William Ming-Zan Ma

馬明仁於1928年在中國南京市出生，是家中的長子。1949年畢業於廣州市培英中學(協社）。之後隨父母遷移至香港定居。初時在澳門任職金融買賣，同時進修紡織工程，並曾在香港理工學院任教。1953年加入大南紗厰工作，因而認識太太李少蘭。後來先後在南海紗厰及遠東紗厰工作，並晉升至廠長。之後碰上機會，因而開始做出入口生意。四十二歲那年，他接納菲律賓首都銀行邀請，担任做其香港代表。

1983年馬明仁決定半退休，並移民到加拿大。他和太太先帶同小兒小女定居在Burnaby，然後安排母親從香港搬來一起同住，安享晚年。馬老太和馬明仁夫婦從1985年開始已是本拿比宣道會教友。移民後馬明仁夫婦喜歡駕車去西雅圖探望二女兒一家，小住幾天。平時每星期兩次去高貴林大女兒家，教外孫詩敏和志偉學習中文。後來他亦有担任潮洲會館會董，培英校友會幹事，和在麗晶廣場二樓的中信中心做義工，生活過得十分充實。

近年，由於精神和體力隨著年紀衰退，他的社交活動減少，出門次數也減少，但健康仍是不錯。直到一年前，皮膚出現紅斑，又兩次因肺炎急送入院，身體狀況衰退很快; 同時，dementia「腦退化症」情況亦逐漸嚴重。今年四月中，他開始入住長期護理中心。太太和兒女每天都陪伴他。他最喜歡的，是坐著輪椅到護理中心對面的公園，欣賞公園內的池塘，看樹看花看魚看小龜，他曾在那處閉目時説，自己已經沒有未做完的事。

十月二十三日星期日的凌晨，在兒子光浩陪伴在床邊時，他安然去世，離開了結婚六十八年的太太少蘭；兒女安妮，玲娜，光恩，光浩和慧娟；孫兒女詩敏，志偉，美華，志華，普韻，普祈和普頌；曾孫兒女嘉麗，美瑤，子龍，麗雅和麗欣。

William (Ming-Zan) Ma passed away peacefully in the morning of October 23 with his son Anthony by his side at AgeCare Royal City Manor. He is survived by his wife of 68 years. Together, they have 5 children, Anne, Mariana, Andrew, Anthony and Sophia; 7 grandchildren, Jasmine, Jeremy, Vivian, Eric, Kristen, Rachel and Joshua; 5 great-grandchildren, Scarlett, Maëlle, Maxwell, Natalia and Elle.

William was born on July 5, 1928 in Nanking, China. He graduated from Pui Ying School in 1949. After the war, he followed his parents to Hong Kong. His first job was in the buy/sell market of gold in Macau. He used his spare time to study textile engineering, then started his career in the textile industry at Nam Hoi Textile Co. where he met his wife Sui Lan. He also started his own trading business. After spending 12 years in the textile industries, at the age of 42, he accepted a challenge to work in the banking business as a Hong Kong representative of one of the renowned Philippines banks.

In 1983, he sold almost everything and moved to Canada with his wife, his younger children Anthony and Sophia. After they settled in Burnaby, he received his mother Hon La from Hong Kong to Canada. She lived with him and his wife for 17 years. The family has been members of the Burnaby Alliance Church since 1985. For almost 20 years, William actively participated in a few organizations, namely Pui Ying Alumni Association, Chui Chow Benevolent Association of BC, Canada and CCM (Chinese Christian Mission) at the Crystal Mall (Burnaby) office.

William enjoyed driving to visit his daughter Mariana in Seattle. He also drove to his daughter Anne in Coquitlam once or twice a week to teach his grandkids Jasmine and Jeremy Chinese characters. He was reasonably healthy until a year ago. He was hospitalized twice in four months for pneumonia. And his own immune system started attacking his skin. His health deteriorated very quickly. He talked less. He was sad that he couldn’t live with his wife anymore. His dementia got worse. He started to live in his own world. His wife and his daughters and son spent time with him at the nursing home every day. His favourite place was by the little pond at Glenbrook Park across from the nursing home. He sat quietly in the sun in his wheelchair. Sometimes he greeted little dogs that went by him or people who stopped and talked. He loved looking at the flowers, the fish and tortoises. In his last days, he found peace and he knew he was blessed with a long good life.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.OceanViewFuneral.com for the Ma family.