for three years, having met in freshman English. Every year she wrote our combination on the locker door so she wouldn't have to remember it. During high school she was very into art, and also took four years of Latin. We spent lots of time at each others homes, and I enjoyed getting to know her family, and learning to like kimchi and other Chinese dishes. I also remember doing ESP experiments on the phone, and talking so long my family had to get a second phone line.

Her sister, C.A., Mary Ling at that time, was several years ahead of us, and I think was President of the Student Council our freshman year. They changed their names together, taking their mother's family name to honor her, and then using the initials of the Chinese American Educational Foundation, which their father started, to honor him. Thus CA and EF.

After high school EF earned her BFA at U of Ill in Champaign-Urbana, where I lived with her one year during a short stint as a psych graduate student. Later we both ended up living in Boston where she worked on her MFA at Boston University.

She married Eddie Chang, '65, who became my first T'ai Chi teacher while they lived in Eugene, Oregon. Later they moved to Silver Spring, MD, where Eddie has worked as a researcher for many years.

Over the years, E.F. maintained her passion for painting, creating beautiful paintings of all sorts, including portraits, abstracts, still lifes, and series of flowers and swans.

Her family, with 3 beautiful daughters and a grandson, was the center of her life. She loved to cook for family and friends, and filled her home with art and music. She was active with the Waldorf schools, and was interested in philosophy and education, and liked to talk about theosophy. She spoke of struggling with life in the practical, physical world, balancing it with her love of nature, people, and a feeling for the divine in all.

No matter how far apart we lived, I always treasured the immediate heart connection we felt when we talked and wrote each other. So many memories....

 


09/07/14 09:28 AM #11    

Mark Goldman

Looking through the comments that classmates wrote in my 1964 Yearbook, I came across Nancy's entry. We knew each other from 7th and 8th grade at Skiles. How sad it is that this bright, sweet women is no longer with us. Rest in Peace.
 


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