Introduction

My dear wife, Ya Ching Tan, passed away on Friday, the 12th of August, here in our adopted home city of Munich.

During the two months since she heard that her cancer had returned to the day she passed away, she displayed nothing but courage. After the seriousness of her condition became clear, she accepted her fate with great grace and left this world fully at peace, confident in the knowledge that would be reunited with all of us again. I was so touched by the depth of her love for all her friends that became so clear during these weeks.

She will be deeply missed by many.

The idea of this blog is to give her friends a chance to see some of the things people have written about her, as well as some pictures people have sent in, and, especially for those who weren’t able to attend the memorial service, so see something of that service.

By the way, her name is written Tan Ya Ching according to Chinese tradition, whereas in the West it tends to be written as Ya Ching Tan.


Very many thanks to all who contributed to this blog site, including especially Moira for the photos and Gwyn for the video from the memorial service.

Some Dates in Ya Ching's Life

1955             Born in Singapore

                     Primary, Secondary School, Junior College, Singapore

Always wanted to be first in class.

Had to change from schooling in Chinese to English at Junior College before University.

1974-1977     University of Singapore, Electrical & Electronic Engineering

The six ‘Engine Girls’ on the engineering course all kept in close touch ever afterwards.

1978             First job, Singapore Telecoms (SingTel)

Made a lasting friendship with a group of girl engineers, who would always go and eat together, food being a Singaporean’s main interest.

Met Siemens engineers and visited Munich when Siemens supplied a Singapore with a new telecoms system.

1984             Moved to New Jersey, USA to work with DGMS telecoms software house.

Enjoyed working hard and being recognised and rewarded for it.

Wrote up her own notebook on the SS7 technology and system, just for herself, which she protected and hid from others: she handed it over when she left the company and it became the company ‘Bible’ for the system.

 1992            Came to Munich with DGMS to act as a consultant at Siemens.

Made friends with work colleagues and international friends.

1993             Met Colin at events organised by the German English Association.

1994             Liked Munich so much she got a permanent job at Siemens.

1994 onwards   Colin and Ya Ching were a couple, living their lives in Munich and going on holidays together.

Mid 1999       Colin and Ya Ching’s Round-the-World trip, visiting their friends everywhere.

End 1999      Colin and Ya Ching bought their dream home flat in Munich together.

Working hard, she enjoyed her free time with Colin in Munich and the surrounding area, as well as holidays, such as to Italy and England, and home trips to visit her mother and friends in Singapore.

2005              Breast Cancer was discovered, and after treatment she had a year off work, helped by friends visiting from Singapore.

2006              Able to get back to work and enjoy life again, started jogging to keep well and fit, developed craft skills at home.       

Mid 2009       Pleased but sad to take a good early retirement offer when Nokia Siemens were restructuring. 

2009 onwards   In early retirement perfected her craft skills, designing and making delightful needle-felted animals and birds.
Continued enjoying her life with Colin and with friends, showing visitors her Munich.

Mid 2011       A trip home to Singapore, visiting her mother and all her friends.

After she returned to Munich she discovered her cancer had returned.

She then showed the depth of her love for all her friends, and displayed great courage and grace.
She and left this world fully at peace, confident in the knowledge that she would be reunited with all of us again.

Flickr Pages

You may also be interested in Ya Ching's Flickr pages, which show her various creations:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/deeplyfeltcreations/