Page Borchetta, 53, left China as a teen, was IBM marketer

Page Borchetta, who left her native China to study in the United States as a teenager and stayed for a 30-career with IBM, died Thursday Aug. 10 at her home in Gaithersburg, Md. She was 53, the wife of Frank Borchetta, and the mother of two sons, Frank and Johnathan. She had struggled with cancer the last two and half years.
“She was a woman of remarkable courage and remarkable will,” said her husband.
Ms. Borchetta lived in Ridgefield from 1972 to 1989, first renting on Prospect Street and then buying a home on Settler’s Lane. For most of that time — from 1976 to 1989 — her husband was a partner in the popular restaurant, Touchstone’s, where Bully’s is today.
She was born in Shanghai, China, Jan. 23, 1947, and her family moved to Hong Kong — then a British colony — when she was a child. She came to the U.S. on a scholarship to New Rochelle College in Westchester County, N.Y., graduating with a bachelor of science degree in mathematics.
“When she was between 18 and 19 years old, she got on a plane in Hong Kong and got off in New York and took a cab to the College of New Rochelle,” her husband said. “She started a new life and never went back.”
She worked for IBM as a marketing consultant, part of a capacity planning team that traveled the world assisting salespeople in different countries with the task of analyzing the technical needs of customers. “She went everywhere,” her husband said, “Australia, she was in Asia several times, she was in London, Paris, Italy, South America...”
Her son, Frank, is a senior microbiology major at the University of Maryland, and her son, Johnathan, is a junior at Quince Orchard High School in Gaithersburg, Md.
Besides her husband and sons she is survived by her mother, Florence Hsieh Ting of San Jose, Calif., and three brothers, Peter D. Ting of McLean, Va., Fred N. Ting of San Jose, and Dennis Ting of Groton, Mass., and two sisters, Bessie Ting of San Jose, and Eva Ting of Chaton, N.J.
A Mass of Christina burial was held Monday, Aug. 14, at St. Roch Church in Greenwich, with burial in St. Mary’s Cemetery, Greenwich.
“She never gave up and she never gave in,” said her husband. “She drove to have her nails done four days before she died. It was literally a one-minute ride, but she was going to do it — get in her car and she was going.”
“Page was very strong, unusually strong, very gentle, very nice — her friends she held very close to her,” Mr. Borchetta said. “It leave such a big hole.”
Contributions in her memory may be made to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Institute, 1275 York Avenue, New York, N.Y., 10013