Rocky Bih-Chine MA

It is with profound sadness that we announce the death of Rocky Bih-Chine Ma, beloved husband, father, grandfather, uncle and brother. He passed away on June 25, 2024 at Rockyview General Hospital, Calgary, surrounded by family.

Rocky, the youngest of nine, was born in 1934 in Wuhan, Hubei province in China and fled with his family to Taiwan in 1949 when the Communists came to power. He met his wife, Linda Yun-Ting Sun, at Tainan Engineering College where they studied Mining and Architectural Engineering, respectively. After graduating, he served two years in (compulsory) military service and then proposed to Yun Ting. They were happily married in 1960 and remained soulmates to the very end. They worked and had three children in Taipei before immigrating to Canada in 1972.

Trained overseas, Rocky started as a laborer with Cominco Mine in Pine Point, NWT and then moved with his family to Elkford, BC in 1977 to work for Fording River (now Teck). He worked as a surveyor, technician and later, senior planning engineer, spearheading the Eagle Mountain Project while mentoring a whole generation of engineers. His work ethic, integrity and critical thinking served as an inspiration not only to his co-workers (both management and labor) but also to his family and the community at large. He enjoyed sharing about his Chinese heritage but he especially enjoyed talking about the other love of his life, rocks!

Outside of work, he enjoyed athletics (I only recently found out he anchored his 4 x 400m team to win college nationals in the 1950’s), music (playing harmonica and listening to classical/Chinese opera) and spending time with family.  Mischievous as a child, Rocky was not always serious as an adult. It was often while playing with his young grandchildren that the playful part of his personality came out. He also travelled extensively with Linda (especially after retirement in 1997) spending months in China and attending yearly reunions across the world with college classmates. In 2001, they moved to Calgary where he promptly volunteered with the Chinese Community Service Association, joined the Rock and Lapidary Club while swimming several times weekly at the local YMCA well into his eighties.

He is survived by his wife, Linda, children: Marisa (Andre), Emery (Pim), Marian; grandchildren: Rachael, Evan, Zach, Nathan, and Rosie;  sister, Rachel and extended family including niece, Lingli (Kang Wei). We will miss him greatly but consider ourselves so blessed to have had him in our lives as long as we did. Thank you to all the staff on Unit 73 at Rockyview for helping us navigate through such a difficult time.