Colour of Time: Fact of Life - Another Former Classmate of Lok Yuk School KK Has Left For Good

Tuesday, July 30, 2024

Fact of Life - Another Former Classmate of Lok Yuk School KK Has Left For Good

I’ve been debating for some time whether to write yet another blog on the themes of death and the afterlife. Would it feel repetitive to some readers? Perhaps. But in the end, I decided to continue -because these are not just abstract topics; they are part of our shared human journey.

As the writer of Ecclesiastes 8:8 reminds us: “No one has 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 tyre shop to replace the tyres on my car. Eddie is one of my former high school classmates of Lok Yuk School, KK. While waiting, we went for a cup of coffee at a nearby shop. As always, our conversation drifted from the latest happenings to old memories, and inevitably to some of our classmates.

We spoke about Thau Min, whom we last met at a class reunion lunch during Chinese New Year in February 2020 (Read here). He had been quite active in our Class Chat Group last year, but in the past couple of months he had grown unusually quiet. Eddie and I even talked about giving him a call one of these days - perhaps to invite him for coffee, to catch up once more.

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 final respects on 29.07.2024, Ivy told us his father died of lung infection which started about two months before he passed away.

With Eddie and Wife of Thau Min at the funeral perlour.

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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 did not continue after finishing Form 3. 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). But 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 on 29.07.2024 about that incident, she told me that he in fact went but could not locate the venue of the get-together - 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!

The very last time we met at BTC Restaurant, Inanam
with two other former classmates, Eddie Chow and
Yap Kim Tong on 04.06.2022.

Thau Min attended the reunion of Class of 1967 & 1969
on 01.03.2019.

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This is a biodata he wrote about himself during his Form 1 in 1965 and submitted to Mr. Edward Greenawald, our teacher. His biodata, together with those of other students and many old photographs carefully preserved by Mr. Greenawald, was eventually passed on to me in January 2017 (Read here).

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 the school examination.

A class photo of Form 3 (1967) taken in the new school premises. I was standing partially hidden at the right our Form Teacher, Ms. Ruth Moody. Thau Min who was standing next to me is hardly visible and hidden behind Ms. Moody's left.

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