Ms. Yuen Kuen Lee

Ms LEE Yuen Kuen, our mother, was born in Tai Shan, Guangdong, China on 13 May, 1940 and passed away in Burnaby Hospital on 14 September, 2022 at the age of 82.

Mom is an optimistic, cheerful, active and strong person. She loved to help others and took care of family.

Mom was the eldest in her family, taking care of her siblings. In school, she was very active and had made lots of friends. After finishing her high school, mom was accepted as a medical student in a Chinese University. However, because of financial and social instabilities, mom quitted her studies and moved to Hong Kong on her own in 1962. In Hong Kong, mom got married and had 3 children: Miu Ling (Maurine), Miu Yee (Polly), Chun Yan (Edmund). Despite tough living situations, mom worked very hard to meet our end needs. Never make any complaints. Mom took good care of us, making sure we all got education.

In 1996, mom immigrated to Vancouver, BC, Canada to help and support her daughter, Maurine. On her arrival, mom had a very active and happy life. She joined SUCCESS. Enjoy connecting with people, mom participated in many charitable events and attended different classes from which mom showed her talent in dancing, Chinese calligraphy, and different handcrafts. Mom excelled in crystal beads handcrafts and always made the Chinese zodiac animals pendants for her friends as presents. Also, mom met her old classmates, Uncle Yu and Uncle Ma here after decades.

In addition, mom had an opportunity to know God through her neighbor, Ms. Kam Woon and her friend, Grace. She started to attend church and bible studies. Around 2009, she accepted and invited God into her life. She made confirmation to be God’s child and join God’s family.

In 2015, she had liver and stomach cancers. Undergoing 2+ traumatic surgeries, she has been ill due to the surgical complications of infections and bile leak to tummy. As a result, she had numerous hospital admissions in the past 7 years. Despite all, mom chose to forgive and never blamed on anyone. In God’s grace, mom was so brave that she faced all these painful challenges without any complaints or tears. She did her best to continue to enjoy her life, including but not limited to attending her favorite weekly ‘dimsum’ gatherings with friends, shopping around and cooking.

Despite all the efforts taken, in this February, mom was diagnosis that she had cancer in her esophagus. In the past six month, every meal for her was a big struggle and battle. Mom had to take great effort to keep food down and eat very very slowly with very small portion of food. Mom loved food and she was hungry. However, she still always smiled because she was happy enough just to see her children eating.

On 10 September, mom was too sick and fetched to the Burnaby Hospital. Her condition was deteriorating and got into coma state soon. We have to thank you Pastor David Poon and his wife who rushed to the hospital and prayed for mom. Finally, mom rests in God’s peace on 14 September 3:40 am.

To her children, mom is always a cheerful, active, optimistic and decisive leader. With mom, everything is planned ahead and we don’t have to bother anything. The loss of our beloved mom is devastating to the family. Nonetheless, we are pleased to see mom is now no more pain, tears. She can go anywhere she wants and can eat whatever she likes. We believe we will meet again in the other world later. We miss you forever.

Written by

Maurine, Polly and Edmund

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.forestlawn-burnaby.com for the Lee family.