Miranda Chor Han Lee

Miranda was born on December 1, 1932 to Wong Kam Hung and Li Kwan Ying in Hong Kong. She survived the occupation of Hong Kong during World War II and went on to study nursing at Kwong Wah Hospital. She graduated as an RN and worked as a nurse and midwife in Hong Kong.

She started a correspondence with Fred Chew Sen Lee, a friend of her fellow nurse's fiancé, who was living in Canada. The pen pal relationship became a romantic wooing via letter. In 1957, Miranda married Fred in Hong Kong and he brought her to Halifax where they raised a family of five children.

Miranda was accomplished in many areas: she was a skilled seamstress, a wonderful cook and baker, and a renowned hostess. She loved to dance, and for many years she and Fred were pillars of the ballroom dance community in Halifax. Miranda was beloved by many due to her generosity, her caring nature, and her spirited personality. Her determination, drive, and energy were legendary.

Miranda was predeceased by her son Edmund Lee and her sister Julia Wong. She is survived by her husband Fred Chew Sen Lee, her sisters Helen Li (Chi Hang) and Shirley Wong, her brother Alan Wong (Vivian), her children Bonny (Bruce Brown), Susan (Mark Duggan), Cyndy (Ian Symons), Wayne, JJ (Jamie Ogden) and her grandchildren Ariana Lee-Brown, Esme Symons, Arlo Symons, and Mei Lee Ogden. Services will be held at Cruikshank's Funeral Home on March 1, 2022 at 1pm. Visitations will be on Monday February 28 from 5-8pm and Tuesday March 1 from 12-1pm. Please note that attendance is limited to 75 people due to Covid restrictions. The service will be streamed from the Cruikshank's Funeral Home website http://cruikshankhalifaxfuneralhome.com/.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Dance Nova Scotia at https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/dance-nova-scotia/ in memory of Miranda's love of dance.

Eulogy for Miranda Lee

JJ:

Today we are remembering, honoring and celebrating devoted wife and mother Miranda Chor Han Lee. She was a beautiful and determined spirit, accomplished in many areas of the domestic arts, intelligent, inventive and resourceful. Her energy was limitless. Miranda, with her husband Fred were valued members of the Chinese Society of Nova Scotia and pillars of the ballroom dance community in Halifax. Miranda was much loved for her boundless generosity, her caring nature, and her larger-than-life personality.

On December 1, 1932, Li Kwong Ying gave birth to a beautiful baby girl in Tai Hing, Hong Kong. The father, Wong Kam Hung was thrilled about his first born. They would name her Chor Han. She grew up in Hong Kong, the eldest of five: Helen, Alan, Shirley, and Julia. Four girls and one boy (like the children she would have in the future).

In 1941, the British Crown surrendered Hong Kong to the Imperial Japanese. The Wongs survived bombs together, they slept head to feet together, saved money in the movie theatre by buying one ticket and sitting in the same seat.

Miranda was a diligent student until her education ended in Grade 8 due to the Japanese occupation. Despite this, she wrote the entrance exam for nursing school and aced it.

She trained at Kwong Wah Hospital where she was given her English name by a young man who said he was reading Shakespeare. He told her there was a character in the Tempest named Miranda, who was a kind hearted and generous person and that she reminded him of her.

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Wayne:

When Miranda was working in the maternity ward, she met Linda and they became immediate and fast friends for life. One day, Linda said that her boyfriend had a cousin, Fred Lee, who lived in Canada and really wanted a ladyfriend “pen-pal”. Miranda said, “Sure, I’ll do it. I want to practice my English”. And so, every week, they exchanged letters in English and Chinese from Canada to Hong Kong. Dad sent pictures of himself in his car (whose door was actually held together with rope). Mum sent him pictures of herself in a bathing suit. Our father was very perceptive of Mum’s character through mail.

Dear Miranda, wrote Fred,

I have just received several letters and some photographs from you. They all make me happier in a sense that they tell me you are a very righteous girl……With an independent spirit……as well as a helpful attitude toward fellow human beings, especially members of your family.”

“Though I only know you for a short period of time, you seem to be my old friend. ”-Fred

Miranda graduated on June 24th, 1955 as a Registered Nurse and on August 7th, 1956 she joined the midwives board of Hong Kong. Fred proposed to Miranda. The immigration officer came in to assess my father’s living quarters above his father’s laundry and he said, “You need a wife.” On Friday, May 10, Fred arrived in Hong Kong to get married to the love of his life. On June 8, 1957 they married. This June would have been their 65th wedding anniversary.

The party crossed the ocean to Halifax in August 1957. Miranda and Fred moved to Victoria Road with Fred’s parents and they had their first child the following year, a boy named Edmund. Unfortunately, when he was eight, he was tragically killed by a bus while riding his bicycle to school. Despite this tragedy, Fred and Miranda would go on to raise five children.

Our mother’s final words spoke of how much she loved our father and how her children were all geniuses.

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Cyndy:

Our mother was selfless, caring, and generous. When she moved to Canada, she helped her mother, and Alan, Shirley and Julia come to Halifax. She tirelessly took care of her mother-in-law, and cooked buffet feasts and multiple desserts for parties, even for her own birthday. She was a surrogate mother to many, taking in students from China and treating them as her own.

She always made mountains of food. It was an expression of love. If she knew your favourite dishes, you were sure to see at least one of them on the table, and she would make sure you ate it. When she and Dad organized the Sunday dance group practices, she baked sweets to bring. If someone had an egg allergy or couldn’t eat gluten, she would make a Chinese treat with rice flour and sweet bean paste so no one was left out. She was happy when Wayne as a teenager hosted his D and D games in our basement, I think partly so she could get rid of a lot of leftovers.

She made wedding dresses for her daughters, prom gowns for her friends’ daughters, and all sorts of clothes for her grandchildren, often letting them choose the fabric and buttons themselves. Even at Melville Heights Retirement Home, she would crochet shawls and sew jackets as gifts for the other residents. Everyone she met felt how generous she was with her time and energy.

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Susan:

Miranda was also resourceful, inventive and practical. When confronted with a problem my mother would often say, “Why not?” If there was no knife, she would spread her peanut butter on bread with the back of a spoon, and say “Why not?” She loved to solve problems in unexpected ways: for example, her grandchild Mei had mittens that needed to be fixed but mum had no knitting needles in Toronto with her. So she took some disposable chopsticks, whittled them down with a knife and used them as knitting needles. She used dog clippers to cut Wayne's hair when home hair clippers were expensive and considered professional equipment. When she got older she found it difficult to manage the stairs to the basement laundry with a basket full of clothes. So she put the laundry in a large plastic bag, tied it up, and kicked it down the stairs! And then after the laundry was done, she would bring up a few pieces of clothing at a time each time she happened to visit the basement.

One of Miranda’s characteristics was her boundless energy. She prided herself on her ability to function on very little sleep and attributed it to her training as a nurse. You could always hear her doing something: the whirr of the egg beater, clanking of dishes, the hum of the sewing machine. She couldn’t just sit and do nothing. She would knit in waiting rooms and while watching TV. She was always there to help us, clean up our messes, drive us to lessons AND feed us. Besides the main meals there were cookies and cakes and pies and buns and Chinese pastries, all homemade by her.

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Bonny:

Mum loved to dance, and our parents also loved helping others with their dancing. They shared whatever they knew and would help their friends by going through steps with them over and over again. For many years they went regularly to their Sunday night dance group, which they had started up and where they had many friends. They attended as many ballroom dance events as they could. Mum would use her sewing skills to make beautiful, sparkly, flowy dresses for dancing. She loved watching all the old musicals with Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire. Dancing With The Stars was one of her favourite shows. She tried to catch every episode and even learned how to operate the DVR so she could record Dancing With the Stars to watch later.

To close, I’d like to quote words from both my father and my mother. My father said, “Miranda was the best in the world.” My mother said, “Don’t cry. I love you all so much.”

We hope you are dancing with the stars now, mum.

Acknowledgments

Thank you Pastor Anthony Miu of the Halifax Chinese Alliance Church, Cruikshank’s Funeral Home, Chinatown Restaurant, David Cheung for his assistance and support, Eric Yeung for the reception at May Garden, the Chinese Society of Nova Scotia, the QE II Cardiology Department, Melville Heights Retirement Home and our friends and family here today.