On February 17, 2024, Mary S. Chang (née Hsu Ma-li (許瑪麗)) passed away peacefully of natural causes in Nashville, Tennessee, surrounded by her loving family. Her life was one of caring — for education, her family and community, and, in the private realm, creativity.
Born Feb. 28, 1944 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan to father Kuai-Teng Hsu and mother Jin-Rui Tong, she grew up in central Taiwan.
A generous older sister who carried her younger siblings by piggyback, she was also a standout athlete and student. Because her father was a principal and her mother a teacher, the family was known for educational attainment. Mary followed in that tradition by attending top schools like Taichung Municipal Taichung Girls’ Senior High School (台中女中) and National Cheng Kung University (國立成功大學), where she majored in chemistry.
The family’s eyes were set on study in the US — a goal achievable only by top Taiwanese students at the time — so her parents looked abroad for potential husbands. A cousin introduced her to Bruce T.S. Chang (詹正盛), an engineering graduate student in the US. After a five-year overseas correspondence, they finally met in person when she went to study at Clarkson University in Potsdam, N.Y. They married on May 28, 1970.
The couple lived briefly in Connecticut and Baltimore, then settled in the Columbia, Md., area, where they raised their daughters, Emmeline and Cathy Chang. Mary and Bruce were active in the local Taiwanese American Association, worked for Taiwanese independence, and developed close friendships in the Taiwanese American community.
Though sexism had cut her studies short (when she got engaged, she was asked to leave Clarkson), Mary continued her education later in life. She earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science from University of Maryland Baltimore County and worked as a computer systems analyst at Westinghouse Electric Corporation and Northrop Grumman. An artistic soul, she enjoyed needlework, ballroom dancing, photography, and piano. She particularly delighted in taking pictures that captured her grandchildren’s lives and developing them into musical slide shows.
Mary was extremely dedicated to family, raising her nephew Johnny Hsu for three years and moving in for months at a time to care for her dying mother, her aging father, and her daughters after the births of her grandchildren.
In October 2013, she suffered a serious stroke while on a family visit in Taiwan and remained there for eight months. She and Bruce moved to Nashville in 2015 to live with her daughter Cathy and family. In her last years, she was cared for with extraordinary dedication and love by her husband, Bruce.
Mary is much missed by her family and community.
She is predeceased by her mother Jin-Rui, father Kuai-Teng, and brother Shing-Ming and survived by her husband Bruce Chang, daughters Emmeline Chang (William Engles Jr.) and Catherine Chang (Chas Sisk), grandchildren Cai-ming and Mei-ling Sisk and William and Alexander Engles-Chang, brother Ming-Teh, and sister Mei-Ying.
Services will be held at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashville (date to be determined). https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/nashville-tn
The family requests that in lieu of flowers or gifts, donations be made to the Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation (https://donate.tzuchi.us) in the name of “Mary S. Chang.”
For more obituaries visit https://davidsoncountysource.com/obituaries/
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