Pik Kuen Hom (1935-2025)

Pik Kuen Hom of the Bronx, New York passed away on March 14, 2025.  She is survived by daughter Jean Fong Hom Chow, widow of Jerry Chow, of the Bronx NY; daughter Alice Fong Hom of Brooklyn, NY; and son David Yalehan Hom and wife Po Ching Fong of Eastchester, NY.  She leaves behind grandchildren Jennifer Lee and husband Geoffrey Lee of Brookline, MA; Jeffrey Chow of the Bronx, NY; Audrey Fong Hom of Eastchester NY; and Brandon David Hom of Eastchester NY.  Finally, she is beloved great-grandmother to Benjamin and Madeline Lee of Brookline, MA.    

Pik Kuen was born May 21, 1935 in Kwangtung, China to father Suey Wee Fong and mother Au Pui Chun.  She spent much of her childhood in Kwangtung, attending school, and having memories of running around in the courtyard of her family’s home.  She was an active child, and loved to run and pole vault.  Her family was fortunate to be landowners at that time, but that status also came with its own risks as China began to be taken over by Communism. When the Communists officially took over China, Pik Kuen’s family which included an older and younger brother, fled to Hong Kong when she was a teenager.  She would attend high school in Hong Kong, and a few years later, was arranged to be married to her husband, Tun Quen Hom, who at the time worked in the United States and had also served in the U.S. Army.  She aspired for higher education, but was limited due to cultural traditions.  

Pik Kuen and Tun Quen married in 1955 and welcomed their first daughter Jean the following year.  Tun Quen then went ahead to the United States to work and send money home.  A few years later in 1959, Pik Kuen immigrated with Jean to the United States to join her husband.  There, they purchased a laundry store that he already had been working at.  They lived in the back of that laundry store for a few short years and started their life and work as a young family in America.  A few years later in 1961, they welcomed their second child, a daughter Alice, and moved to their first home nearby within the same neighborhood in the Bronx.  This would be the house Pik Kuen knew and lived in for the rest of her life in the United States.  In 1963, Pik Kuen and Tun Quen welcomed their third child, a son, David.  While raising three children, Pik Kuen and Tun Quen worked tirelessly in their laundry store, a classic profession for many Chinese immigrants at that time, manually ironing clothes wrapped in brown paper and tied with white string for their customers in their largely Italian neighborhood.  Despite working long hours and running their own small business, her children still remember having homecooked meals ready when they returned home from school.  Pik Kuen instilled a sense of studiousness and hard work for her kids as they sought to pursue the American dream.  She pushed them in their education to be working professionals, and to excel at whatever they did.    

Pik Kuen enjoyed growing Chinese vegetables in her garden, and was incredibly proud of her culinary meals.  She regularly made legendary Sunday dinners which she expected her children to attend each week.  She also loved to knit, sew, and shopping. 

Her family grew as she welcomed grandchildren Jennifer (1982) and Jeffrey (1985), children to Jean, and then Audrey (2004) and Brandon (2006), children to David.  She was very proud of her grandchildren as she watched them grow through the years in New York, eventually becoming young adults heading off to Massachusetts and Connecticut to live and pursue their studies and careers.  She delighted in her great-grandchildren, Benjamin and Madeline, who were born in 2013 and 2016.  She stayed in touch with everyone through WhatsApp and Facetime over the years and despite being far from many of them.

Pik Kuen will be greatly missed and forever loved as a wonderful wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother.