Ann Achara Vutisaksatit's Obituary
Ann entered the world on June 25th, 1945 as Deng Chu Hue, the daughter of Chinese immigrants to Thailand. Eventually the Chinese name Chu Hue gave way to the Thai name, Achara Vutisaksatit, until finally she was known to her friends in San Diego as Ann V. Born in poverty, she made her way in the world by herself. She came to the U.S. alone and supported herself as a waitress, learning English while she worked. While the other waitresses partied after their shifts, Ann would be at home hitting the books because she was majoring in Chemistry at San Diego State University. She graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science degree then worked as a medical technologist for thirty years at the University of California at San Diego (UCSD) hospital. She was the most vibrant, fun-loving person imaginable. She had joie de vivre oozing out of her fingertips. Her husband Gary once asked a female friend what her ideal life would be and she answered: “Your wife has the ideal life. She has all the time and money to do what she wants and she does it. She dances every night and day, and she travels the world.” Ann went many places with Gary (who she referred to as the “Buddha Boy” because of his great good fortune in being married to her which meant living a life of financial security as well as one of multiple travels). Together they went to India, Argentina (where she danced tango in Buenos Aires), Russia, Poland, Hawaii, France, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Singapore, Indonesia, Mexico, not to mention Thailand, Malaysia, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Holland, Hungary, Finland, and even Swaziland. She also visited China, Costa Rica, Greece, and the Caribbean with her friends. Ann lived life to the absolute fullest. It was organically impossible for her to tell a lie, a trait which could get her into trouble sometimes. She devoured life in every possible venue. She skied, played tennis, jogged, took golf, singing, and piano lessons, danced like a maniac, studied German, French, Spanish and Japanese. For years she had foreign college girls living with her making her house even more lively and fun. There was Suzanne, Linda, Miyuki, Keiko, Yannan, Bindar, Vickie, Geesa, and Sunhee: a whole flock of young college girls with Ann as their role model and mentor. Also in that group of girls was her beloved kitty-cat, PeeWee. Along with all of that Ann proved to be a financial wizard tallying impressive dividends from her multiple investment portfolios and real estate possessions.
When she was a child she suffered rheumatic fever that damaged her heart. Because of this defect she would turn blue with any physical effort. Years later the doctors at UCSD implanted a mechanical heart valve that gave her a new lease on life. And did she ever make the most of it. The day after her surgery she was taking tennis lessons and power walking. Ann was a force of nature. Nothing could keep her down. She was always upbeat and happy.
Ann didn’t have a mean bone in her body. She was all heart. She lived life to the absolute fullest. An ancient Greek philosopher, Epictetus said: “Unless you consider what you have to be the most ample treasure you will be miserable.” With Ann in his life Gary had the most ample treasure. And since she’s in his heart forever he still does. He was the luckiest person in the world although at times he was too oblivious to know it. He does now.
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