Austin Chang
Satina Ah-Eng Chang was born April 12, 1946 in BaaSheng, Malaysia, a small fishing village near Kuala Lumpur. Her father was born in Canton, China and ran a successful noodle store. Unfortunately Satina lost her father at age 3 due to pneumonia, but she inherited his generosity, open-mindedness, perseverance, courage, and optimistic spirit. By age 6 she was helping her aunt in her street food stall making homemade food and drinks, learning all her cooking skills and taste which later helped her become a delicious cook for her friends and family.
At a young age she was extremely bright and excelled at school but growing up had financial hardships. One of her teachers Ms. Liu grew very fond of her, recognized her potential and stepped in to help pay her school tuition. Through Ms. Liu, she was introduced to the Christian faith. Satina attended church almost every week and was later baptized. From this early age her Christian faith gave her courage, strong will, and perseverance. Satina pledged to work hard and study effectively and was top of her graduating school class
Satina was awarded a scholarship to study medicine in the National Taiwan University School of Medicine in 1966. It was there she met many classmates who became her life long friends while studying, going to class and playing badminton. It was through badminton she met Alex Chang, they started dating and were married on July 29, 1974. They soon set off for a new adventure together starting their postgraduate studies in the USA.
Satina attended the pathology training program at University of Connecticut and Yale University and became a board certified pathologist. In Connecticut their son Austin was born on October 2, 1977. She moved with Alex and Austin to Madison, Wisconsin in 1978 to start her career as pathologist at Madison General Hospital. They moved to Rochester, New York in 1980 where they settled for almost 20 years joining the Taiwanese community and a local Church. In 1999 they moved again to Singapore where she was a senior pathology consultant at Singapore General Hospital until she retired in 2014.
Satina was a strong willed, courageous person with a never give up attitude. She encountered many ups and downs in her life from hardship growing up in Kuala Lumpur, to living with a lifelong disease, to suffering life threatening burns in both legs and feet in 2011. However each time she was able to conquer adversity and tragedy, smile and live life to its fullest. Ultimately in the last 3 years of her life she suffered multiple strokes with chronic pain but she seldom complained and continued to enjoy life; seeing her friends, husband, son and grandson till her death.
She passed away on April 7, 2025 calmly returning to God resting in peace without pain. We celebrate her life as a successful daughter, mother, wife, mother-in-law, and grandmother. Her love and passion for family, old classmates and life long friends never ran out. We will all miss her smile and dedication dearly.
