A Life Well Lived!

Death during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown is most heart-wrenching because the immediate family members residing overseas are unable to come back and say the final good bye to the deceased. Two elderly seniors in my church passed on precisely during this season. In the first case, only the wife was there to mourn the loss.

In the case of Datuk KS Fung, his funeral service was held at the funeral parlor strictly in accordance to the social distancing guidelines. Besides a few relatives and friends, only his eldest son and daughter-in-law were able to be present because the other siblings and family members were all overseas. I and my wife were there to pay our last respect.

Datuk Fung's passing came just over 13 months after his wife died in mid March last year. Her death had obviously impacted him in that he became less talkative as his son said in his eulogy. Yet, his will to live and persistence to attend church every week had been most encouraging to many. Even during the initial lockdown period, he would not believe the cessation of Sunday church service until he was driven there by the son to see for himself the locked up church compound.

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I remember soon after I graduated from University Malaya in early 1978, I went to JKR Hqs in Sembulan to see the Director of JKR to look for a job as an engineer.  The Director then, Datuk Fung instantly asked me to report for work as soon as possible. I started work on 10 April 1978 and I was seconded to work under Scott Wilson Kirkpatrick at the site office at the KK Airport. Scott Wilson Kirkpatrick, a British consulting engineering firm was appointed to plan, design and supervise the development of the KK International Airport. That secondment proved to be a good start for my professional career. I had a good head start working with the British engineers who are known to be systematic and transparent. I had learnt to follow up with a written instruction soon after a verbal instruction on site. My ability to write in a way was developed since that time.

Datuk Fung was credited to have contributed significantly in the infrastructure development in Sabah especially under the then Berjaya State Government. In the religious and education domain, he was instrumental in the planting of many churches especially the indigenous churches of BCCM. He helped set up STS and served in the school management board of SM Lok Yuk, KK.

He was my boss for only six years. I left JKR in April 1984 and moved to the private sector. Since then, I started to be involved in Lok Yuk KK School Board and the Board of Governors of Sabah Theological Seminary (STS). We became partners serving together in the management and development of three schools within the compound of Lok Yuk School, Likas and STS. At the STS, he served as the Board Chairman while I was a Board Member cum the Consultant Engineer for the construction of key buildings built over ten years during his tenure.

By 2015, sign of his fading memory began to show. In my interview with him on 15 October 2017 for the publication of the bulletin for the 55th Anniversary of congregation of BCCM KK (English), we couldn't dwell into too much details of his past involvement with the church. Still, it was sufficient to get a glimpse of some of his thought! (Read here).

He and his wife and his second son were at our house to share breakfast just before the interview on 15 October 2017.

Datuk Fung and his wife posed with my wife
who did an interview with Datin Fung at their
residence for the occasion of Legacy day.

Taken soon after the Legacy Day Sunday
Worship Service on 5 November 2017.

Datuk Fung lived a long and fruitful life. His passing reminisces the passing of King David as recorded in 1 Chronicles 29:28, "He died at a good old age, having enjoyed long life, wealth and honour.....".

Cyber Rendezvous under Covid-19 Pandemic Lockdown

It's the 54th day of the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown since 18 March 2020. Many people have been looking forward to the lifting of the MCO last scheduled to be 13 May 2020. That hope was again dashed and the lockdown has been further extended to 9 June 2020 albeit under CMCO, a conditional movement control order. Most suspect that it's a last minute decision of the government which was clouded with sinister political consideration arising from a "No Confidence Motion" to be tabled in Parliament on 18 May by the opposition against the sitting government.

If one is asked to name a positive thing that comes out of this pandemic lockdown, I would say it would be the speedy response of the worldwide community to a new mode of communication: video conferencing. For us who are used to face-to-face communication in an office setting, this new mode did take a bit of effort to get used to. What's most incredible is that this new widely adopted tool, Zoom has turned out to be a channel for me to chat live with an ex-teacher whom I have not seen for over 52 years!

In the past, I used to communicate with this ex-teacher now based in USA via emails. Under lockdown, she too could no longer commute to visit her children's families in other parts of USA. She has no choice but to pick up Zoom in order to do live chats with them. Naturally, this app which is the only video conferencing tool she is conversant with opens an avenue for a face-to-face live chat.

A snippet of the chat in May.

Clearly, after half a century, there is very little semblance to her old self whom I was accustomed to. She would have passed as a total stranger had we met in a street without prior notice.

Ruth Moody was my Form 3 class teacher as well as Maths teacher in 1967. In this photo, she was standing at front row at left while I, the youngest in the class is partially hidden behind her left.

In the 1960's, many schools in Sabah (then North Borneo) had two groups of foreign teachers: the American Peace Corps Volunteers and the British Volunteers. The Peace Corps Volunteers emerged as a response to the historic challenge of President John F Kennedy when he declared in his inaugural speech on 20 January 1960: "Ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country". Many young Americans took up the challenge and traveled overseas to render public service in many Southeast Asian countries and the African continent. My school, Lok Yuk English Secondary School being a missionary school with tie to the Lutheran Church of America had the privilege of having another batch of teachers - young Americans sent by LCA. Ruth Moody is one of such teachers.

Teachers come in many forms and sizes. Some are good at imparting information and knowledge but lack the fun and "approachability" or friendliness that students yearn to see in their teachers. Some are just bad apples who cling onto the teaching profession for reasons best known to them. I remember a teacher, a keen mahjong player who came to class often time unprepared. His typical teaching style was turning to the page with a worked example and copying it word by word on the blackboard. Sometimes, the mere copying could also be incorrect! Naturally, nobody really remember him as one of the good teachers in the end.

Ruth is one of those teachers who taught well and mingled well with her students. It was she and another LCA teacher, Edward Greenawald who helped to develop my love and interest for mathematics.

A photo of some of the teaching staff taken
in the staffroom of Lok Yuk Secondary
School, Likas (Circa 1967). 
Ruth is dressed in light pink.

Teaching staff and Principal of Lok Yuk
Secondary School, Likas (Circa 1967).
School Principal: Mr. Anderson. 
Ruth is seated second from right.

Teaching staff and Principal of Lok Yuk  

Secondary School, Likas (Circa 1968).  

School Principal:  Pastor Donald E. Nelson. 

Ruth is seated 4th from left.

I did not know much about Ruth's family after she left Sabah until I got hold of this photo. Ruth met her husband in Sabah. He was the Dean of the All Saints Cathedral in KK. She has since been known as Ruth Tsu, a name which I took some time to get used to.

I gathered from her earlier email that upon their return to the State in late May 1970, they first settled down in California. Her husband served as a priest in a local Episcopal church while she taught mathematics in a secondary school. Upon her husband retirement, they moved to Washington state where she continued teaching maths in an education program of the University of Washington and worked with both new and experienced maths teachers in a supporting role in Tacoma. In late 2002, they moved to Portland in Oregon. After her husband passed away in October 2004, she moved to her present home in Hood River which is very near to her eldest daughter's home.

I was particularly impressed by her tenacity and adventurism when she told me that she once drove all the way by herself from Hood River, Oregon to her younger daughter's home in Atlanta, Geogia. She stopped along the way for six nights to cover a distance of 4,000 Km. Then, after spending time with the family, she drove back and covered the same distance one more time. As a senior citizen, this is indeed incredible!

The Basel Christian Church of Malaysia, KK only started to have an English congregation in 1962 (Read here). Ruth is one of the pioneers of this group. She is seen in the second row at the centre.