Chan Kwan Yeuk Laan             August 18, 1920 to May 2, 2022

My mother, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Kwan Fan Fat who started as a tea merchant in China and later, a real estate magnate in Hong Kong. Her name meant “like an Orchid” as her father loved flowers and had a beautiful garden.  Growing up in a feudal society was not easy. But her parents taught her to believe in education. Mom often said to all her daughters and grandkids, “Money is never wasted on education. Education gains Knowledge AND Knowledge is Power”!

Mom studied in Ying Wa Girls’ School and in 1938, she matriculated, and she went on to major in Economics in University of Hong Kong. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1942. At that time, few women went beyond high school. (From the HKU library archives, we found out that she was one of the very few women admitted)! She married my father Mr. Chan Sin Ka and they lived in China during the Japanese occupation of HK. There, in the beautiful city of Nanking, their first child, Kenny, was born. (Kenny was named after the brother she lost in the war). Returning to HK after the war, she started to teach Geography and Math in Ying Wa, and stayed there over a span of 40 plus years! During this time, Mom collected a lot of colleagues as lifelong friends and inspired a great number of students.  For a brief while, she was the vice principal to the school. She loved her job dearly as it gave her the opportunity to educate girls to believe in themselves.

Mother loved her family, and she never forgot her roots. She was grateful to her parents and to the school that opened her mind. She was very active in all the fund-raising events and donated generously to the redevelopment of the school. She had one of the 2 Vice Principal rooms named after her parents as a tribute to them and her 4 daughters had the Geography room named after her in her honour.  Sonja toiled hard in all these activities to help extend mom’s belief in Girls’ Power!! Sonja helped in the process of publishing the redevelopment album and she served on the fundraising sub-committee.

Family was always important to Mom. She kept all her 4 daughters, 9 grandkids and 8 great grandkids united in strong personal bond. This close connection was also extended to a bigger circle which includes our cousins and their children, as well as children of her best buddies! Amazing, isn’t it? Even though they are spread-out all-over HK, Australia, Europe, USA and Canada, they never failed to call her, and always sent her birthday and Christmas gifts and well wishes! Together we celebrated many happy occasions like weddings, birthdays and Chinese cultural festivities.

Mom was quite a traveller before she turned 80. She left footprints all over Europe, Asia, Australia, South America and North America. She was proud of making to the peak of the Yellow Mountain in China!

As Mom advanced into her senior years, she started to return to her love of music and dance. She enjoyed listening to oldies hours on end. Her favourite song was Que Sera Sera which highlighted her view in life. She could waltz, rhumba, cha cha and rock and roll, often taking the man’s steps to lead!! She Line danced several times a week well into her nineties and one of her dance teachers even crowned her as the Dancing Queen!! She also loved mahjong and even taught her Filipino nannies the game! She played adeptly at the Blackjack table as well!! Hard to win her money though!! She walked 1080 steps everyday until she was wheelchair bound after a mild stroke in 2018 when she was 98! With tremendous zest in life, Mom never turned down any invitation to a party. She enjoyed all social gatherings and outings with many former students and our friends! She was popular! She was busy! Above all, she was youthful!!

Mom loved to celebrate birthdays with her friends and family. It became an annual event that we looked forward to. She wanted to entertain not just her own friends and family, but the kids’ and even grandkids’ friends who have named her Wonder Woman!! She organized a fun event for everyone and enjoyed spending hours purchasing many small gifts and wrapping them up nicely as prizes for her Bingo games. Yes, Mom was the Bingo Queen! Wait, there’s the memorable Chicken Dance as well. Even her little great grandkids participated!! Mom was truly generous to share her joy and laughter and she always infatuated everyone with positive energy!

Yes, Mom used to tell me she celebrated everyday as another birthday. Yes, she was not the one to complain about aching bones, decreasing activities, and increasing reliance on helpers. She embraced life with exceptional love and enthusiasm, a true role model to us all! 

It is not easy to sum up 101 years of Mother’s glorious life in a few words. It is even harder to bid her farewell. In modern terms, she was a true influencer! I hope that the fond memory of her will bring strength to all of us! Mom would say, “You only live once, make the best of it!!