Wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother, died peacefully in Toronto on March 2, 2020, surrounded by the love of her family. She was 90.
May was predeceased by her husband, Yuen Woon Chong, in 1999.
May is survived by her 4 children Wayne (wife: Shookie), Jane, Henry (wife: Patricia) and Terry (wife: Pamela), 4 grandchildren (Wayne & Shookie) Kevin, Elaine, (Terry & Pamela) Cassandra and Christopher and 4 great grandchildren (Kevin & Jennifer) Caleb, Carissa, (Elaine & Steve), Keira and Kiyan.
May Chui-Fa was born in Canton (now Guangdong) province of China on October 15, 1929. She made the long journey to Toronto to join her husband in 1953. Together they lived and worked in her in-law’s laundry. Around 1960, they purchased and moved to a home of their own. She enrolled to English language classes, now commonly known as ESL. To help with mortgage payments, they took on boarders/renters, and she did all the client interviews, cleaning and record keeping responsibilities.
Though work at home had long hours, she always found time to organize picnics to parks and the Toronto Centre Island. Family and friends benefited from her inquisitive nature of Canadian culture, because she unfailingly cooked incredibly moist, tender and delicious turkeys for Thanksgiving and Christmas!
May thought a great way to have control of one’s future was to have their own business. The first step was contracting for sewing jobs, in her own home. She became so proficient at sewing, it necessitated her to switch from a home to a commercial grade sewing machine. In 1968, their entrepreneurial work and saving enabled them to purchase a dry cleaning business. Ten years after running the business, they bought their own building nearby, and relocated. Throughout almost 30 years of operating that business, meant she spent a lot of time working and it’s a good thing the 2nd floor apartment was home.
A bit of a pioneer for her generation, in 1973 May got her driver’s license and car. This enabled May to have a lot more freedom to explore more on her own timetable. One of her favourite activities was family drives to apple farms and pick apples. On special occasions, the family also got to try out her experiments in making apple pies.
Retirement was a goal they finally achieved after the sale of their business in 1997. May loved to travel, and she got the time and opportunity to pursue after working 12-hour days for 6 days per week over many decades. May enjoyed cruises in Europe, Alaska and China in addition to vacations to see more of China, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand and Brazil with family and friends.
One of May’s favourite passions was gardening. She started with her container gardening of vegetables and flowers on the 2nd floor apartment without a backyard. When she retired she had a garden in the front yard and backyard, where she grew flowers and vegetables.
Some cherished memories from granddaughters Elaine and Cassandra include.
From Elaine:
(1) Going over to lunch every Sunday to enjoy her home cooked meals especially the steamed fish when she had the Dry Cleaner
(2) She makes the best gravy during the holidays
(3) Travelling with granny and being able to share a room with her during a European cruise
From Cassandra:
(1) Grandmom’s face was usually the first one I would see in the mornings... I would come downstairs and she would be sitting at the kitchen table reading the newspaper and we would eat breakfast together.
(2) In the summer, she would take me on walks in my stroller to visit my aunt Elizabeth and her mother who lived a few blocks away. Grandmom would chat away while I was content being fed cheetos and snack foods
Unfortunately, in January 2007 May Chi-Fa suffered a stroke and that brought about difficult challenges. Many therapies were tried and failed to correct the left side neglect affect that resulted in confinement to a wheelchair. In 2008, her new residence became Yee Hong Centre at 60 Scottfield Dr. We thank the Yee Hong teams for providing great care for May, during her 12 year stay.
In 2008, while at Yee Hong, May got baptised and became a Christian.
We would like to especially thank and recognise Jane's contribution, for being our tireless advocate for May.
Although her recent travels were extremely limited, she continued to see life using her typical pragmatic and resolute resolve. Throughout her long life, she remained very humble about her entrepreneurial accomplishments, ability to easily make many loyal friends, and her success in building a strong foundation for her family. Perhaps one of her last goals was to live to the age of 90, and if so, her determination was rewarded.
