Memorial Service: Part 2

Speeches by Relatives and Friends:

1. York Chor Tan, Brother    


My sister, Ya Ching, had lived an unusual life for a Singaporean, and she had very much lived it to the fullest.  Regrets she might have some, but I think not many.

Singapore was Home for half her life.  Singapore was where she was born, where she grew up, was educated, began working and made many worthy friends.  But she felt keenly the constraints of Singapore, notably the lack of space and certain strictures of mindless institutional bureaucracy.

New Jersey, with its outdoor space, and work challenges that highlighted Ya Ching’s software skills, then became her home for 8 years, from 1984.  Ya Ching made more friends there whom she treasured.

But all roads seemed to lead to Munich.  A major work project back in the early 1980s, to install a Siemens telephony system in Singapore, had already brought Ya Ching twice to Munich.  Sent by her company in New Jersey to be a consultant to Siemens in Munich, Siemens appreciated her skills so much that it asked to hire her directly.  Ya Ching agreed, having found Munich and Bavaria appealing.  She loved the beauty of nature and Bavaria had lots of wonderful scenery, of mountains, lakes, etc, to offer, with easy access from Munich -- itself a convenient liveable city with lots of good food. Munich became her third home, where, here again, she was to find many great friends, including Colin whom she married.

Ya Ching had marked us in many special ways, which we will personally remember forever, as she lives on in our hearts and minds, even as she moved on to her permanent Home.  My tribute to Ya Ching is a tribute to Friendship, to all her friends who helped make her life more happy and meaningful, and make each place where she had lived her Home in its time and space; to all her friends who stood by her, and several of whom came to help her, in her times of difficulties; and all her friends who are here today at this Memorial. 

I would now like, on behalf of a group of Singaporean friends who are not here today, to share their thoughts: I quote from a combined contribution from Yim Kew, Kuan Kuan, Siew Kheng, Ying Leong, Puay Hoon, Yong Khim and Bee Leng:

Most of us met Ya Ching in Singapore Telecom where she worked as an engineer in the Packet Switching Department together with Yim Kew.  Our highlight of each working day was our lunch gatherings, of which Ya Ching made so enjoyable with her witty jokes about our colleagues and bosses.  Ever the surprising woman, in one meal, she was capable of devouring seven bowls of rice porridge while the rest lagged behind at two bowls and Bee Leng a measly one!  Quite hard to believe given her size.  She was our “makan” food champion!

She was very humorous and always liked to make jokes.  Poor Yim Kew always got the most from her.  The office phone extension of Yim Kew’s husband, Larry was 214 and Ya Ching had coined 214 as his nickname, always using it to refer to him. She also drew funny cartoons to disturb Yim Kew during SingTel’s negotiation with Siemens as Yim Kew is a very tough negotiator.  In recent years, she had been developing this creative side of hers in the form of handicraft.  We were amazed at the results when she showed them to us.  Her small dolls and animals are lovely.
But she was not only creative but mischievous.  Both she and Yim Kew had a lot of fun when they worked together as they always shared the same mischievous thoughts. Yim Kew recalled that during the long meetings in Singtel with the big boss they liked to kick his shoes away as he always liked to take off his shoes during meetings. They would then rush out of the meeting room to laugh while he was busy groping for his shoes.                 

Ya Ching was also extremely caring and thoughtful.  Since she moved from Singapore to Munich, she was always an excellent host when any of us came to visit Colin and herself.  She would plan the sightseeing, shopping and dinners and took care of our every need. And even though she was so far from us, from time to time she would call us or email us to find out how were we, how were our parents, children, in-laws and our helpers at home whom she knew and even our pets.  Even when she was in hospital, she was concerned about whether her visitors had had their meals already. 

And whenever she returned to Singapore, we would always meet for lunch or dinner and it would be just like she had never left.  As it was then, we feel the same way now that she is with us and she will always stay in our thoughts. We will recall our happy times together with fondness, especially so during our “makan” food gatherings.
We all miss Ya Ching dearly. We are sure we will meet again one day and laugh like in the old times.
End of Quote.



2. Peter Bader, Work Colleague      
       
(In English below )

Abschied von Ya-Ching

Ich lernte Ya-Ching 1997 kennen, die damals in München bei Siemens an einem sehr großen Telekommunikations-Projekt mitarbeitete.  Es gehörte zu meiner Aufgabe,  die hintersten Winkel des Systems auszuleuchten. Häufig, wenn es richtig schwierig wurde, hörte ich von den Entwicklern: „Da muss ich mal Ya-Ching fragen…“.  

Vier Jahre später hatte ich den Auftrag, Mitarbeiter für eine neue Entwicklungsabteilung zu rekrutieren.  Nicht nur mir fiel sofort Ya-Ching ein. Ich hatte Glück, das alte Riesen-Projekt wurde gerade beendet und  sie kam sofort in mein völlig neu gegründetes Team.  So wurde ich ihr „Boss“, wie sie mich, durchaus mit ironischem Unterton, immer nannte. Wir wussten beide sehr bald, wer in ihrem Verantwortungsbereich das Sagen hatte.
Bald wurde sie verantwortlich für ein sehr zentrale Funktion unseres Produkts. Es war eine Aufgabenstellung, für die Ya-Ching sich begeistern konnte. Wenn Ya-Ching sich für etwas begeisterte, konnte sie Unglaubliches leisten. Wo andere (wie z.B. ich)  sich schrittweise mit viel Testen an eine Lösung heran kämpfen, war sie in der Lage, die Aufgabenstellung vollständig zu durchdenken und die Lösung  in wenigen Monaten in einem einzigen Zug fertigzustellen.

Ihr System war dann nicht nur kompromisslos in seinem Design, höchst verständlich und elegant programmiert;  es  lief auch auf Anhieb fast fehlerfrei.  Was für ein Maß an Analysefähigkeit, Konzentration und Imaginationskraft, aber auch was für ein Fleiß und Beharrungsvermögen. Ich habe nur sehr wenige Menschen mit ihren Fähigkeiten kennengelernt.
Ya-Chings große Willensstärke paarte sich mit einer ausgeprägten und  durchaus beneidenswerten Begabung, dafür zu sorgen, dass sie von Dingen verschont blieb, für die sie sich nicht so begeistern konnte.  Wer sie kannte, weiß, dass sie bestimmte Dinge eher selten tat.

Sie hasste es beispielsweise, Aufwandsabschätzungen abzugeben. Häufig, wenn ich danach fragte und sie das zu entwickelnde feature nicht gut fand, kam spontan: „three staff years“.  Ich bestand auf einer realistischeren Abschätzung  eine Woche später.  Als ich sie danach wieder fragte, sagte sie „Oh, I forgot to say… It is already implemented. Someone should test it!“.  Nicht selten hatte sie in einer solchen Woche 60-70 Stunden gearbeitet. Und natürlich lief der neue Code meist fehlerfrei.
Ich lernte bald, dass es am besten war, mit ihr nur die Machbarkeit  zu klären und machte die Aufwandsabschätzungen für ihr Subsystem selbst.

Nahm man Ya-Ching, wie sie war, konnte man unendlich viel von ihr bekommen.  Wenn es brannte , war auf ihre Hilfe absolut Verlass – und diese Hilfe war immer sehr effektiv. Bald lernte ich Ya-Ching sehr schätzen - nicht nur wegen ihrer Fähigkeiten und ihrer Verlässlichkeit , sondern auch wegen ihrer Wahrhaftigkeit und nicht zuletzt wegen ihres  ausgeprägten Humors,  skurril, oft sarkastisch und manchmal auch richtig bissig.
Als 2009 unser Firmen-Standort in München aufgelöst wurde, hatten wir die Aufgabe, das ganze Know-How unserer Fachabteilung zu völlig neuen, unerfahrenen Kollegen in Indien zu transferieren, diese zu bewirten und zu fördern. Weil die meisten von uns ohne berufliche Perspektive dastanden, fanden wir die Situation oft unerträglich. Klammheimlich genoss ich, wie sich Ya-Ching mit gewohnter Mischung aus bissigem Humor und ihrer „Vermeidungs-Begabung“ der Aufgabe entzog. Auch die neuen Kollegen begriffen bald, dass dagegen kein Kraut gewachsen war.

Ya-Ching war mir und manchem Kollegen in dieser Zeit teilweise existentieller Sorgen menschlich ein sehr großer Beistand gewesen.  Ich lernte eine weitere Seite an ihr kennen und schätzen.
Trotz Vorsprache an höchste Stelle  gelang es mir nicht, die Fortsetzung ihrer Arbeit zu erreichen, die sie so liebte. Das Karriere-Ende war ein sehr bitterer Moment für sie.  
Seit dieser Zeit hat meinen Kollegen und mir Ya-Ching oft gefehlt. Wenn es komplex wurde sagten wir oft „Das hätten wir Ya-Ching gefragt!“.
Nun werde ich Ya-Ching nicht nur als höchst geschätzte Kollegin und Mitarbeiterin, sondern auch als gescheiten, vielseitig interessierten, wahrhaftigen  und humorvollen Mensch vermissen.

Ya-Ching, Du gehörst zu den Leuten, die ich unbedingt wiedersehen will. Ich weiß nicht, ob das möglich sein wird. Aber wenn es so ist, wird meine Freude sehr groß sein.

English:

A Farewell to Ya Ching

I got to know Ya Ching in 1997 when she was working at Siemens in Munich on a very large telecommunications project. It was part of my task to peer into the darkest corners of the system. Often, when it was really difficult, I heard from the developers: "You’ll have to ask Ya Ching about that…".

Four years later I had the task of recruiting staff for a new development department. I was not the only one to straight away think of Ya Ching. I was lucky, the giant old project has just ended and she came into my newly established team straight away. So I became her "boss", as she always called me somewhat tongue in cheek. We both knew very soon who was in charge in their respective area.

Soon she was responsible for a very central feature of our product. It was a task which really inspired Ya Ching. If Ya Ching was keen on something, she could do incredible things. Where others (like me for example) would gradually approach a solution, doing a lot of testing, she was able to think through the complete task and produce a complete solution within a few months in a single step.

Her system was then not only a design without compromise, programmed understandably and highly elegantly, but it also ran almost flawlessly right away. What a degree of analytical ability, concentration and imagination, but also what diligence and perseverance. I've met very few people with her skills.

Ya Ching's great strength of will was coupled with a strong and quite enviable talent of ensuring that she was spared of things which she wasn’t so keen on. Those who knew her will know that certain things she did rather seldom.

She hated, for example, giving effort and cost estimates. Often, when I her asked her, and she didn’t like the new feature which was to be developed, she quickly answered "three man years". A week later I insisted on a realistic estimate. When I asked her again, she said "Oh, I forgot to say ... it is already implemented. Someone should test it! ". She had often worked 60-70 hours in such a week. And of course the new code was pretty much error-free!

I soon learned that it was best to ask her only about the feasibility, and to do the cost estimates for her subsystem myself.

If you accepted Ya Ching as she was, you could get an endless amount from her. When you were in a corner you could absolutely rely on her help - and this help was always very effective. Soon I learned to really appreciate Ya Ching - not only because of her abilities and her reliability, but also because of her honesty and, not least, because of her strong sense of humour, quirky, often sarcastic and sometimes rather caustic.

When our corporate site in Munich was closed in 2009, we had the task of transferring all the know-how of our department to completely new, inexperienced colleagues in India, as well as hosting and supporting them. Because most of us were now without any job prospects, we often found the situation unbearable. I secretly enjoyed it as Ya Ching, with her usual mixture of biting humour and her talent for avoiding tasks, managed to get out of it. The new colleagues too soon realized that they didn’t have a chance of getting anything from her.

Ya Ching was a great help to me and to many other colleagues in this time of deep worries. I learned to know and appreciate another side of her.

In spite of taking it to the highest level, I was not able to get agreement for the continuation of the work she so loved. The acceptance of the end of her career was a very bitter moment for her.

Since that time my colleagues and I have often missed Ya Ching. When things got difficult we have often said, "We would have asked Ya Ching!".

Now I will miss Ya Ching not only as a highly esteemed colleague, but also as a clever, versatile, multi-faceted, honest and humorous person.

Ya Ching, you're one of the people I really want to see again. I do not know if that will be possible. But if it is, my joy will be great.

3. Hartmut Schüler, Work Colleague          

I met Ya Ching because of the restructuring activities at Nokia Siemens just two and a half year ago. We found out very quickly that we are sharing the same view on many things inside and outside of our company.

We met therefore regularly and we developed plans for new activities.

We enjoyed coming together with our partners as well. 

When I told Ya Ching I was learning the Japanese language, Ya Ching said I was crazy - but she started to teach me Chinese Characters to help me. 

The other morning I went for a walk with my wife, Angelika, down the Isar valley. We saw some birds including a very special one not far away from our home. It was a Gimpel, or Bullfinch. I remember very well when Ya Ching and I talked about future joint activities and bird watching was one of the planned main activities - especially to show Ya Ching a bullfinch.... 

For me it was very important that she said to me when we met last time: I am in peace,
and she smiled to me when I left the room.

4. Yvonne Cockcroft, Friend              

A group of us women friends meet to knit, sew, cross-stitch and basically do handicrafts in each other’s company on a regular basis. At the same time we consume gallons of tea, and the occasional glass of wine, and chat about God and the world.

When Ya-Ching joined our handicraft and chat group in 2006, we’d already known her several years and were very pleased to gain a new member. Ya-Ching couldn’t knit at that time, but was persuaded to learn, and from somewhere she produced a ball of scratchy red wool and some old, bent, metal knitting needles, and month by month, struggling along with these odd implements, she slowly learned to knit. She enjoyed just being with the group, browsing through the knitting books and magazines, and joining in the conversations.

When Ya-Ching began to spend more time at home due to the restructuring within her company, she started to produce little dolls out of felt – tiny creations, made with precise and loving detail, each representing a flower, the daisy, the forget-me-not, the rose, the daffodil… We instantly fell in love with these little dolls and were very impressed at how Ya-Ching had succeeded in so carefully re-producing things of such natural beauty. This became ever more apparent over time as expertly crafted little birds, polar bears, pigs and so forth joined Ya-Ching’s collection.

It occurred to us that the tiny boxes, in which each character was carefully kept, looked as if they had been tailor-made. This is when we discovered that Ya-Ching had crafted the little boxes herself from scratch. They were perfect!

When other little dolls came on the scene, Peter Rabbit in particular, we got the biggest surprise: after fighting with that scratchy red wool and bent needles for so long, suddenly Ya-Ching had taught herself to knit like a pro, and was producing jackets and cardigans for her figures in such fine detail that we were totally agog. She was amazing.

We remember Ya-Ching for several different traits: she had a strong personality, but was quiet and calm and remained mostly in the background. She definitely hid her light under a bushel! Yet when she had anecdotes to tell us, she told them with such a wonderful sense of humour, and was sometimes prevented from articulating simply because she herself was laughing so much!

Ya-Ching was always happy to be among our children, asked frequently after them, and even babysat whenever she had the time. She gave our children gifts at birthdays and Christmastime, and in fact we’ve all admitted to having put those tiny felted Santas from last Christmas out of the reach of our kids for the time being, because we are afraid that they may become spoiled if not handled with due care.

It only remains to be said that we loved Ya-Ching, and were greatly saddened by her illness and her passing away. She will be sorely missed by this group. We feel very honoured that she enjoyed being a part of it, and she will always occupy a special place in our hearts.

5. Karina Lacey, Friend              

Tribute to Ya Ching

Today, is indeed a sad day as we say goodbye to Ya Ching. We will miss her very much.

But she will live on in our hearts and minds, where we will remember her as an extremely thoughtful person with her kind gestures and gifts, always generous and hospitable,
big-hearted, and someone who was very perceptive with, at times, a slightly wicked sense of humour that really made you laugh.

Eddie and I have known Ya Ching for some 11 or 12 years ever since we first met at a flea market selling our various unwanted belongings from the past. Since then, we have had many fun and entertaining times with Ya Ching and Colin, talking and laughing over a convivial good meal, playing games like Siedler or Boggle, and enjoying various excursions such as trips to the theatre and walks in the Bavarian countryside. We have also celebrated numerous birthdays, Christmases, New Years – including Chinese New Years – together with the two of them, either in their home or in our home, almost as a family. Perhaps most momentously, the last major event we celebrated together was during Ya Ching's final weeks when Ya Ching and Colin tied the knot and got married.

We have many happy memories of times spent with Ya Ching and will especially remember the joy on her face and how her eyes lit up the last New Year we spent together when a big, full and silvery moon lit up the snowy landscape casting splendidly crisp and memorable moon shadows across the snow-covered fields. She said it was a magical experience she would never forget.

We too will never forget Ya Ching.

She once very endearingly wrote in a card to us

"To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die"

Ya Ching has most definitely found a very special place in all of our hearts where she will live on. She has touched all of us in her own unique way and we will all cherish our very personal, fond memories of her.