Lily Wong Brelsford
Dec. 11, 1948-Jan. 24, 2025
Menlo Park, California

Lily Wong Brelsford, 76, passed away in Menlo Park California on January 24, 2025 at home with family by her side. Her tenacity and fortitude kept her going through tough cancer treatments and she had a fulfilling life for many years after her brain tumor was diagnosed 10 years ago.

Lily was born in San Francisco at St. Joseph Hospital on December 11, 1948. She grew up in San Francisco’s Chinatown, and attended Commodore Stockton Elementary School, Francisco Junior High School, and Galileo High School.

Lily had a strong curiosity about life and enjoyed meeting people. She loved to travel and had visited over 40 countries. She had a preternatural ability to nurture and sustain relationships with friends, many of whom she knew for over 60 years. She truly found people interesting and was energized by her friendships and social outings, whether sharing meals, Monday coffee klatches, weekly golf at her club, or reunions of any type. Meals brought her particular pleasure, and she was known to savor each bite – slowly – and had a keen palate.

After her first marriage ended, Lily raised her two children on her own while working and going to night school to get a degree from St. Mary’s College. She worked for many years at Stanford Hospital where she loved to attend rounds with the doctors, and was constantly expanding her job functions. She then worked at Genentech overseeing clinical trials of various new drugs until retiring in the late 1990s.

Lily remarried in 1994 after meeting Jim Brelsford while traveling. For Lily, family was so important and they welcomed Jim into theirs. She was the family matriarch and a force of nature when it came time to maintaining family and cultural traditions, especially around the holidays, and she brought everyone together to celebrate them. Her two grandchildren, Hunter and Macie, were her greatest joy in life. She loved spending time with them, teaching them to cook, passing down special recipes, laughing with them, playing badminton in the backyard, and playing golf with them (especially in Hawaii, which became a family tradition). She also liked to watch their school basketball, volleyball and soccer games.

Lily was one of the most extraordinary people her friends and family knew, and all our hearts ache from her passing. She is survived by her husband of 30 years, Jim, daughter Alyssa Hopponen, son Jason Suey, son-in-law Chad Hopponen, daughter-in-law Cris Suey, and grandchildren Hunter (13) and Macie (12).