Getting to Know New Relatives

This is my third visit to Fook Lu Siew Funeral Parlour in a span of just over a month. The latest visit on 12.08.2024 was to pay my respect to my late Uncle Fen who passed away on 10.08.2024 at age 89. I was informed of his passing on 11.08.2024 by his daughter, Lily Lee.

It was almost by divine intervention that I got to know Lily Lee. I have known her cousin Lucy Lee much earlier. 

Some time in early 2014 (if I remember correctly), Lucy asked me to help her cousin, Lily. Lily's house which is adjacent to the new premise of E-West Restaurant & Cafe suffered some settlement problems soon after construction of E-West new building started in 2013 or earlier. As a result of the settlement, Lily's family had difficulty closing or opening the front door of their house. The gate posts and fence of the house compound also tilted. Lily sought Lucy's help to find her a Consulting Engineer who could help her to address this problem. Lucy instantly thought of me and asked whether I could help. I agreed and that how I got to know Lily.

Soon after I conducted an inspection of her house, Lily set up a meeting with the engineering consultants of E-West project which I also attended. After discussion and making representation on behalf of Lily, the project management of E-West project agreed to address and rectify the numerous issues raised. The problems were eventually resolved to the satisfaction of Lily's family.

In the course of resolving the problems, I also got to know the rest of Lily's family. Her dad, Lee Nyuk Fen, whom I called Uncle Fen is one of the brothers of Lucy's father and a son of Madam Leong, my grandaunt whom I talked about in an earlier blog (Read here). Uncle Fen is the youngest of my grandaunt's eight children.

Lucy at left and Lily in the middle.

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I met quite a few people in that visit to the Funeral Parlour who later turned out to be related to me. One lady introduced herself as Christine Chong said, " You are Alfred, correct? I heard a lot about you from Uncle Fen!". She continued, "I also know one of your classmates, Maggie who now resides in Hong Kong". Instantly, I thought of Ah Miau (Read here).  As it turned out, Christine's mother is a sister of Uncle Fen and by extension, Christine is my cousin.

Later on, I called Ah Miau. She confirmed she knows Christine and another sister of Christine, Helen. They were once neighbours in Kapayan.

With Christine.

I also met another male cousin, Jason Lee whose father is another brother of Lucy's father. Jason is a contractor operating under the name of PMMW Constructions Sdn Bhd. In the brief encounter with Jason, he told me about his previous trip back to China to look for the ancestral home and relatives. Unfortunately, he failed to locate the home nor any relative!

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Unlike my grandfather who only had a son (my dad) and a daughter, my late grandaunt who married Lee Tin Kim had eight children, four sons and four daughters. Lucy's dad is the second child while Christine's mom is the seventh child.

Francis Lee, eldest brother of Lucy whom I met earlier on 11.12.2023. He resides in Sandakan.

In life, one may meet and get to know other people under different situations and circumstances. In the case of Christine and Jason, we got to know each other under the least expected occasion and premise!