Sau Chun Lau

Like many refugees, she, a teenager, fled from her birthplace on foot with other family members when Japan invaded Hong Kong. The entire family finally settled in the hometown of her parents, a small village in southern China. Years later she met her husband, a young lad from a neighboring village and the couple married in the late 1940’s. However, the couple was briefly separated when the communists took control of China. Her husband, to avoid the new ruling, left first for Hong Kong in 1949. She joined him a year later. The couple endured tough economic times in their new settlement. After struggling for a few years, the couple was able to save enough money to start their agricultural business. The learning curve was tough at the beginning, but their business eventually thrived.

Sau Chun did not receive much formal education, partly due to being a girl but mainly due to World War II. However, she understood the importance of education. She believed knowledge would bring opportunities. With this firm belief in mind, she encouraged and supported her three children to go abroad for higher education.

Sau Chun finally joined her sons and daughter in Canada in the late 1980’s. Even though at retirement age, she still played a very important role in their families. Apart from giving good care to all her grandchildren, she motivated herself to have daily physical exercises. She knew adequate exercise could bring longevity. She was well known among her friends to be active in aquatic sport. Regardless of the weather, she was usually the first one to show up at the community center swimming pool at dawn. This ritual stopped when COVID19 forced the swimming pool to lock down. One could say that COVID19 caused the downfall of her health. In her more active years, she was an avid traveler. She traveled and enjoyed the experiences she had in both west and east coasts of North America. She also had fond memories of her Europe trips.

May these good times stay with her forever.