Roberta Yee: A woman of many hats Roberta Yee: A woman of many hats (May 07, 2003)

by Frankie Borison

Roberta Jong Yee of Palo Alto -- co-founder with her late husband, Dale, of the Chinese Community Center of the Peninsula -- is a volunteer extraordinaire with a penchant for taking initiative and making things happen.

Known in many quarters as the "food lady" -- not only for her talents as a cook but for her involvement with community meal programs -- she founded senior luncheon programs at the Chinese Community Center and the First United Methodist Church. These days, she prepares meals for the media members who cover the home games of the Stanford women's basketball team.

A veteran real estate broker, she was named "Most Compassionate Realtor of the Year" in 1999 by the Silicon Valley Association of Realtors for her years of community service.

Born in Canton, China in 1924, Yee came to California at the age of 3 with her family, who settled in Locke as tenant farmers.

In 1947, Yee married Dale Foo Yee and eventually moved to Palo Alto. Dale became a dealer for Westinghouse and Roberta took up in real estate. The couple had four children.

In 1968, desiring to help Chinese immigrants and their children retain cultural identity, they co-founded the Chinese Community Center of the Peninsula, which became a home away from home for Chinese students and newly arrived immigrants on the Peninsula.

Meanwhile Dale Yee was an active community volunteer and founded the Chinese Little Olympics.

She is a 40-year volunteer for the First United Methodist Church of Palo Alto. Eventually, the Chinese Community Center senior luncheon program, which she organized in 1983, provided dinner for several years for the city of Palo Alto's annual New Year's Eve bash. The Chinese Center also co-sponsors the city's senior luncheon program with the Palo Alto Recreation Department at Cubberley Community Center.

A member of the board of the Palo Also Historical Association, Yee has also served on the boards of many other agencies.

Yee is especially proud of her work with the Joseph Swing Chapter of the 11th Airborne Division Association, an organization co-founded by her late husband, a paratrooper in this division. In World War II, the 11th Airborne was instrumental in the invasion of the Philippines and was the first military force to land in Japan after the dropping of the atomic bomb.

Yee raised funds for an Airborne Soldier Monument and its placement in the San Joaquin Valley National Cemetery near Los Banos. With her son, Challen, she edits and publishes the "Airborne Quarterly," founded by Dale.

In 1995, the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, Yee paraded down Fifth Avenue in New York City carrying the U.S. flag. In 1999 she went to Washington DC in place of her husband to be honored at the Chinese American World War II Veterans Day festivities.

Her major focus is family. "No matter how many awards you have, it still goes back to the family," she said. But in many ways, Yee also considers the community to be family. Known also as "the hat lady" for her large collection of hats, she is a woman who indeed wears many hats.

"Volunteer work is second nature to me," she says. "If I know I can do it, I will say yes."