Hung-Yu Heidi (Kao) Ku

In Memory of Hung-Yu Heidi Ku

Hung-Yu Heidi Ku was born in 1943 and grew up in Taipei, Taiwan. She passed away on Thursday, August 3, 2023 at the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital at the age of 80.  She is survived by her husband Earl Ku, her 3 children Daniel, James, and Maryann, and her 5 grandchildren Jonathan,  Elias, Elaine, Elizabeth, and Catherine. She lived a life of service to the Lord, Christian community, and brothers and sisters for 60 years.

This is the testimony of Hung-Yu becoming a Christian in High School.  Her high school classmates invited her to attend the Local Church in Nanjing Xi road in Taipei.  Hung-Yu suffered from a terrible migraine headache.  During one of the evening church meeting the whole church prayed for her to relieve her long-term headache.  Miraculously, her headache disappeared at that moment.  Since then she had never suffered from the problem again.  She remained as a Christian for 60 years until she passed away.

Hung-Yu graduated from Taiwan Normal University in Education in 1965. She was assigned to teach Math at a junior high school.  During her 10 years tenure, she achieved the highest passing rate at the High School Entrance Exam for her class—100 % students in her class all passed the exam, with 75 % of the students getting into the top three High schools in Taipei—Taipei 1st Girls High School, Taipei 2nd Girls and Jean-May Girls High School. This performance is unparalleled. She became the record holder ever since.

In 1977, she and her 3 children immigrated to the United States of America to join her husband at University of Illinois.   The following year the family moved to Columbia, South Carolina. While in South Carolina she was working at a textile company part time, and studied Nursing at University of South Carolina.  In 1982 she completed Nursing school with associate degree and passed the Registered Nurse licensing exam.  Then the family moved to New Jersey in 1982 and she began her nursing career at a New Jersey hospital.   After two years in 1984 she transitioned to become a school nurse at Newark Public Schools until retirement.  For almost 30 years she received excellent performance evaluation from Newark Public School Nursing Department.  When she retired in 2016 at the age of 73, she was one of the 7 oldest employees in the entire school district.

Hung-Yu was also passionate in her public service.  She joined the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) offering help to the members.  She served 10 years as Membership Chairman at NJEA, participating in state conventions and serving members.  Also, she participated in the nation-wide National Education Association conventions, representing NJEA until retirement.

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