It's with my deepest condolences to Auntie Susan and the entire Mah family after learing of Uncle Charlie's passing.  I will always have fond memories of him and the special friendship that he and my father (Gilbert) shared. 

Btw, I have the same photo of him and my father horsing around at the tennis court proudly displayed in a collage of old b&w photo's hanging on the wall at my house.

I regret not being able to attend the funeral, but I'm sure him and my father will have lots of time to share some good stories now :)

Eulogy For My Dad, Charles Mah

On behalf of my family and I, thank you all for coming and supporting us at this time.  Dad always felt that family was important and even though he wouldn't want to call attention to himself he would want the extended Mah family to get together.

Allow me a few moments to share our family memories of my father Charles Mah.

Dad was born in 1923 in Cumberland BC to Sam and Jean Mah, two immigrants from Canton China who became pioneers in the province of BCs early years.  Dad had eight siblings, brothers Hoy and Albert and sisters Doreen, Winnie, Lily, Bertha, Florence, and Janet.  In his early years, Dad had health problems and had to often miss school.  He quit school early after grade 10 to help out the family financially.  The family made a stop in Nanaimo before moving to Vancouver near Chinatown.  Dad tried to enlist with the Canadian forces during World War 2 but he was rejected due to his poor health.

He taught himself to repair televisions and radios through reading books and went into business with his brother Hoy with Hoy's Electronics.  They had 2 locations, one on Main Street in the heart of Chinatown, and the second on Hastings Street.  Dad moved to a home just down the block from the Hastings Street store and continued to run that store.  Growing up our school was only a block away so we came home and dad came home so we could have lunch together.  I remember often sitting on a portable heater in the store watching Dad fix someone's radio or TV as he puffed on his pipe.  As technology advanced in the world of electronics, TVs and radios moved away from tubes to transistors and printed circuits which people didn't repair but replaced and the TV and radio repair business dwindled.  Dad stuck with it but there were many days when there were no customers.  Eventually the two stores were consolidated into one store a block over on Hastings and eventually that store closed as well. 

Mom's work at a laundromat kept the family going.  But all during that time, even though times were tight, we never felt the lack for anything important.  That taught us all the importance of being smart with our money and working together as a family.

The way Mom and Dad met was interesting.  Dad wanted a wife so Jim Fong, Dad's uncle, set about looking for a wife for Dad.  He knew Mom's auntie in China.  Mom at that time was trying to emigrate to the US but wasn't getting anywhere.  Word got back to Jim Fong and he got a picture of Mom and gave it to Dad.  Dad liked what he saw and sent Mom back a picture and a letter as well.  The two of them corresponded for a while and then went through the process of emigrating Mom from Hong Kong to Canada.  Mom came to Canada in 1959 and Mom and Dad were married.

The children started arriving soon after.  Andrew in 1960, me in 1962, Eric in 1963, and Geraldine (or Gerry) in 1969.  Dad's mom, Ghin Ghin, lived with us and she looked after us while Mom and Dad were at work.

When we were growing up, we used to ask Dad questions about everything.  He seemed to know everything about everything.  He had a large library of books and magazines like Popular Science and Popular Mechanics that dated back to the late 30's.  I used to go through his books and was amazed at his wide interests.

Dad instilled his love of books and learning in us by driving us all the way to the Hastings public library every few weeks where we would load up on books to read.

Dad used to love telling us about when he used to bowl with his friends and showing us his tournament trophies.  He also liked to tell us about his fencing (sword-fighting) days and loved to show us a scar he had on his stomach from a fencing match.  Dad also showed us how to play tennis.

One of the great traditions that Dad had that a lot of you will remember is that our house on Hastings Street was right on the route of the PNE parade in August every year and we would have family over and set up stools and chairs on the sidewalk so that we could have a ring-side view of the parade.  But we had to make sure that we watched out for the clowns as at that age we were scared of the clowns.  After the parade we would often have a picnic together, especially since the parade day often fell on my brother Eric's birthday.  Speaking of birthdays, Dad used to always bake us each a special cake for our birthdays with a thick layer of butter icing and his carefully lettered birthday wishes to us.  We used to love licking the mixing bowl afterwards.

Another fond memory was the only road-trip our family ever took.  Dad was always frugal, usually from necessity, so we didn't really do much travelling.  So one time Dad wanted to take us on a trip and he decided that we would all pile into his '55 Pontiac and go to Fort Langley.  As it happens, on the highway to Fort Langley, we got stopped by the police and Dad got a ticket.  It turns out Dad had left his studded snow tires which was a no no.  Even though Dad wasn't too happy we still had a good time and great memories of the trip.

Dad and us all really enjoyed the Mah family picnics in Stanley Park and the annual Christmas parties at Auntie Bertha's and Uncle Melvin's place and later at Cousin Lori and Keith's place.  Dad loved to make his Christmas tree and snowflake shortbread cookies and later on his Cha Siu Bao with the red smiley faces.  I still remember Dad sitting with the other aunties and uncles in the basement of Cousin Lori and Keith's place laughing loudly and telling jokes and teasing each other and reminiscing about old times.  I'm not sure who laughed louder, Uncle Albert, Uncle Norman, or Dad.

Dad loved to grow things and he was good at it and we had all kinds of vegetables growing in our house in Vancouver and in Richmond.  Mom and Dad used to grow a lot of zucchini so we for a while in the summers we had zucchini every day for dinner and in other things like zucchini bread.  Dad was generous and gave away a lot of what he grew to friends and relatives.

Dad enjoyed family shopping trips.  When we were living in Vancouver, Brentwood in Burnaby was the big shopping center and we were all excited to go.  And if we were really lucky, we would get an A&W root beer on the way home.

Gerry remembers as a kid, going shopping with Dad, just the two of them.  Dad would happily take her but the shopping trip would usually include a stop at Sears or Lumberland to look at tools.  Gerry became quite knowledgeable about tools for a young girl.

In the late 60's, my Dad started a major family project.  Continuing the family tradition of pioneering, Dad bought a property in Richmond, or Lulu Island as it was known back then when it was just bushes (blueberry bushes) and there were hardly any Chinese people living in the area.  He then set about building a new home with his own hands and with the help of mom and us kids.  We did this by driving from Vancouver to Richmond every weekend on Sunday over the rickety wooden #5 Road Bridge between Vancouver and Richmond that connected the foot of Fraser Street to #5 Road.  I was always scared going across that bridge as the bridge deck was wood and there were large gaps between the boards and I was always scared that Dad would miscalculate and our wheels would slip through the cracks.

We would work on the house all day Sunday.  It was always on the weekends as Dad and mom were working and we had school during the week and us boys had our paper routes to do including on Saturday.  It was very challenging in the beginning until the plumbing was put in as we had no bathroom to use and we were too shy to go ask our neighbours, Mr. and Mrs. Morgan to use theirs.  As far as I can remember, the only thing that Dad didn't do himself or with our help is laying the foundation.  We learned everything on the job.  I got pretty good at doing drywall and everyone had their specialty or expertise.  One of the most interesting times was when we were putting up the sundeck and we misunderstood Dad's instructions and the whole thing fell over  luckily no one was hurt.  I remember the time when we were putting the stain on the outside siding and after that for the longest time when we ate our lunch sandwiches, they tasted like oil-based stain.  We also had the occasional treat of hamburgers (when McDonalds had their 25 cent hamburger special) and canned Craigmont, Shasta, or Pop Shoppe pop.  We never had brand-name pop like Coke and 7-Up until years later.

The house was eventually finished in 1975 and we moved in.  We had many fond memories of that house in Richmond on #5 Road.  I was always proud to tell people that my Dad built our house.  The whole back yard of the 5 acres was a blueberry patch and we had our annual blueberry pickings and also had lots of friends and family over to pick berries.  Dad also gave away a lot of blueberries.  Dad would often make blueberry pies (my favourite) and blueberry muffins.  Another memory we have of that home was every year, we would go out as a family into the back of the property and pick and cut down an evergreen tree to use as our annual Christmas tree.  Because they were wild trees, they were not the best-looking trees, kind of like a bigger version of Charlie Brown Christmas tree but that was part of our family tradition and I was always proud to tell people that we would cut down our own Christmas tree from our own back yard.

Dad loved to build things and he was very handy with tools.  Gerry remembers when she ever needed anything like a bookshelf, he would disappear into his workshop, and then you would hear the power tools running (or she would go and watch) and a few hours later there would be a new bookshelf.

Eventually Dad got a job working for the liquor distribution board on the urging of Uncle Eddie.  Dad really enjoyed that job as it gave him the opportunity to meet and talk to a lot of new people.  Dad also started amassing a collection of travel size liquor bottles.  Dad worked there until past retirement age and only left because of mandatory retirement.

As the children married, Dad and Mom welcomed each of our spouses to the family with open arms, Lily, Andrew's wife, Benny, Gerry's husband, and Miriam my wife.  And Dad was generous to us all.  When I was short on being able to pay for my wedding I was so stressed out.  I had to swallow my pride and ask Dad for some money and he did it without hesitation.

Post-retirement Dad spent puttering around the house.  Dad continued to do things unconventionally and 10 years ago, sold the house on #5 Road and bought a bigger house on Clearwater for his retirement.  When it was time for Dad and mom and Eric to move to the new house, Dad asked Eric if he knew anyone that could help them move.  Eric didn't know anybody off the top of his head.  So Dad being the man of action phoned up his youngest siblings (Uncle Albert, Auntie Florence, and Auntie Janet) and they proceeded to move all the small boxes.  Eric was amazed at how quickly they were working and was worried because they were huffing and puffing.  When we did the major part of the move, Benny got a truck and we all chipped in and did the move. 

Dad and Mom liked to spend time doing things with their grandchildren.  Some of the things they got to do - with Nathan and Joseph they had a chance to go to Victoria together.  With Ian and Kaylan they were able to go on a cruise to Alaska, went apple picking in Abbotsford, and go to the pumpkin patch in Richmond in the fall.  With Bradley and Emily they enjoyed playing Lego and Strawberry Shortcake and My Little Pony and watching them do Taekwondo demonstrations.  

In the last few years health challenges had slowed Dad down.  He required more and more help to do things and for his care and Mom and Eric have taken much of the load in dealing with that.  In the end Dad passed away peacefully at home in his sleep.  I think he felt it was time.  We all miss him greatly.

Again, thank you all for coming.  Family was important to Dad and it is important that we can come together.

Visitation

Funeral Service

Interment

Forest Lawn Funeral Home & Memorial Park

Charles Mah

immediate need

Death has occurred or is near

plan ahead

Pre-plan a funeral or cremation

Plan a Funeral or Cremation Default Desktop

Find Obituaries and Services

sympathy and etiquette

grief library

celebrations of life

What to Say When Someone Dies

Show Your Support

Sympathy and Grief

obituary

services

memories

Obit Detail

In the care of

share to facebook

share by email

share link

Share Obituary

ideas and resources

Sympathy and Grief Mobile

OBITUARIO

Mr. Charles Mah

6 septiembre, 1923 – 26 enero, 2016

Forest Lawn Funeral Home & Memorial Park

Muestre su apoyo

Comparta Un Recuerdo

Comparta
Un Obituario

Obtenga actualizaciones

Servicios

OBITUARIO

Mr. Charles Mah

6 septiembre, 1923 – 26 enero, 2016

Forest Lawn Funeral Home & Memorial Park

Muestre su apoyo

Comparta Un Recuerdo

CompartaUn Obituario

Obtenga actualizaciones

Servicios

Comparta
Un Obituario