Caroline

Caroline Alida Huie was born on May 27, 1897. She was the third daughter of Louise Van Arnam and Huie Kin. Caroline, affectionately called “Carrie,” grew up in New York City with her eight siblings.

Caroline earned her Bachelor’s Degree from Hunter College in 1919. After college, she traveled to Shanghai, China to work with the Y.W.C.A, where she met Reverend Andrew Yu Yue (Y.Y.) Tsu. They returned to the United States separately, and would meet again when they attended the Student Volunteer Movement Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana, in the winter of 1923. The couple was married on February 2, 1924. Caroline and Y.Y. returned to China after they were married and lived in Beijing at the beginning of their marriage, where they had four children–David, Robert, Carol, and Kin.

In 1935, Caroline and her children moved to Shanghai to join Y.Y., who was teaching at St. John’s University. Caroline served as St. John’s University’s first Dean of Women, when women were first admitted to the University in 1935. They also experienced the beginning of the Japanese occupation of Shanghai beginning in 1937, until they left for Kunming, China in 1941, again because of Y.Y.’s work. In Kunming, Caroline and her family supported the American Air Force Volunteer Group called the Fighting Tigers, who were stationed in the area to assist China’s lackluster armed forces.

The family escaped World War II China in 1944 by “Flying the Hump,” a treacherous journey from China over the Himalayas into India, eventually returning to live in the United States for the remainder of their lives.

Caroline maintained both a career and a family throughout many difficult years in China, through foreign occupation and war. During her time in Kunming, she raised funds to support the efforts of the Flying Tigers American Air Force unit and bring entertainment to the base; her home was always open for meals to soldiers.

Caroline Tsu died on February 8, 1970 in Ambler, Pennsylvania. She is buried in the family plot in Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York, alongside her husband Y.Y. and other members of the Huie family.