Always Free
ISSUE NO.19
MONDAY WRAP Western Province Chinese Association 24 November 2014
Fah Loong Lee Pan ᢋ◨ 28 July 1925 – 22 November 2014. Fah Loong came to Cape Town in 1944 after spending 1 year in Hong Kong waiting for his papers and a ship. The ship was in total blackout during the nights as the Japanese submarines were still active and this caused uncertainty on whether the ship could travel via Mauritius and Reunion. Because of this, the passengers disembarked in Java and he was the only remaining passenger to Cape Town. His father died shortly after he arrived and after a short schooling in the English language he ran the family store. In 1948 he married Kiun Fong Ng and they had 5 children. He and Kiun Fong separated in 1977 and he married Jacqueline Tim Fat in 1984. Both wives have preceded him, Kiun Fong in 1996 and Jacqueline in 2009. He has enjoyed a good 89 years and will be fondly remembered by Rita and Tony, Priscilla, Eddy and Lynda, Delicia and Eric, Alex and Cynthia and the grandchildren Julian and Kieron, Nicolas, Gaby, Samantha, Martin, Thierry, Sebastian, Jonathan and Haley and great grand daughter Rachel. On Sunday afternoons, he was a regular mahjong player at Maureen Kai’s house or at the WPCA association. He enjoyed the game so much that winning or losing was not an issue. At home we shared out the jar of 1 and 2 cent pieces and when anyone lost all their coins, he’d lend from his stack. At socials he was ready to tell any willing ear his stories and everyone enjoyed these. I recall him telling us ‘how the Chinese started eating pork’.Years later I heard the same story in London from a lecturer at one of the Shell courses. Apart from the wide range of stories he had an amazing memory of details like dates, prices and car number plates! He was well known for his fish balls and Julian says as kids they loved visiting him and waiting for the fish ball soup. We all remember having to carry cooler bags of fish balls when we visited Johannesburg. Cooking was a great part of his life as this was his business from the 1970’s.
R.I.P.
With grand children. Back: Sam, Gaby, Martin and Nik. Front: Sebastian & Jonathan.
Making bao ji.
With Alex & Cynthia and Hayley at Haley’s party this year.
Sam’s graduation.
Making mein with Lynda and Thierry.
Meeting Haley for the first time.