Obituary. . .In Houston, KTJ Autobody Depot’s Wenshing Wu

HOUSTON--On Sunday afternoon, August 19, more than 300 people
congregated at the West Houston Chinese Church here to say their good-
byes to longtime ABPA member and industry supporter Wenshing Wu of
KTJ Auto Body Depot.

Wu passed away on August 11 from the complications of cancer, a
disease he had been fighting for nearly four years and which battle
put him on the sidelines in the operation of his company.
Wu’s KTJ--named mirthfully for Kingdom of the Traffic
Jungle--was a full service parts distribution operation which spanned
most of the entire state of Texas. KTJ affiliated companies are
located in Dallas, San Antonio and Austin.

Wu, born in the fruitful mountains of Yuanlin, Taiwan, on
Dec. 12, 1950, was the second child and only son among four sisters
of Mr. Chao-Hsiung Wu, an elementary school teacher, and his late wife.
After attending Chong-Shin University, where he studied agricultural
management, Wen came to Denton, Tx., to study at North Texas
University in 1981 where he majored in marketing and received his MBA.
After graduating, he founded Commonwealth International as an entity
to handle the marketing of products with the financial support of
longtime business associate Samuel Chen.

Chen was among the half dozen offering eulogies.
During that early period, he was turned on to the potential of
independently produced aftermarket body parts. He then established
KTJ as an importer of such products in 1985. He took day-to-day
control of the company in March of 1986.

Active in community groups, Wu was a former president of the
Taiwan Chamber of Commerce in Houston. As such, he was responsible
for the founding of the first ever Teacher’s Day Excellence Award
more than a dozen years ago when Mayor Lee Brown occupied City Hall.
He represented his country a World Heath Organization conference in
Switzerland so that Taiwan would have a voice.

He loved Taiwan deeply and as general secretary of the World
Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce, he worked tirelessly for the ideal of
growing Taiwan’s roots and setting a foundation across the globe.
Wu is survived by his wife Jennifer and his two children--22
year old Christopher and 18 year old Catherine.

Among those in attendance at the services were Galen Chen and David
Hernandez from Depo/Maxzone, both of whom came in from California.
Others were Jeff Chen and Daniel Tsai from Tong Yang in McKinney,
Tx., Mike Chiu from ProFortune, John Chen of Apex-Adept and Genera’s
Texas branch general manager, Calvin Chen, all from the Dallas area.
ABPA Executive Director Stan Rodman with wife Myrna and Houston
residents Diane and Tony DeFino also attended; DeFino was formerly
with Rahn Industries. In years past, they had seen both Jennifer and
Wen Wu socially during the traditional DeFino home Christmas party.
In a sanctuary filled with far too many floral arrangements to
count, an emotion-laden service began at 2:30 p.m., and was conducted
by Rev. Caleb Chiu, primarily in Chinese.

Even before the start of services, as those who gathered to pay
their final respects, there was a series of pictures flashed on two
large built-in screens which covered the life of Wenshing Wu as a
child, a student, a son, a father, a business man, a family man and
as a contributor to his community.

The slide show presentation was accompanied by the music of Sister
Vicki Teng who also played during the services.

As hymns were sung in Chinese to the glory of the Lord and his son
Jesus, accompanying words in English were also flashed on the right
hand front screen.

In the early stages of his fight against the rare cancer called
Multiple Myeloma, Wu was at Memorial Herman Hospital when he was
baptized by Pastor Chiu in 2003.

His embracing of Christianity helped him spiritually as he continued
to undergo stem cell transplants and chemotherapy. His second
autologous stem cell transplant occurred in May of this year but he
had to be administered even more agents in the chemotherapy treatment.
That’s because the cancer had begun to develop a resistance against
drugs. Although fighting courageously to stay alive, it was a battle
he could not win.

An open casket viewing had taken place on the Friday and Saturday
before the services at Memorial Oaks Funeral Home & Cemetery in the
13000 block of Katy Freeway--Interstate 10.

The cemetery was to become his final resting place in the city he
came to love.

During services, eulogies were given by Jackson Chang of the Houston
Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce, business associate Sam Chen, a nephew
Daniel Hong and a California-based professor Don Hong who was among
the first of Wen’s teachers in Taiwan.

Professor Hong called Wen, “The best student I ever instructed,
possessing a most inquisitive mind and pervasive in his quest to
explore a subject thoroughly.”

Those who spoke from the rostrum recalled the many attributes which
characterized the man who was Wen Wu.

He was a thinker, an intellect, a dreamer, an entrepreneur, a
friend, a husband, a father and a server of the community.
Chang in his memorial message recalled that it was Wen who told
him, “Big people talk about ideas, normal people talk about events,
and small people talk about others.”

Wen Wu was never one to talk about other people, except in the best
of light.

Recalls his daughter Catherine, who is set to attend Wellesley
College in Boston this fall, during her eulogy, “In his approach to
life, he was always preparing me to go it on my own. Even when I was
small and just learning to ride a bike, I kept imploring him not to
let go.

“But, he already had and here I was riding that bike thinking he
was still holding on to me. He taught me that there was a time to let
go and where I had to ride on my own.”

Wen’s 21 year old son Christopher, who is completing his studies at
the University of Texas in Austin in aerospace engineering, offered
the final family tribute.

He took from his father’s fight with cancer the courage his dad had
shown in battling the disease. Said Christopher, “He never gave
in. It was his way of saying to us that despite the hurdles of life,
you cannot take the easy road because it is easy.”

Chris feels that his dad, from the earliest days of the son’s
education, prepared him to deal with life in all aspects and he
pledged to his dad that he would carry on in Wen’s tradition,
honoring the family, looking after his mother and sister and making
you proud of me.”

He professed that he knew Wen would be looking down on him and that,
one day, we will meet again.

Then it came time for the immediate family to congregate on the
stage and be honored by those in attendance. The stress of the
previous months were etched on their faces, yet they had to be elated
that so many people came to honor their patriarch.

There followed a procession in the church in which all in attendance
filed past the open casket and paid their respects to Jennifer,
Christopher, Catherine, Mr. Chao Hsiung Wu, who at age 88, had only
arrived from Taiwan, plus Wen’s four sisters.

Commenting on Wen’s death, ABPA Exec Stan Rodman said, “Here was
truly a unique individual who touched all so many people.

“He possessed an inquisitive mind which led him to read voraciously
in both Chinese and English.

“And he was always ready to speak on the esoteric aspects of
existence, a different perspective for an individual who possessed a
masters degree in business but never intensified on routine business
subjects.

“Wen would take off and as he got reeved up in his viewpoint, his
English raced ahead of his tongue which meant he spoke fast, really
fast.”

Recalls Rodman, “There were times when I would turn to Myrna and
ask, What did he say?”

For some reason, Myrna never had difficulty understanding Wen and I
often thought that somewhere down the line, someone told him that you
have to speak fast in order to best register your point of view.”
“Yet, here was an individual who, among friends, could relax and
take in the joys of the moment.

He was a terrific family man who never turned away from the needs of
his children.

“I thought it was so interesting that during her eulogy to her dad,
Catherine recalled so fondly the times as a little tyke, Wen would
take her to the office at KTJ where she would garner more than her
fair share of attention.

“He bonded well with his children, no matter the activity, and you
could just see and feel the love he carried in his heart for his wife
and longtime companion, Jennifer.

“During the formative stages of the association, Wen was a strong
supporter of the industry and its goals. He was a fixture for a number of
years at the annual convention and also played in several of the
International Invitational golf tournaments.

Wrote Rodman in a statement which accompanied the professionally-
produced memorial book which family and friends distributed at the
service, “In your wife, in your son, in your daughter and in the
business your nurtured and grew, you have left a legacy which, in
their individual and collective worlds, will ever speak of the path
in life you chose and so faithfully followed. God bless your
memory. He has claimed a unique and gifted son. All too soon.”
Cards and correspondence can be sent to Jennifer Wu, 4802 Braeburn,
Bellaire, TX, 77401.

KTJ Auto Body Depot is located at 6500 Long Point Rd., Suite 304,
Houston, TX 77055.

The company can best be reached through Dennis Shiau at (713)
680-3285, (713) 680-3024 or via fax at (713) 680-3124. His e-mail
address is: dennis.ktj@sbcglobal.net