Auntie Myra, 89, was proud of U.S. roots

Set in the heart of Seattle's Chinatown International District, the Sun May Co. is the kind of small shop that kids love — crammed with $2 toy cars, $10 straw hats and $15 karate outfits. Wind chimes and paper lanterns dangle from ropes hung across the ceiling.

The mainstay at the shop, at 672 S. King St., was Myra Mar Chin, better known to several generations of kids as Auntie Myra.

It seemed as though Mrs. Chin, 89, had been part of the community forever. Now the news is spreading that Auntie Myra died Thursday (June 15).

"Everyone in the community knew her. You'd walk down the street and pop your head in," said Ron Chew, executive director of the Wing Luke Asian Museum.

"It was really a place where the community shared gossip and news of what was happening. We're seeing the passage of that World War II generation who used to populate the businesses in Chinatown."

Mrs. Chin had worked at the shop — along with her husband, Don Chin, who died in 1987 at age 79 — ever since taking over the family business in 1962.

Sun May had begun in 1880 as a hand laundry, evolved into a jewelry store, then added a hardware portion, and eventually became a gift shop. The name of the store roughly means "twin beauty" in Chinese.

Mrs. Chin worked until the past Christmas holidays, said her son, Donnie Chin, when her health turned for the worse. She died of cancer.

"I can't remember anybody in our family not working," said Donnie Chin, 50, who works at the store and will keep it running.

He and his two sisters, Connie Magorty of Seattle and Melanie Wogan of Honolulu, grew up helping at the store after school.

In 1991, as part of an oral-history project for the Wing Luke Asian Museum, Mrs. Chin spoke of how the children would decide what they wanted to sell — and would keep the profit.

"They had their own section. They sold candy, gums, toys," said Mrs. Chin. "So, they learned to do things when they were very small."

Donnie Chin remembered that he and his sisters didn't make much of a profit, since they also ate a good amount of the candy that was for sale.

On Monday afternoon, one of the many regulars at the store, Marilyn Kihara of Bellevue, had stopped in to buy Bruce Lee posters for her three grown sons.

Kihara, of Chinese-American origins, remembered that in the late 1950s and early 1960s she'd go to a Chinese school in the Chinatown International District after her regular school day ended. An inevitable stop was the Sun May Co.

"You had your weekly allowance and I think this was the only store like it at the time. It had all these unusual things," she said. "And I'll bet there's still now a lot of the same things."

Mrs. Chin was born Oct. 4, 1916, in Seattle. She was a 1934 Garfield High School graduate.

She had six brothers and a sister, all born in Seattle, and all of whom have passed away, except for James Mar, 91 and Fannie Chinn, 86. Mar owns the Yick Fung Co., a restaurant food and services firm a block from the Sun May Co. It has been in the family since 1910.

Despite her many connections with the Chinese-American community in which she often volunteered for various community events, Mrs. Chin considered herself first and foremost an American, her son said.

"One of her specialties was making apple pies," he said. "She'd drop by people's houses when they were sick and bring them food. She was an all-around American."

Chin remembered what sometimes happened when customers of Chinese descent came into the store.

"They'd be talking in different types of Chinese dialects. She'd tell them, 'Can't you speak English?' They'd say, 'What village were you born in?' She'd tell them, 'I am an American. I was born right here.' "

Service arrangements are pending.

In charge of them will be James Mar, who has been the district's funeral director since 1946, arranging some 40 services a year, now including his sister's.

As tradition dictates, those attending will be given a paper coin envelope with a hard candy and a quarter inside.

"You eat the candy to take the bitterness out of your mouth," Mar said. "Then you use the quarter to buy another candy, to make your mouth sweet again."

Erik Lacitis: 206-464-2237 or elacitis@seattletimes.com