May Chu

1936 - 2017

May Yong Sun Chu (nee Mah) was born in the Toisan county of Guangdong province in China on May 9, 1936. May passed away peacefully in her sleep on Tuesday, June 6, 2017 at the age of 81. Beloved wife of the late Arthur Chen Shu Chu. May is loved and missed by her four children Ken (Gisele), Saskatoon SK; Henry (Eileen), Mississauga ON; Marilyn (Edward Tam), Vancouver BC; Bonnie (Sean Harmon), Vancouver BC; and her six grandchildren Dustin and Kaitlin (Ken), Christopher and Cynthia (Henry), Owen and Sarah (Marilyn); sisters and brothers-in-law Pearl (Glen Tang), Bing (Florence), George (Edel), Lily (Joe Chin), and many nieces and nephews and their children.

At the age of four when her mother passed away and due to her father being in Canada, for a time May and her brother and cousin Philip were cared for by an aunt on a farm in the China countryside; later by her elder brother and his wife in the city of Canton. In her young teenage years, sponsored by her father, she came to Canada to live with him in Nelson, BC and then in Creston, BC, where she married and moved to Big River, SK and then to Saskatoon.

May lived a joy-filled life and devoted her time to her children, family life, and extended family. Her life with Dad at the Rex Cafe in Big River holds fond memories for our family and extended family who lived and grew up there together. May lovingly supported and encouraged her children with their endeavours. After Art’s passing and in later years, surviving with strength and diligence May was successful in having two businesses of her own in Saskatoon. May enjoyed cooking, eating healthy, gardening, music listening, being a mother, and homemaker; in her later years, she continued to enjoy cooking, visiting and talking with her grandchildren, and taking walks while enjoying nature in the surroundings of her neighbourhoods. May was pre-deceased by her parents Mr. and Mrs. Len Mah, parents-in-law Ta-San and Yek Seen Chu, and her brother Dick Mah and his wife Chun Ngan Wong. Donations for flowers may be made to her family. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in May’s honour to the Canadian Red Cross International Disaster Relief Fund, a charity dear to her.