Marietta Kin

           Marietta Jane Kin was born September 6, 1939, in Los Angeles to Hall and Nora Soo Hoo.  She grew up in Oxnard, California, along with her oldest brother Keith and older sister Rosalie, and helped with the family restaurant waiting tables at the Golden Chicken Inn.  She was an honor student and leader in school, serving as Vice President of her class at Oxnard High School and President of the California Scholarship Federation.  She also played clarinet in her school’s orchestra.

           Like both her brother and sister, Marietta attended the University of Southern California on a four-year merit scholarship, turning down UC Berkeley’s scholarship offer.  She met some of her lifelong friends while living at the Town and Gown women’s dormitory and serving alongside them after having been selected as members of the prestigious women’s honor societies and service organizations Mortar Board and Trojan Amazons.  Marietta was also active in the SC Chinese Club, which elected her to serve as its Secretary and Vice President and crowned her its Thanksgiving Ball Queen. 

           After graduating maga cum laude with a degree in Mathematics from USC, Marietta went to work as a research engineer at Rockwell International, where she was one of only a few women in the field of engineering at the time. 

           In 1966, Marietta married Robert Kin, with whom she built a beautiful life for the next 56+ years together in Tustin, California, where they raised their three children—Michael, Karen, and Curtis.  Giving up a promising career in engineering, Marietta lovingly and selflessly devoted herself to her family.  In addition to tirelessly maintaining the home and transporting three children all about town to practices and events for school, music, and sports, she served as the PTA (Parent Teacher Association) President and was active in the Cornerstone United Methodist Church (originally the Chinese United Methodist Church of Orange County).  As her own children grew older, she devoted herself to assisting other young people by working for the Tustin Unified School District and as a private math tutor for middle school and high school students.

           Marietta truly loved music and sports.  From giving recitals as a young child to playing weekly for church services and accompanying the choirs and soloists, she was a gifted pianist.  She loved to dance the jitterbug in her younger days, and she was a decades-long subscriber to the Fullerton Civic Light Opera and classical music series at the Segerstrom Center.  Marietta was also a rabid USC fan who, during football season, could often be seen yelling for (and sometimes at) her beloved Trojans on the television.  But more than just regularly watching tennis, baseball, football, basketball, and other sports, she was also the coach or manager for her daughter Karen’s soccer and softball teams for several years, including the year she managed the Tustin Bobby Sox Softball All-Star Team that won the National Tournament.

           As a lifelong fighter, Marietta was a two-time survivor of cancer (breast and uterine), but, on April 14, 2023, she passed away after having been diagnosed with cancer of the small intestine in December 2022.  She left this Earth as she lived on it—surrounded by family who love her dearly.  Marietta is survived by her husband (Bob), three children (Michael, Karen, Curtis) and their respective spouses (Jennifer Wang, Tom Sturges, Kim Meyer), and four grandchildren—Ryan, Sarah, Regan, and Kian.  Weeks before her passing, she gathered her family together to let us know that she was grateful for the full life she had lived, that she loved us, and that she was at peace with moving on to be with God.  We love you too Mom (Grandma) and miss you dearly.