Inviting our Teachers

As you may have read already from some of the comments, our friendly organizing team of Ben Wong, Bob  Chew and Robert Chin turned professional couriers yesterday, driving around Kuching to personally deliver the Grand Reunion invitations to some of our former teachers and special guests. Many thanks guys! Most impressed by your dedication and the personal touch.

Here's what the invitation card looks like ...

And here are our intrepid trio's various stops ...

Mr Clarence K M

Back in 1976, Mr Clarence was the Form 5 Science form teacher and he also taught us Additional Maths. Thanks to his excellent teaching, many of us can still differentiate and integrate with gusto (or am I being too hopeful here? Whatever it is, it certainly helped me when I was trying to coach my daughter on her maths homework!). Now aged 71 and fully retired, Mr Clarence looks hardly a day older than when he was our teacher. Definitely someone who holds the secret (or mathematical formula?) to anti-aging. Mr Clarence has two daughters and a son . The eldest two are living in Australia. So he spends his time between Australia and Sarawak, where he lives with his wife and youngest daughter at Lorong Poh Kwong, Kuching

Mr Lee Hock Kia

Mr. Lee started teaching Art at St Joe in 1974 and retired from teaching in 1992.  He was a popular and talented art teacher who taught for a total of 28 years. Initially he had taught at a Chinese school but was persuaded to join St. Joseph’s in 1974. I guess Bro Albinus & other teachers used all their charm and influence to bring him over to St Joe. And after he arrived, art classes were never the same again in St Joe. Now aged 74, he continues to pursue his passion for art in his own home at Jalan Foochow No 2, and he holds regular exhibitions in and around Kuching.

Mr Nicholas Jee

It's incredible! This bachelor teacher who taught us to appreciate the beauty of the English language through his Literature classes turns 60 next week. Mr Nicholas Jee retired in 2000 after a teaching career of 31 years at St Joe. When we met him on the street, he was as spritely as ever. He now lives at Pending Heights, Kuching.

Mr Augustine Ong

Mr Ong joined St. Joe in 1974 and left in 1984 to pursue law. He became a practicing lawyer and is now teamed with his nephew as a partner. In his teaching career, he taught English, Geography and Commerce, through which he has left an indelible mark on many of us. He lives at Tabuan Desa, Kuching.

Father Nicholas Ng

Father Ng also hits the Big 50 this year. How do we know? Because he was our classmate in Form 5 Science in 1976. Clearly he received his calling from above, and he was the only one in the class who spurned material things and became a Catholic priest . When we met him this morning , he was very busy, but still managed to squeeze a little time out to have a chat and at our request, even posed in his priestly robes in front of St Joseph’s Cathedral.

Bro Albinus

Bro Albinus is (we believe) the only La Salle brother remaining in Kuching, if not in Sarawak. It was good to see him in good health. Unfortunately he will not be able to join us for the Reunion as he will be out of the country.

There are still other teachers we are trying to get in touch with, and we'll update everyone on further progress later.

What a great job B B & R have done ! Three cheers for them and for our former teachers who have done so much for us. Hip, hip .....

Day 2 (13 Nov 2009)

This evening, Bob, Jensen and Robert delivered the invitation card to Mr Anthony Goh at his home.

Mr Anthony Goh, now aged 59, taught Woodwork, History, English and PE at St Joe from 1972 to 1977, before leaving for the Batu Lintang Training College. Now he teaches in Lodge School.

He was a popular PE master and a supreme commander in sports especially rugby and athletics. He reminisced that at one particular inter-school sports meet, St Joe was the Overall Champion for boys and girls even though we didn't even have girls representation.

Mr Goh lives with his wife and two children (already working) at Lorong Sg. Maong Baru, Kuching. His hobby these days? Fishing !


Another Day (16 Nov 2009)

The guys met up with Mr Kenneth Abbey to deliver the invitation.

Mr. Kenneth Abbey joined St. Joe as a teacher in 1969 and left in 1970 to teach in SMK Betong until 1973. He then returned to St. Joe. for another 2 years. He taught English, Geography, History and Bible Knowledge. Eventually he decided to quit teaching in 1975. He was a councillor in MBKS (twice) and Bau District Council. His last posting was as a member of the Public Service Commission. Mr. K Abbey, now aged 69, is now retired and staying with his wife at Lintang Park, Kuching. He has two grown up children working aboard.

Mr K Abbey jokingly remarked that he had once punished a student for not bringing his report card to class, by making him run around the field. He really wants to know WHO that student was ??

Another Day (14 Dec 2009)

Today Bob, George, Ben and Robert managed to meet up with Cikgu Bujang Hadi at Pizza Hut, Satok outlet for coffee and invited him to our Big 50 Reunion Party.
He is in top form and was very happy to see us. He confirmed he would come to the party. Hooray !

Here's a brief of Cikgu Bujang. He joined St Joe in 1970. He taught most of us Bahasa Melayu from Form 1 till Form 6. In January 1977, he left St. Joe to join Batu Lintang Training College. He then returned to St. Joe in 1994 and left again in 1996. From 1996 to 1997, he was the principal of SMK Petra Jaya. From 1998 to 1999, he was in the Divisional Education Office as head of service unit.

As we all know, Cikgu Bujang Hadi is keen sportman and enjoys football most (he's a fan of Mr. Pele, the Brazilian soccer superstar!)

Ciikgu Bujang, aged 65, is now retired, staying with his wife and blessed with 5 children (4 boys, 1 girl) and 5 grandchildren.