Dear Gramp,

Thank you for dedicating your life to raising and caring for us.  You worked hard to make our lives better.  You taught us that the most important part of life was family.  You laid the foundations of a strong, loving, united family, which we cherish and will respect, in your honour.  

I will miss you tremendously: your warm smile, your gentle touch, your kind and wise words, and your caring nature.  Your warmth and giving nature were second to none.  You always put others' needs before your own.  Your unselfish ways were our blessings and an inspiration to follow.  

It hurts to know that I will not see you anymore, but I thank God for the many years He has shared you with us.  I hope you know that you are deeply loved and are deeply missed by all who knew you. 

Rest in Peace Gramp.  

You will live on forever in my heart, mind, and my soul.

Love Randy

To the Lee family,
Please accept our heartfelt sympathies and prayers.  Chow was a wonderful man and will be greatly missed by everyone.
Bernard & Anita

Bak Gung's passing came as a great shock to me. His warm smile and bright personality will be missed. His legacy does live on, though, amongst his many friends and family and he will always be remembered. Eternally beloved, he will live on in my heart forever

I am saddened by Gramp's passing.  I will fondly remember him with his arms wide open when I first arrived in Canada, and my first driving lessons with his car.  The kids will remember him as their 'Santa Claus' during their Christmas-time gatherings.  Our sincerest condolences to the Lee family.

April 11,2011

Our prayer are with you,the entire Lee 
family.We will missed grandpas warm smile
but will remain in our heart forever.

Grandpa Chow has obviously left a great legacy in the family that continues to share his love and warmth.  Our thoughts and prayers are with you all.

May the beautiful memories keep you strong.
Navjot, Tej and Jehnihal

My sincerest condolences to the family left behind by the late Mr. Chow Lee. May he always be remembered in their hearts and minds.

Ron,Celina,Nicholas,Jonathan and the Lee Family:
Sorry to hear of the passing of your dear Grampa Chow.
Our thoughts are with you.

Dave and Anne Sebben

Eulogy For Bak Gung by Nicholas Lee Apr 4, 2011

We are gathered here today, this 4th of April, not to mourn the passing, but to celebrate the wonderful life of my Bak Gung, Chow Lee. Bak Gung was a very special type of person: generous, kind, thoughtful, hard-working, happy; all traits that made him a great man to deal with, to talk to, to play with, to enjoy life with – which all of us here have done.
 
 I feel quite lucky to have known Bak Gung – his attitude towards life is an inspiration to all of us: we can all learn from the way he behaved and the way he treated others. He did not think a malicious thought, nor speak a cruel word about anybody: a beacon of light and purity in this world. 

 I’ve known Bak Gung and his kindness for my whole life – 14 ¼ years that I’ve been thoroughly blessed. When I was very young, Bak Gung used to come over to my house to take care of me – in later years I went over to YaYa’s house. But the point is I knew his compassion and care ever since that early age – going above and beyond for his very first great-grandson. And as the years went by and I got older, we still remained very close – we threw a tennis ball around in the living room, played mah jongg in the kitchen, did puzzles together, he taught me a bit of the Taishan dialect, I played piano for him – but the thing I will always remember about every visit to the house is that he was always smiling.
 
 My fondest memories with him were walking outside with him on those hot summer days in July. I was about 7 or 8 when I remember doing this – we would walk on the sidewalk on the east side of Ferndale Street, back and forth for 30 minutes to an hour. Only on those idyllic summer days too: the ones that make a lasting impression on your mind – the ones that you remember long into the future – the ones that you will always be proud to be a part of. When I think of Bak Gung, I remember these summer days, the pleasant heat, cool, refreshing breeze, but most of all, the wonderful companionship that I shared with Bak Gung during this times. I will always remember these days, as they are some of the finest of my entire life.

 When we think of Bak Gung, think about all the things he did: from his humble beginnings with the $500 head tax to gain entry to Canada (he did live long enough to see the Right Honourable Stephen Harper apologize to all of the Chinese who were forced to pay the head tax) to his move to Cobourg, Ontario; to the opening of Lee’s Laundry; to the birth of his children, grandchildren, and now great-grandchildren; and think about the fact that he had the pleasure of seeing the successes of his family, and the fact that he saw the 21st century – a feat that not many people his age achieved. Think about his contagious smile, his handshake; and Bak Gung will never be forgotten. We all have a special memory of Bak Gung – think of him in a happy place and know that, in heaven, Bak Gung is smiling over all of us. His spirit lives on in all of us; in all of our hearts. He leaves behind a powerful legacy, one that will live on forever.

Thank you.

Eulogy for Chow Lee, by Ronald Lee Apr 4 2011 



Welcome to the celebration of Chow Lee’s life and thank you for taking precious time from your busy schedules to be with us.  I have compiled some of my memories of my grandfather, along with some historical facts about this wonderful individual.



My Grandfather Chow, affectionately called “Gramp” by many, was born on July 26, 1914 in an area now known as Taishan and located in Guangdong Province.  People from this region of China were first attracted to N.A. by the gold rush and later by the construction of the transcontinental railways in Canada and the U.S.  Gramp arrived in Canada at Vancouver aboard the Empress of Russia on July 11, 1921 with his mother.



His childhood years were spent in Cobourg, ON.  Once I asked him what life was like for him.  He recalled that he was often late for school.  Personally, I don’t think I was ever late for school. Yet Gramp did not get detentions for his chronic tardiness.  Why ?  His daily duties included picking up laundry before school and delivering the clothes after school.  He performed his chores using a cart with steel wheels.



Gramp enjoyed playing hockey as a youngster.  He tied catalogues around his legs and used them as shin pads and borrowed sticks from his friends.  However, when we needed equipment, Gramp took us to the local sporting goods stores, Bolahoods and Sports Villa to buy our stuff.  It is very humbling how Gramp made the most of the situation he was given.



While Gramp is a very straight guy, he is likely the only person in our immediate family who has hitchhiked.  He used to catch a ride in the back of a truck to get to the train station in Port Hope.  From there, he would travel to Kingston or to Toronto for the weekend.  He lectured us not to do this.  I guess this is an example of “Do as I say, not as I do”.



As you know, Gramp and Granny have been married for 83 years.  In some of the photos, you can see that they still walked around holding hands.  This was a characteristic of how my grandparents displayed their love for each other.  They also seemed to have a way of communicating with each other without speaking.  You could see them nodding their heads yet no sounds were heard.  Granny was the dominant person in the relationship, the matriarch of the family.  Because of his congeniality, they lived in harmony but there were disagreements usually initiated by Granny.  Once I asked him why he never challenged her ?  His answer was “I would never hear the end of it”.  



Gramp used to transport us to school every day and drove some of our neigbours as well.  In the 60’s, it was a rarity to see kids being driven to school.  Today it’s a very common occurrence and called the Kiss and Ride.
 


I learned a lot from Gramp.  For example, we experimented w/ auto mechanics.  Together, we performed basic repairs such as the LOF, replace spark plugs, points and condenser, adjust engine timing  and practiced body shop repairs using fiberglass and resin.  Perhaps those activities led me to a career at GM.  The laundry was a building that did not have central heating nor did it have much insulation.  As a result, burst pipes were very common.  This is how I learned basic plumbing skills.



As we got older (maybe 5-6), we were introduced to a special Saturday breakfast sandwich.  It was his rendition of the Western.  It was cooked in a  20 lb cast iron frying pan.  He had a way to denature the egg just right.  Once Gramp filled our empty tummies, he headed to work.  Granny already headed to work at 5:30 am to get a head start on the day.  Last Saturday, I made this sandwich for my family.



On Saturdays, our family headed for the laundry to help out.  When our chores were done, we were given some money to purchase french fries from the Rose Bowl on Bond,  ice cream from Karn Drugs or perhaps a pepperoni pizza from Gino’s (Uncle Philip introduced us to this).  Then we would play with our cousins until it was time to go home.



Chow was the owner and operator of Lee’s Laundry for 51 years.  Some of his customers included Col. R.S. McLaughlin, GM and E.P. Taylor’s Windfield Farms.
 


As you may have seen from the various pictures, Gramp enjoyed his leisure time.  Some of his pastimes were vegetable gardening, fishing and playing Mah Jong.  I still remember our 1st excursion to Belleville with our cousins.  We came back with bushels of silver bass, sunfish and rock bass.  Later, we moved to the Bay of Quinte where we fished for sheepshead.  Gramp caught a 20 pounder after a long fight.
 


Gramp finally retired in 1989.  I wondered how he and Granny would react to this dramatic change in their lives.  While his days no longer started at 5:30 am and ended at 7:30 pm, he remained active by tending to the veggie garden.  In the Chinese culture, grandparents are often called upon to help raise the grandkids.  Gramp and Granny took this one step further.  On a daily basis, they travelled to our home to help raise Nicholas, their 1st great grandchild.  More recently, they were involved on a daily basis with Nick, Jon and Brandon since they would congregate at their home after school.  There was a mutual admiration.  The great grand kids brought tremendous joy into Gramps’ life and Gramp did the same for them.  They would play catch,  Mah Jong and take walks together.  Gramp especially enjoyed listening to the boys play the piano.  As soon as the practice started, Gramp would make his way to the living room.  While the boys sometimes expressed frustration with a difficult measure of music, he just sat there with his calming smile and exuded silent encouragement.



In 2006, PM Stephen Harper delivered a message of redress in the House of Commons for the head tax once applied to Chinese immigrants.  Gramp and his mother both paid $500 when the immigration papers were completed.  The tax was repealed in 1923 but replaced with the Exclusion Act.  Throughout the years, Gramp retained the head tax certificate yet he never showed this to us nor did he ever mention the tax.  Although it was a low time in history for Chinese people in Canada, he never expressed any anger or resentment.  Following the event, Gramp was mobbed by reporters who pressed their tape recorders and microphones in front of him.  We smiled from a distance.  Gramps was a celebrity.



Gramp left us on March 30th, 2011 after a long, courageous battle with pneumonia and other complications.  It was a long drawn out affair that I was not expecting.  Pneumonia is a common illness that modern medicine can combat.  A week of IV antibiotics and he would be as good as new.  However, during his 1st week on IV fluids, he experience a huge amount of muscle loss.  When he recovered from the pneumonia, he started with rehab to restore his mobility.  Doctors discovered that Gramp had dysphagia or swallowing problems.  They were concerned that this was the cause of his pneumonia.  They called this aspiration pneumonia.  He did contract it again and again.  The many bouts of antibiotics took their toll and Gramp developed diarrhea due to Clostridium Difficile.  In 2 instances, a bacterial infection entered his bloodstream causing sepsis.  As you may have seen from some of the photos, he remained positive during this sinusoidal battle.  He was a model patient who was adored by the medical staff.  Similarly, Gramp was very happy and grateful for the care that he received.  He always had a big smile for the staff, especially the nurses.  He only had 2 complaints.  He disliked the pasta primavera.  Complaint # 2 was revealed when I asked him how he was doing.  He simply said “Pain in the a**”.  



Gramp always donated to medical causes.  Sick Kids was one of the institutions that he supported.  I suppose he felt a huge sense of relief when Sick Kids was able to cure the problems that both Nicholas and Jonathan were born with.  Both were flown by air ambulance to Sick Kids from OGH.  As a result, we have asked that donations be given to Lakeridge Health Oshawa so that his legacy of caring can continue.  



We have provided some special items for Gramp’s journey to Heaven:
 


A Spalding baseball glove that Gramp  gave to Judy.



Jonathan gift to his Bak Gung is an official Rawlings MLB baseball.  This is not any ordinary ball.  This was one that he found last summer in the outfield bleachers on the 1st base side when touring Wrigley Field in Chicago.  I turned around to check on Jon but all of a sudden, he was no where to be seen.  Suddenly, he re-appeared holding the ball up high, as if he caught a fly ball to clinch the World Series.  Here is one fact that makes this gift even more special.  Wrigley Field is the oldest National League park and was built in 1914, the same year that Gramp was born.  



Gramp enjoyed his whiskey during special celebrations.  In the later years, Gramp’s whiskey buddy was my brother-in-law, Tom.  For this occasion, we have provided him with a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label.   Gramps handled alcohol well.  His face did not turn red after a drink.



Gramps’ Blanchard fishing rod with his Mitchell 300 reel.  The reel has now been completed cleaned and lubricated by myself and the boys.  It’s ready for his next trophy fish.



Because of his love for the game, Mah Jong, we have provided a tile with the Fat Choy symbol.  This symbol that we called, the “Green Monster”, represents good luck and can be loosely translated as “to strike it rich”.



A carved statuette of a Tiger from Celina.  Gramp was born in the year of the tiger. 



A picture drawn by Brandon.



In closing, I will remember Gramp because:

He was a person who embraced worked hard and believed 
that “Knowledge was the key to success”. 
 
He was a person who always thought the best of people. 
 
He was a person who was always happy and positive.b
He was a person who did not sweat the small stuff.

He was a person who believed, “It’s better to give than to receive”.


For all these reasons and numerous others, he will live on in my heart and thoughts forever, providing me with guidance, strength and inspiration.





Eulogy by Jonathan Lee Apr 4 2011
My great grandfather, my Bak-Gung was a great person. He was a man who did everything for everybody. He always wanted to know how we were doing in school. He always made sure that we were happy. Bak-Gung always wanted to play ball with us or play mah-jong with us. He was always excited to see what we have from the trip fishing.
 Bak-Gung was also a great angler. One who has more skill than me times one million. He could catch a fish who could pull the average person into the lake. He told me stories of some fish called sheepheads which are both great fighters and quite big. Bak-Gung never expected me to catch a sheephead, any fish that I brought home, from perch to bass was a trophy in his eyes. I remember coming to see bak gung at 9 o’clock to show off prizes of the day’s fishing. We were in  his room, and we simply pulled the fish from the bucket so he saw everything. Sure enough he told us how good of a job we did.
Afternoon games of Mah-jong were the best ways to pass summer afternoons. It was nowhere close to as nice as the days on the lake or rounds of golf. It was all about spending time with my great grand parents and grandparents. We would always joke around and say who got “skunked” but in a joking manner. Bak-Gung could lose all of the games, but he always had a big smile on his face. Bak-Gung could be in the middle of a nap when we woke him up for mah-jong he would never fall asleep in a game.
To my Bak-Gung, music made the world go around. Even though he did not prefer walking, he would walk from the family room to the living room to listen to our music mistakes or not. Bak-Gung had even tried to learn piano. He even learned how to play a musical scale. He would come and sit on the piano bench to listen to vour musical stylings, good or not.
To Bak-Gung, there was nothing like family and friends. Anytime a person was at the house or the hospital, his face had a big smile on it. Most of you that are here today had met my Bak-Gung. You are the people that he loved the most. Bak-Gung spent four months in the hospital to fight any viruses he had or developed just to come home and be with all of us. We were the reason for his fight, especially the one person he loved the most Bak Bak who is my grand mother, and the soulmate of this wonderful man whose life we have come to celebrate.
Bak-Gung, I want you to know that I love you.

Our deepest condolences for your loss but be comforted by the memories you treasure and share.  Even though I only met Chow Lee a handful of times, he was always smiling especially when around children. I will forever treasure that memory as well.

Cathy, Justin, Audrey & Stella Barry

To grampa we will missed your big smile and kindness.You are such a good man and you are like our father too.We will missed you.May you rest in peace.
                       Felisa & Yian Guang

To my dear Uncle Chow:
Your sweet smile, your twinkling eyes, your kind and gentle soul are just a few things I will miss.  Your legacy of all things good will be carried on by your children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  You made a difference and for that everyone is a better person for it.  Thank you for being my uncle, I am honoured and blessed.  Forever in my heart.

Dearest Grampa,

I am so blessed to have such a caring, loving and supportive grandfather.  I thank you for your words of wisdom, for your guidance and for your unconditional love. 

It's very difficult to express in words how much I miss you!!  You will live forever in my thoughts and in my heart.

Love you Grampa!
Vicki

Ron and family. I just received the message from Sue today.  Please accept myself and Bob's condolences for the loss of your grandfather.

Joan & Bob Ellis

Dearest Gramps,
I am so fortunate and blessed to have had you in my life.  You are my guiding light.  You taught me what was right and wrong and to always be a good person.  I'm going to really miss you, your smile and generous heart but I know that you will always be watching over all of us from up above.
Love you always Gramps!
Judy
xoxo

You once were a child,
As old as me.
You are a survivor,
An entrepeneur,
A caregiver.
You are a father,
A grandfather,
A great-grandfather.
You are the foundation to,
The building that is me.
Without you, I would have fallen.
Most importantly, 
You are my Great-Grandfather,
And I love you greatly.

Love great-grandson Jonathan

Bak Gung. I have known you for 11 years,9 months, and 25 days. they are the best days of my life because you were there to spend them with me. My promise to you is that I will be happy, I will work hard, and of course I will try hard to catch a sheepshead too. I am one of the luckiest people on earth because I got to be with you and learn from you.
I will love you always and I won't forget you,
 Great-Grandson Jonathan (Mike)

Gramp.  You were simply an amazing person who provided me with the guidance to become a decent human being.  
Your love for Celina, Nicholas and Jonathan will glow in their hearts and mine forever.  
I am so fortunate to have had the chance to spend so much of my life with you.  I learned a lot by just being around you.
You will always be missed, but I will persevere because I must continue your legacy.
Love you forever,
Grandson Ron

Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. May your heart be filled with warmest memories as you clebrate a life well lived.

I will always remember Uncle Chow as a very kind and gentle person with a large welcoming smile. I remember feeling shy as a young child at large family gatherings, but Uncle Chow would always make me feel welcome and special by coming to talk to me and sometimes offering an ice cream treat. His love for the family was always evident and I know that he will be greatly missed, but remembered with wonderful memories.  Our thoughts and prayers are with the family.
Susan, Paul, Alex and Michael

To My Dearest Grampa!
I did not have the fortune of knowing either of my grampa's as they had both passed away at a very young age, prior to my birth.  You and granny welcomed me into your family with open arms.  You have been everything that I could have hoped to have in a grampa and then some...  It has been a privilege knowing you.  Your warm & generous heart, calming presence & loving personality are a few of the special traits that made you a lovable teddy bear that we miss dearly.  I would like to thank you for looking after us and our kids, and for all the special times that we shared together.  These are memories that we will treasure and that will help us make it through our days.  Enjoy your new life, keep smiling, watch over us and we will see you in the future my grampa.  Hopefully my "cow will have climbed the tree" when I see you  again!! 
Love you forever gramps,
Celina

Ron & Family:  My heart felt condolences to you and your family for the passing of your beloved Grandpa.... my prayers are with you.  ~ Aurora ~ from GM.

To the entire Lee family, 
We are so sorry for the loss of such a kind and warm person as Gramps. We will miss him and his smile but remember him very fondly. Love and prayers to you all, and especially Granny.
Arlene, Craig, Laura and Ryan.

Sorry to hear of Chow's passing.
He was a good friend to our family.Since George & I are out of the country we will not be able to attend the visitation, but we will certainly be thinking of all of you

Sally Vail

AVIS DE DÉCÈS

Mr Chow Gramps, Yaya, Bak Gung Lee

26 juillet 1914 – 30 mars 2011

Oshawa Funeral Home

Montrez votre soutien

Envoyez Vos
Condoléances

Partager
L'avis De Décès

Obtenir les mises à jour

Prestations de Service