Philatelic Match Making and Cherry Blossoms

"In the cherry blossom's shade there's no such thing as a stranger." 
                              ~ Kobayashi Issa, Japanese Poet

Eugenia Yuen Chi

Eugenia Yuen Chi, of Ontario, Canada, was married thanks to a postage stamp.

The stamp was from Indonesia, and it belonged to a gentleman by the name of Boen Tie Khouw, who was not interested in stamps. But he was interested in Eugenia Yuen Chi.

She was Chinese, from Hong Kong, and had something of a philatelic bent. He was Chinese, from Indonesia, and was in possession of various Indonesian stamps. It was the early 1960s, and both happened to be studying at the University of Windsor. A friend told Boen Tie to attract the girl’s attention by giving her a stamp, wise advice that eventually blossomed into 43 years of marriage and two daughters.

“My parents met because of a postage stamp,” says Vivian Khouw. “That was the icebreaker.”

On March 24th the Postal Service will celebrate the friendship between America and Japan with the Cherry Blossom Centennial issuance.One hundred years ago the city of Tokyo gave 3,020 cherry trees to the city of Washington, D.C. Since that spring day, Washington’s cherry blossoms have remained an ever-renewing source of pleasure and pride. Today the National Cherry Blossom Festival typically draws more than a million visitors. For more about the unusual panoramic stamp visit www.beyondtheperf.com.


For more about Eugenia Yuen Chi visit http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1109056