By Connie So
OCA Asian Pacific American Advocates of Greater Seattle Board Member
This profile has been reprinted with permission from the OCA Asian Pacific American Advocates of Greater Seattle. It is one of four profiles the Northwest Asian Weekly will run this week.
Tuck Eng
Philanthropists come in many styles. Tuck Eng is a humble, low-key, retired engineer who generously donates his time, money, experience, skills, and talent to help create a better Chinatown-International District (CID).
In the late 1990s, every time OCA-GS used the Chong Wa Benevolent Association for an event, Tuck was always there to open up the building, help prepare hot water for those who might want tea (and regularly checked in every 15-20 minutes), set up chairs, and clean the space even when we told him not to. Even in 2024, during the CID Clean-up, Tuck started the effort as early as 8 a.m., all the while cleaning up the spaces around 8th and King Street. I repeatedly and jokingly reminded him that he’s making “everyone look so bad and lazy.” Tuck always laughed humbly and made a comment about his “duty” to help. While Tuck may not be the only person who volunteers to work in beautifying the neighborhood, I bet he is the only person still working so diligently at the age of 91.
Dedication and steadfastness are hallmarks of Tuck’s life. Professionally, Tuck worked “42 rewarding years” as a Boeing engineer. His dedicated work for Boeing began while he was earning a Chemistry degree at the University of Washington (UW). While attending UW, he worked for Boeing as a Model Builder in the Wind Tunnel, then tested and helped assemble the first Boeing Jet Transport. After graduating in 1956, he transferred to Boeing’s Materials Technology and Manufacturing Research Division, where he helped develop lightweight materials/assemblies, surface treatment chemical processes, and brazed SST parts, as well as composite technology to build the all-composite 787. During his last 7 years at Boeing, he managed a Quality Control group that audited Boeing and all the subcontractors around the world to ensure that they met specifications. Since his retirement in 1998, Tuck’s “outside” work still centers on the CID.
Although he now lives in South Seattle, Tuck’s commitment to the CID dates back to his childhood. His family’s story and desire to serve the neighborhood has been recounted in local papers and in the New York Times. Indeed, Tuck’s family home and the adjoining property were recently sold at a generous discount to the Wing Luke Museum as part of a living historical site.
In 1921, Tuck’s 21-year-old immigrant father, Suen King Eng, came to the United States during the era of the Asian Exclusion Acts. After his immigrant mother, Sue Fong, joined his father in the CID, she encouraged her husband to build a new home after getting “spooked” by the rooms in the old houses and buildings. The Eng home was built in 1937, and is now the CID’s last remaining and most intact single-family home. Like many Chinese of that earlier era, the Engs both lived and worked in their home. They raised bean sprouts in the basement, picked watercress growing in a creek at Richmond Beach, Tacoma, dried seaweed, and successfully sold it to CID stores and in Canton Alley.
Though the family vacated the house in 2005, by the 2020s, the home and adjoining lot were already appraised at $3.8 million. According to a 2023 article in the Northwest Asian Weekly, “The whole site is 8,300 square feet, including a 5,600-square-foot parking lot, and a 1,350-square-foot masonry block structure.” As Tuck noted in the interview, he and his late brothers, William and Nelson, wanted to “preserve the history of the Engs as a homestead.” Through the purchase of the Eng homestead, the Wing Luke Museum envisions “expanding tours, education programs, neighborhood activation,” and extending Canton Alley into Dearborn Street.
The creation of the Chinatown gate is another example of Tuck’s commitment to preserving the CID. As the president of the nonprofit Historic Chinatown Gate Foundation, Tuck, along with seven board members and Chong Wa, raised $1,000,000 towards the effort. While the planning, funding, design, and permitting of the Seattle Chinatown gate has taken more than 50 years to complete, the Chinatown Gate, under Tuck’s leadership, was dedicated in February 2008. As he noted then, not every Chinatown has a gate, and he wanted to encourage more residents and visitors to the CID. “When it turns dark, people don’t want to go down there…We’re trying to change that.” By 2024, Tuck proudly adds, “Now Hing Hay Park is lit and bright at night.”
Currently, Tuck remains active with Chong Wah, the Chinatown International District Business Improvement Area, and other efforts towards cleaning and preserving the CID.