Lin Yuan Wu

Lin Wu

Lin Yuan (neé Chen) Wu of Brier, Washington, and a longtime resident of Louisville, Kentucky, passed away on Thursday, August 21, 2025, at the age of 91. She was surrounded by her three daughters, Yung-Hsing Wu, Mie-Mie Wu, and Shao-Bai Wu.

Travel and movement shaped the contours of Lin’s life. Her immigrant story took her from Inner Mongolia, mainland China, and Taiwan, to Oklahoma, New York, Ohio, and Kentucky; her curiosity took her across the U.S. and the globe. As a tomboy she tumbled across the countryside on the outskirts of Baotou in northern China; as a young professional she navigated Manhattan working for the public library system in Queens; as a wife and mother she believed in family trips that mingled cityscapes with the outdoors, museums, local cultures, and, always, food. She and Shi-Yu Wu, her husband of 55 years, shared a love of travel that spanned their married life, from early excursions to the gorges of New York and the rocky beaches of New England, to later (and longer) trips on their own to London, Florence and Rome, Athens, and Hong Kong. Travel for them included seeing well-known sights, but just as important was the time spent ambling about new places. Together they made travel a principle for raising their three daughters, instilling in them the value of being open to the world, its people, its histories.

Lin and Shi-Yu

Her pleasure in travel was matched only by the pleasure she took in being productive. She was something of a second mother to her three younger siblings, who recall the care she took in helping their mother manage the needs of a large household and the model she set for them in doing so. Studious and persistent to a fault, she graduated from the prestigious National University of Taiwan before leaving home to begin a master’s degree program in Library Science at Oklahoma State University. Within weeks of completing that program Lin was recruited to join the Queens Public Library system in New York City, learning the ropes of one of the nation’s busiest branches. Later a move to Cornell University’s Wason Collection on East Asia posed a different challenge, but Lin felt anchored by the work there, where her cataloging expertise and knowledge of Chinese literature offered value to the collection and the scholars who came to advance their research. Over the course of her career Lin would go on to work in university, school, and public libraries, with even short stints after retirement at a seminary library and a number of private collections. To each of these Lin gave her meticulous, deliberate attention, finding purpose in any guise that work took, and believing that all work deserved such care.

Lin called Louisville, Kentucky her home for over forty years, where she wore her librarian hat as well as the hats she donned as wife and mother. She took pride in making two homes that were both lived-in and elegant. She became something of a mother figure to Chinese graduate students at the University of Louisville, who came to her for advice in navigating the city, and who knew they could come to the Wu house for the holidays — and Derby week — when they could not afford to return to their own homes. While she did not anticipate the move to Seattle, she approached it as she had done in all the previous moves in her life, having made the decision that it was the right and best thing to do. In Brier Lin became a regular walker amongst a neighborhood of walkers, recognizable for her daily jaunts and amiable chats. And she made a home in Brier just as she had in Louisville.

Lin is survived by her daughters, her sons-in-law John Laudun and Mike Spillner, and three grandchildren, Lily Wu-Laudun and Jack and Sophie Spillner. Her family asks that those wanting to honor her memory consider donating to her local PBS station, Cascade PBS, or the Seattle Chinese Garden.

Cascade PBS

Donations Mailing Address: PO Box 84109, Seattle, WA 98124-5409

Online at Cascade PBS – Make a Donation

Seattle Chinese Garden

Mailing Address: 6000 16th Ave SW, Seattle, WA 98106

Online at Seattle Chinese Garden – Donate