Wah Po Yip was my 92 year old Father, he was married to Kit Sum, my Mother for 58 years, had 3 adult children: Edward, Sandra and me: Cindy, a Grandfather to my nephew Matthew and my niece Elizabeth, an Uncle, a Friend to many and a Restauranteur. He and my Mom were known as Bob and Lisa at The Jade Leaf Restaurant and Grand Gardens in Delhi, Ontario and to my American relatives.
He was a hardworking Chinese immigrant who came to Canada in the mid 1950's and worked in many Chinese restaurants and different jobs to save money for his future. He would later marry my Mom a decade later in Hong Kong and start a family together back in Canada.
After retirement from the restaurant in the late 1980's, he was passionate about horse racing, the stock market, the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Blue Jays, the Raptors and his beloved garden. He was quite proud of his abundance of winter melons, tomatoes, beans, garlic, etc that he happily shared with others.
Our Father was a devoted, honest and kind hearted man. He made friends with other Chinese people when he came to Canada while working in the Chinese restaurants and throughout his life. He loved to joke around, had a good sense of humour and people remembered his smile and laughter. He had so much passion and energy especially with Christmas dinner until he couldn't in 2016. Even with the Pandemic, I still had visits with him. In the last 7 months, he got to have Christmas at home with family, a short hospital visit in February before moving to a nursing home for the last 3 months. He was a lucky man to be surrounded by family and wonderful staff who cared for him.
Goodbye Dad until we meet again