Agnes Ko Hin Kwun Choy

That was our mom’s favourite saying.

Of all the virtues our mom possessed, faith has always been her strength. She cultivated her relationship with God by attending daily mass for over 40 years and through constant prayer, not only for us but for all those who needed her prayers.

Agnes Ko Hin Kwun was born in Kwangchow, China in 1930 to Mr. Ko Cho Man. Her mother passed away when she was very young. The maternal love she missed out on during her childhood inspired her to devote her utmost attention to her three sons, Peter, George, and Michael.

Shortly after the Japanese invasion of China, her family took refuge in Hong Kong. Soon after, Hong Kong also fell into the hands of the Japanese. She lived for 3 years and 8 months under Japanese occupation. One of the stories she often told recounted the times when she would have to roller blade extremely long distances just to obtain basic groceries from the market to keep her family fed.

She attended Heep Yunn School, an all-girl middle school, but had to quit before graduation because of her family’s poor financial situation. She started work at Chung Wah Bookstore, a large publishing house in Hong Kong which was one of the official banknote printing companies. The exact nature of her work was not clear, but she told us she was involved with the quality control of banknote printing. Our mom had a way of keeping friends close; the friends she made during her time at Chung Wah lasted for decades after she left the company.

Our mom was introduced to the Catholic faith when she started privately tutoring the Li family. Her student, who was a member of Legion of Mary, somehow got her started in her journey of faith. Shortly afterward, she was baptized by Father Orlando in St. Teresa Church in Kowloon, Hong Kong.

Agnes met Paul Choy in 1953 through a matchmaker. It was definitely love at first sight, as they got married in St. Teresa Church within three months of meeting each other. The condition our mom set for our dad was that he must become a Catholic and raise their family in the Christian faith before saying “I do.”

Agnes gave birth to three boys in quick succession. She was capable of multitasking - working as a childcare supervisor and later, as a stock broker assistant while raising her three very energetic sons.

Agnes and Paul immigrated to Vancouver in 1982 to join their sons, Peter and George who had both immigrated to Canada by then. Their retirement brought them the joy of seeing all three of their sons got married and later, seeing the birth of their 5 grandchildren.

Agnes was predeceased by Paul in 1998. She continued to lead a very active and independent lifestyle, despite the loss of her partner. She was involved in Heep Yunn School alumni and played Mah Jong whenever she had the time.

She lived with Peter, her eldest son, and his family until two years ago when there were some issues with her independence. By God’s grace, she was accepted into The Columbus Residence. She continued to be active and independent in her first year at Columbus, so much so that she became a ‘challenge’ to the staff due to her steadfast dedication to cleanliness (including all the times she volunteered to empty the garbage bin...). We would like to sincerely thank the Columbus care staff for graciously handling her ‘interesting’ behavior.

Sadly, her health took a turn for the worst early last year and she was confined to a wheelchair for most of 2016. With the help of all of Columbus’ dedicated staff, she was surrounded by many who deeply cared for and loved her in the last few months of her life.

On the eve of January 21st, 2017, our mom passed away peacefully in her sleep, shortly after seeing her sons one last time earlier in the day.