Mrs. Sharon Hsiang Liu

Our beloved mother was born in China on December 25, 1935, the youngest of 8 children. At the age of four, she was predeceased by both her parents and then lived with her aunts. At 13, she migrated to Taiwan with her brothers and sisters with whom she remained close throughout her life. From the age of 20, she was married to Richard Liu for 56 years until he passed way on December 3, 2011. At 21, they had their first child, Vivian, and two years later they had their second child, Winfred. After Winfred was born, Dad travelled to the United States for postgraduate studies for 4 years while Mom tended the family in Taiwan. When she was 27, Dad returned from the States and they had their third child, Donald.

In 1969, when she was 35, our family immigrated to Singapore for one year, then to Vancouver. Along with Dad, she worked hard to support the family. Mom operated cafés, and also worked for Ocean Fishery as a forelady where she was in charge of more than 100 cannery workers, many of whom were her good friends.

Mom was very much a people person. She understood people very well and got along with everybody. She deftly promoted harmony and unity among her children. She brought joy to everyone around her.

Mom had quite a memory for telephone numbers. She knew by heart the phone numbers of most of the 100 or so fellow cannery employees.

Mom was adept at learning languages and dialects. When she was in Taiwan, she spoke Mandarin and Ming Nan. When we all moved to Singapore, she was able to quickly pick up the local Chaw Cho dialect. Then when we moved to Vancouver, she started speaking English and Cantonese.

Mom loved winning prizes. Dad’s office had a program of awarding prizes to employees’ children who were the top three students in their classes, so Mom strongly encouraged us to study very hard, in particular to try to place in the top three. This just reflects a bit of her child-like persona, which is also one of the reasons why she is so dear to our hearts.

Even though Mom had been on dialysis for the past 12 years, she remained undaunted and very resilient. After extensive consultations with teams of doctors about Mom’s deteriorating conditions, we gently approached her about DNR (do not resuscitate). On this difficult matter, we asked Mom if she stopped breathing or her heart stopped whether the doctors should revive her. “Of course!” she replied without hesitation. That was her spirit.

As her health continued to deteriorate notwithstanding extensive treatments in the cardiac intensive care unit, she bravely and very calmly accepted it. She was able to say goodbye to friends and relatives in her final days.

We are eternally grateful and indebted to our parents for their sacrifices to bring the family to Canada. Mom was proud of her three children, her daughter being a medical doctor and her two sons being engineers. She always perked up talking about any of her four grandchildren, Clare, Adam, Curtis and Millie. She appreciated Greg, Vivian’s husband, for his kindness and unwavering support. She was beaming about Anne, Winfred’s wife, in establishing a new private school in Richmond. She loved Alice, Donald’s wife, for her thoughtfulness and her steady presence.

Mom has now fulfilled her biggest wish in the past year, to be reunited with Dad in heaven. She is also reuniting with her parents, brothers, sisters and friends.

Mom’s unique sense of humor, personality, strong spirit and wit left great impressions on everyone she met. She was a wonderful wife, mother and grandmother. Now, she is in a happier place, together with Dad, free of all pain and suffering, looking peacefully at us and smiling at her grandchildren.

She will always be with us.