I have been thinking for some time whether I should write another blog about death and afterlife. Would it be one too many for some readers? In the end, I decided to continue writing.
As the writer in Ecclesiastes 8:8 says, "No one has the power over the wind to contain it; so no one has power over the time of their death...".
Last Saturday, 27.07.2024, I went to Eddie's tyres shop to have my car's tyres changed. Eddie is one of my former high school classmates at Lok Yuk School, KK. While waiting for the replacement, we went for a cup of coffee at a nearby coffee shop. As usual, we updated one another about recent happenings and also talked about some of our former classmates. We talked about Thau Min whom we last saw quite a while ago in CNY February 2020 in a class reunion lunch (Read here). He was quite active in the Class Chat Group last year but very quiet in this couple of months. We were talking about calling him one of these days for coffee.
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| Coffee with Eddie Chow on 27.07.2024. |
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Then on Monday morning (29.07.2024), I received a WhatsApp message from Ivy, daughter of Thau Min informing that her father has passed away on 27.07.2024. I was rather shocked to receive the news considering that we were just talking about him on the very day he died two day earlier.
As I notified our Class Chat Group about his passing, I couldn't help but said that "Life is truly unpredictable!".
In our visit to the Funeral Parlour to pay our respect on 29.07.2024, Ivy told us his father died of lung infection which started about two months ago.
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| With Eddie and Wife of Thau Min. |
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Thau Min was a very quiet student in the class and hardly mixed with the other classmates. We were classmates for just three years from Form I to Form 3 (1965-1967). He failed to make it to Form 4. We lost touch since we parted way at the end of 1967.
Then in 1990 in one of my projects which I handled, I bumped into him. He was working as a Project-in-Charge for the Contractor for that project: The Construction of Staff Quarters for SESB Melawa Power Station at Sepangar Bay. We re-established connection since then.
He was a keen participant of class reunions. He joined the class reunion when one of our former classmates, Miao Ling came back from Hong Kong in early 2019 (Read here). He too signed up for another class reunion when another former classmates came back from Australia in October 2022 (Read here). He failed to turn up. When I called him after the event, he said that he had to forego attending because he could not find any parking lot to park his car that day. When I chatted with Thau Min's wife at the Funeral Parlour about the incidence on 29.07.2024, she told me that he in fact went but could not locate the venue of the get-together, i,e, the Hyatt Hotel. His daughter also told us that her dad had mild dementia since a couple of years ago. Clearly, many of my peers are beginning to be affected by health issues related to advancing age!
This photo was taken by Edward Greenawald when he was teaching in Lok Yuk School, KK (Read here). Thau Min in Form 1 (1965) was seen sitting for school examination.
A class photo of Form 3 (1967). I was standing partially hidden at the left of the Form Teacher, Ms. Ruth Moody. Thau Min is hardly visible and hidden behind Ms. Moody's right.
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Eddie, Thau Min and I met up on 01.10.2016
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At the home of another former classmate, Yap Kim Tong on 25.11.2016.
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