Pui Har "Agnes" Yeung

Agnes was born in a rural town in the Kwangtung Province of China on the 11th day of the sixth month in the Lunar Calendar in 1946, the Year of the Dog. My mother told us that she was born premature. There was no scale to determine her weight at birth in those days, but she was very tiny like a doll. My mother said that she did not have enough breast milk to feed her. She would chew up sweet potatoes, or yams in her mouth and then fed them to Agnes. Agnes grew up on a farm with two sisters in China: an older sister Sau Har Wong who lives in New York City, and a younger sister Barbara Suen who lives in Vancouver.

In 1949, China was taken over by the Chinese Communist Party. My father fled to Hong Kong. In 1953, my mother took Barbara and moved to Hong Kong. Agnes was left living on the farm with her paternal grandmother. Her elder sister Sau Har was studying at a city nearby and would come home to visit during school break. Our paternal grandmother was a strict disciplinarian and a hard worker who attended to the fields all day. Agnes had to look after the chickens and ducks. Sau Har recalled that when she was home with Agnes, they had to count the chickens and ducks each evening. If even one bird was missing, they would be reprimanded by their paternal grandmother.

When Agnes was about 12 years old, she moved to Hong Kong to join her parents and siblings. She graduated from secondary school in 1967. It was a very difficult year as Hong Kong had civil unrest with protests and demonstrations. She found a job as a primary school teacher for one year. After that, she entered Kwong Wah Hospital and trained as a nurse. She lived at the nursing residence and only came home on weekends to visit. She made a lot of friends during the three years, and I would describe that period to be the most satisfying and happy time in her life.

After completing her training as a nurse in Hong Kong, she went to England to receive training, specializing in midwifery. She learned to ride a bicycle, and would travel to small communities nearby to deliver babies. She also told me that she took a three-month course on psychiatry. In her spare time, she took a holiday in Greece. I still have in my possession today, a bracelet that she bought for me while she was in Greece. It is made of beads that look like flowers of blue with a yellow heart in the middle of each square.

After the study in England for about two years altogether, she returned to Hong Kong and worked briefly in a hospital. In 1974, her application to immigrate to Canada was approved. She moved to Edmonton in September that year to join our sister Barbara.

Agnes worked at the University of Alberta Hospital from 1974 to 1977 in Edmonton. I joined her in Edmonton when I graduated from high school in June 1977. It was during that time that I noticed her fondness for food, not health food but what we call “junk food” in Canada. I remember one weekend we decided to do a picnic. I went to the store and bought cans of juice as beverage. When she saw what I bought, she was not pleased. It turned out that she preferred pop, or carbonated soft drinks. She also told me something interesting. She actually liked the smell of cigarettes and alcohol helped her relax. If not for her Chinese background, she would embrace the Canadian culture of smoking and drinking on a regular basis.

While in Edmonton, she had two major accomplishments. It took her three times, but she managed to pass the exam on her third attempt and became a Registered Nurse. It took her a few attempts, but through perseverance, she passed and obtained a driver’s license. Though she never drove after that, she had a “perfect driving record” that was very handy for buying insurance for the family vehicle that was under her name.

In the summer of 1977, she had the first episode of her chronic illness. She moved from Edmonton to Vancouver. In 1978, she moved back to Hong Kong so that my mother could look after her. In April 1980, my mother immigrated to Canada with the two younger children, Edith Wong and Steven Yeung and settled in Vancouver with Barbara. From September 1977 to April 1980, Agnes took on the financial burden of paying for my university education and living expenses while I was studying at the University of Alberta. I was on a student visa from Hong Kong and was not allowed to work. Without her support, I would not have the means to get a university education. I am eternally grateful to her for the sacrifices that she made for me.

In June of 1980, Agnes returned to Canada and lived in Vancouver with the family. She worked at Mount Joseph Hospital until 1986 when she retired from active employment.

While she was working at Mount St Joseph Hospital, there was a time when the transit drivers were on strike. Agnes would walk to the Hospital and back. Each trip would take 45 minutes to complete. She told me one day after work, she stopped at a Chinese restaurant to have a bowl of wonton noodle. After walking for about half an hour, she made a stop at a gas station and bought a hamburger to eat. When she was about home, she made another stop at McDonald’s on Broadway in the west side of Vancouver for a coffee. As soon as she got inside the house, she ran for the bathroom from all the eating and drinking that she had done.

After her retirement, Agnes helped around the house and washed dishes after each meal. She would always help Barbara prepare food when we had barbeques or big family gatherings.

Agnes enjoyed travelling. In addition to Greece, she had travelled to Taiwan, Japan, New York City in the United States, Beijing in China, and several countries in Continental Europe. She also did two cruises: Alaska in 2001 and Hawaii in 2012.

From 1986 to about 2010, Agnes went through periods of ups and downs in her health. Things started going downhill by the time she turned 65, when she qualified for Canada Pension Plan. For some reason that only made sense to her, she stopped taking her medication without our knowledge. It triggered episodes of her chronic illness, and she started spending more and more time in and out of hospitals. Her health deteriorated and she lost the ability to look after herself. In 2016, she moved into Britannia Senior Lodge. In 2018, she was moved to Three Links Care Centre. In 2019, she was moved to Little Mountain Place where she passed away at 11:00 PM on Tuesday, March 16, 2021. She was 74 years old.

Agnes had no children but she has sponsored a few children (including one girl from Bangladesh and one boy from Rwanda) through World Vision for over 15 years. They wrote to her regularly and she was very proud of their development. She also has nephews and nieces who loved her have fond momories of her.

Debbie

佩霞生平

佩霞生於1946年7月1曰, 廣東鶴山。她是個早產兒，又沒有足夠母乳哺餵，所以發育不全，健康欠佳。

佩霞幼年由祖母照顧，她幫忙飼養家禽。她12歲移居香港，與父母及弟妹團聚。

佩霞在1960年在民智小學畢業,1967年在祟真書院畢業,1968年在漢文小學任教，一年後考入廣華醫院, 1971年成為註册護士。1972至1973年, 她在英國修讀產科，回港後成為註册助產士。

1974年, 佩霞移居加拿大，與潔霞同居愛蒙頓，在大學醫院任職。她在愛蒙頓的日子，努力不懈，成功考取了驾駛執照及加拿大註册護士，令她可以在温哥華任職，直至1986年退休。

佩霞很喜歡旅行，她到過希臘，台灣，日本，北京，北美的東西兩岸，西歐各國。她又乘郵輪游覽阿垃斯加及夏威夷。

佩霞退休後，健康一直走下坡，經常進出醫院，由2016年開始，她需要入住安老院，2019年，她搬到小山苑，到2021年3月16日離世，享年74歲。

佩霞雖無兒女，但她一生盡心盡力照顧弟妹，姨甥，又參與宣明会的助養計劃長達15年，遺愛人間。

潔霞

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Agnes Pui Har Yeung passed away peacefully on March 16, 2021 in Vancouver with her siblings attending at her bedside. She had been frail for a long time. Although she beat COVID-19, she couldn't beat old age.

Agnes was born in a rural town in the Kwangtung Province of China on the 11th day of the sixth month in the Lunar Calendar in 1946. She was preceded by her Parents Hok Hang Yeung and King Ho Lam. She is survived by her sisters: Sau Har Wong of New York City, Barbara Suen (Keith Suen) of Vancouver, Siu Ha Wai of Hong Kong, Debbie Yeung (Tim Grad) of Edmonton, Edith Wong (Kanman Wong) of Vancouver, and her brother Steven Yeung of Vancouver. She will be sadly missed by her nephews and nieces: David and Phil Wong of New York, Po Chu Wai of Hong Kong, Vincent Suen of Vancouver, Oscar Wai of Hong Kong, Theo and Freddie Wong of Vancouver, Tiffany and Brianna Grad of Edmonton.

Agnes grew up in rural China and moved to Hong Kong to join her parents and sisters when she was 12 years old. She completed training to become a nurse, and spent two years in England specializing in midwifery before immigrating to Canada in 1974. She became a Registered Nurse and worked at hospitals in Edmonton and Vancouver before retiring in 1986.

We would like to thank all the caring teams who provided dedicated support to Agnes and her family in her final years: the private team who worked at the Yeung's residence, Britannia Lodge, Three Links Care Centre and Little Mountain Place; in particular, the following personnel at Little Mountain Place: Dr. Judith Hammond (her family physician), Maricel Morella (Director of Care), and Maria Ilad (Nurse who provided the final care).

During this difficult time of COVID-19, we decline any flowers or donations.

Since the in person attendance capacity is limited to 10, family and friends of Agnes can watch the streaming of the funeral live or at your convenience later using the link provided below:

Funeral Service Saturday, April 10th, 2021 at 10:00 am.

https://funeraweb.tv/en/diffusions/26393