A tribute to my friend Irene Cheung

To be read at Irene's funeral

So sweet a rose, but oh so short,
through all the thorns, the pleasure brings.
Now all that’s left, that’s etched in time,
the memories, the happy things.
Harry Chua

I first knew Irene when she came to work in Singapore for my family’s business 10 years ago. She was my sister’s friend and church-mate from Vancouver B.C. and she helped us manage operations and marketing. Irene went back to Vancouver after about a year.

Because of the distances between Singapore and Vancouver, Irene and I communicated mostly through email and Instant Messaging. I am a person who keeps all my emails and messages, and as I searched through the messages, I came upon one of the first emails in 1998. Irene had asked me to write a reference letter for her immigration application to Canada.

Irene put in extraordinary effort in whatever she did. She worked in an accounting firm, and she was meticulous in her audits. One time, she asked me to send her special pens of many different colours from Singapore, so that she could mark up her audit notes in different colours for the different issues she found. She worked hard, going into the office at 5 am in the morning so that there would be fewer distractions. I’m sure her bosses loved her, delivering top quality work at great speed. She even asked for more work when she felt that she didn’t have enough to do, and even took work with her on her vacations. She was due for a promotion to manager.

Why did she work so hard? Two Saturdays ago, on Sept 30, she spent the afternoon with my wife Li Soon. Irene lived by herself in Vancouver, B.C., and while she had many good friends there, her family and closest loved ones were all over the world. Li Soon remembers Irene saying that she works hard to accumulate her overtime hours so that she can spend time with her loved ones. She traded in the hours to go to San Francisco to visit her sister, to Hong Kong to visit her mom and to Indonesia to visit her nanny. She treasured family relationships very much.
It was during one of these visits to Asia last year that she stopped and stayed with us in Singapore before we moved to San Francisco. We had a rare chance to spend some extended time with her.

Rebekah, one of Irene’s closest friends reminded me that it was in this past year that Irene had a chance to renew and reconnect with friends and family all over the world. Irene was planning to move to Asia soon, to be closer to her ageing mom who lived in Hong Kong. Therefore, she made sure to catch up with her friends in Vancouver. Having not seen Irene in person for many years, it was indeed God’s timing and grace that I was able to meet with her 5 times in less than a year in Singapore, Vancouver and San Francisco. I thank God for every opportunity He had provided.

Irene always thought of the people she loved. One time, I was in San Francisco for business and it happened to be Irene’s sister Eva’s birthday. Irene asked me to go to Tiffany’s to pick up a gift for Eva and to help her deliver it to Eva’s workplace. This year, when she knew that my family was going to Vancouver to visit my sister there, Irene ordered some medication online for her friend’s mom and asked us to bring it with us to Vancouver. Even when she was in San Francisco, she was helping her friend with her wedding invitation.

I don’t know why God puts different people in our lives. I am grateful that He allowed me the blessing to be a friend of Irene’s. As sad as I am to lose a friend so young, I am comforted and secure in the hope that because Irene loved the Lord Jesus Christ, I will one day see her again in heaven for eternity.

This next verse that was at the end of the first email Irene sent me in 1998.
It speaks to me more powerful today than ever and I would like to share it with you.

Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the Lord has been good to you.
For you, O Lord, have delivered my soul from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling,
that I may walk before the Lord in the land of the living
Psalms 116: 7-9