Jing Yu Zhou

母亲是7年以前搬进LakeView养老院的。那时她95岁。平时她花时间最多的是扶着助步器在走廊上来回行走。教会的朋友会带她出去聚会和传道， 让她感到自己仍然有能力给社会做出贡献。每次出门之前她都要仔细阅读圣经和教会杂志，如年轻时开会发言一样做好准备。有几次养老院打电话来说她摔倒了或生病了，然后又告诉我她恢复得不错。记得是7月，养老院的电话说她用助步器有些困难，他们在为她准备轮椅。那时她还是自己起床穿衣，自己上厕所，自己去餐厅，自己上床脱衣睡觉。这次她没有能挺过来让我们感到非常突兀。

母亲出生在1922年6月。那时的中国正是战乱时期。我的外祖父是学英文的，在美孚石油公司当翻译。外祖母年轻时是小学教师，她的两位妹妹，我的姨婆，也是小学教师，其中一位还成了我的启蒙老师。母亲是外祖父母的长女，从出生时起就体弱多病。她下面有一个弟弟和三个妹妹。母亲十几岁时日本人沿着长江打过来，外祖母带着五个孩子撤往重庆，住在外祖父的朋友李爷爷家里。外祖父一人留在武汉苦撑，支持一家人的生活和孩子们的学业，同时瞻养他的父母。在重庆我的母亲除了上学还要帮助外祖母照顾她的弟妹，我的舅舅和姨妈们。在日本飞机空袭时母亲要组织他们躲进防空洞，空袭以后要回家清理住宅。我年幼时经常听到外祖母和母亲讲述当时重庆街上的混乱场景。1944年母亲毕业于中央大学化学工程系。舅舅1946年毕业于中央大学机械工程系，1948年去美国留学。我的几位姨妈也先后大学毕业。

中国的内战在我出生之前分离了我的母亲和父亲，以后他们再也没有见过面。我是跟着外祖父，外祖母， 和母亲在武汉长大的。母亲自50年代开始在武汉材料保护研究所担任工程师直到90年代退休，参入了防锈手册等著作的编汇和章节的写作，名列中华人民共和国科研名人录。母亲工作的一个内容是翻译国外的金属材料保护文献，因此她除了大学里学的英语外还学习了俄语和日语。她55岁那年开始学习德语，一年后便能对着字典翻译德文文献。母亲唱歌的水平很高。我的一点乐理知识就是从母亲那里学来的。她的手书很漂亮，100多岁时写的一张字条上的字体依然苍劲有力。母亲工作非常努力。她的实验工作需要彻夜值班时她总是安排自己在星期六晚上，用星期日的上午睡觉；将其他人安排在周日晚上，以便他们能利用第二天工作日休息。她的专业能力让她在金属材料保护领域得到相当的尊重。在研究所里威望也很高，培养出许多年轻的工程师。

50年代到70年代无休止的政治运动给我们家带来巨大的冲击。母亲形容当时的心情是上班时不知道今天会看到什么侮辱她的标语，下班时不知道今天会不会又被抄家。我们从自己原来宽敞明亮的住宅中被赶到一间阴暗潮湿的房间里，我们一次又一次地失去亲人。母亲没有眼泪，没有愤怒，隐藏着屈辱，在自己越来越困难的路上努力站稳，还向他人伸出支援之手。我三姨妈去世时三姨父也在受冲击，母亲让他们的孩子们在我们家住了许多年，直到三姨父的情况好转。那时候瘦弱的母亲一人撑起几个家庭，尽力在家人和亲友面前保持乐观，冷静地处理一个接着一个的打击。现在看着我的妻子在一个正常的现代环境里操持一个家都那么辛苦，我就能想象母亲当年有多么艰难。

70年代后期局势发生了很大变化。母亲的工作开始得到了肯定，她的尊严开始受到尊重。舅舅1979年回中国探望，母亲和亲友们的互访也频繁起来。这些交往给母亲带来很大的快乐。当年在重庆李爷爷照顾了我们一家，母亲情况好转后接济了李爷爷的女儿多年。李爷爷的孙子和我们现在也是好朋友。母亲对同事，对亲友，对邻居，对朋友都非常谦虚，友好，尊重，并乐于助人。母亲的知识兴趣广泛，对新事物和他人的意见都持开放的心态。我们好多次听到她周围的人告诉我们，他们都喜欢她。我的舅舅和两位姨妈一直对我也非常好。在几个关键时刻都是他们的指教

让我抓住了重要的机遇。现在我们和表弟表妹，表舅表姨们的密切关系都是从外祖母和母亲那里继承来的。

1991年我母亲来到加拿大，那年她69岁。当时虽然她的英语阅读能力很强，口语却并不熟练。在那个年纪她仍然对所有的事物感到兴趣。她很快交上了几位加拿大朋友。一段时间后她的英语就和说中文一样流畅了。母亲选择了基督教，参加了耶和华见证会，Jehovah Witness。宗教驱除了她的烦恼，给了她平静的心情。我在1997年到美国工作。为给儿子进入顶尖大学创造机会，2000年我的妻子和儿子搬到美国。母亲决定留在加拿大。在那以后的24年中母亲成功地做过两次白内障手术和三次乳腺癌手术。她的教会朋友给了她许多直接的帮助，也给了她很大的精神安慰。2017年母亲在她的老年公寓走廊上摔了一跤， 她的公寓管理员马上叫了救护车将她送进医院。出院时加拿大政府派了一位老年个案经理跟随母亲回家，发现母亲已经到了需要进入养老院的阶段。三星期后母亲就搬进了离她原来住所不远的养老院里的一个单人间。那里有中餐可以选择。她的所有身份证和支票簿都交由她的教会牧师李先生代管。以后李先生和其他教友经常去看望她并带她参加各种活动。这么多年母亲很少感到孤独。

在母亲的102年又66天中，她的前半生经历了深深的苦难。她不断地奋斗，在坎坷的路上负重前行，并在逆境中为亲人争取一个可能的保护。她见证过人性中的卑鄙，也见证过人性中的美好。她的后半生受到了命运真正的眷顾，在一个充满着爱的世界上度过。将母亲带到加拿大是我们做的最正确的一件事。

我们深深地感谢帮助过母亲的每一个人，她的研究所，她的领导，她的同事及同事的后代，和她的朋友。他们给了她发挥才干的机会，并一直关心和帮助着她。我们深深地感谢她的公寓管理员，她的个案经理，她的养老院工作人员，她的教友们，我们的亲戚，我们的同学，我们的邻居，和我们的朋友，他们在母亲生活的重要节点上，在我们最需要的时刻向我们伸出过手。我们也要感谢我们的孩子们，他们在各个方面继承了我母亲的基因，继承了我母亲的性格和才干，给她带来了许多快乐。我尤其要感谢我的妻子舒泠，她默默地维持了我们这个家的正常运转，她的专业知识让她有能力注意到我母亲需要的各个细节并且留心不同的解决方案。我们深深地感谢加拿大，在这个友善的国家我母亲愉快地度过了33年。现在母亲回到了她崇敬的主那里，他一直在恩惠着她。

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On August 24, 2024, my mother's nursing home, LakeView Long Term Care Facility, called that my mother was sent to Vancouver General Hospital at 5 pm because of vomiting. A doctor there called at 11:50 pm in that night that mother had passed away, without any suffering.

My mother moved into LakeView Facility 7 years ago, when she was 95. There she usually spent most of her time walking along the hallway with a walker back and forth. Friends in her church often took her out for meetings and preaching, making her feel that she was still able to contribute to the society. Every time before going out, she would read the Bible and church magazines carefully, like before speaking at a meeting in her young age. Several times the Facility called us that she had a fall or was sick, and then told me that she had recovered well. I remember it was in July, the Facility called that she had difficulty using the walker, and they were preparing a wheelchair for her. At that time, she was still able to get up and dress by herself, to go to the washroom by herself, to walk to the dining room by herself, and to go to bed and undress by herself. We felt very abrupt that she didn't make it this time.

Mother was born in June 1922, when China was in a chaos of wars. My grandfather was very good in English. He worked as a translator for Mobil Oil Company. My grandmother was an elementary school teacher when she was young. Her two sisters, my great aunts, were also elementary school teachers, one of whom later became my enlightenment teacher. Mother was the eldest daughter of my grandparents and was weak and sickly since birth. She was followed by a younger brother and three

younger sisters. When my mother was a teenager, Japanese attacked the City along the Yangtze River. Grandmother took the five children and evacuated to Chongqing, living in the home of Grandpa Li, Grandfather's friend. Grandfather stayed in Wuhan alone to support the family's life and the children's studies, and at the same time to take care of his parents. In Chongqing, Mother not only went to school but also helped Grandmother in taking care of her younger siblings, my uncles and aunts. When Japanese planes raided, Mother needed to organize them to hide in air-raid shelters, and after the raids she needed to go home to clean up the house. When I was young, I often heard Grandmother and Mother talk about the chaotic scenes on the streets of Chongqing at that time. In 1944, Mother graduated from the Department of Chemical Engineering of Central University. Uncle graduated from the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the same University in 1946 and went to the United States to study in 1948. The other aunts also graduated from universities later.

The Chinese Civil War separated my mother and father before I was born, then they never met again. I grew up in Wuhan with my grandfather, grandmother, and mother. My mother worked as an engineer at the Wuhan Institute of Material Protection from the 1950s until she retired in the 1990s. She participated in the compilation and chapter writing of books including the Anti-Rust Manual, and was listed in the People's Republic of China Scientific Research Celebrity Directory. One of tasks of Mother was to translate metal material protection literature from foreign languages, so she learned Russian and Japanese in addition to English, which she learned in Central University. She started learning German at the age of 55. A year later she was able to translate German literature with the help a dictionary. Mother was a very good singer. My limited knowledge in music theory was from her. Mother‘s calligraphy was beautiful. The characters on a note she wrote when she was over 100 years old was still vigorous and forceful.

Mother was a hard worker. When her experiment needed an all-night shifts, she always arranged herself to work in the Saturday night and took the only weekend Sunday to sleep; she let others to work on weekday nights so that they could use the next working day to take rest. Her professional capability was well respected in the society of metal material protection. She also had a high prestige in the institute and trained many young engineers.

The endless political movements from the 1950s to the 1970s brought a huge impact to our family. Mother described her mood at that time as not knowing what insulting slogans she would see when she went to work, and not knowing whether her house would be searched again when she got off work. We were driven from our spacious and bright home to a dark and damp room, lost family member one after another. Mother had no tears, no anger, hiding her humiliation, trying to stand firm on her increasingly difficult road, and also extending a helping hand to others. When my third aunt passed away, her husband was also being politically impacted. Mother let his children live in our home for many years until his condition got better. Over years, Mother held several families with her narrow shoulder, tried her best to remain optimistic in front of her family and relatives, and calmly dealt with one blow following another. When I am looking at my wife who is working so hard to run our family in a normal modern environment, I can imagine what the hardship was on Mother back then.

The situation changed a lot in the late 1970s. Mother's work began to be recognized and her dignity began to be respected. My uncle visit China in 1979, and the visitations between Mother and relatives became more frequent. These interactions brought great joy to Mother. Grandpa Li took care of our family in Chongqing in the war time. After Mother's condition got better, she helped Grandpa Li's daughter for many years. Grandpa Li's grandson and we are also good friends. Mother was very humble, friendly, respectful and helpful to colleagues, relatives, neighbors and friends. She had a wide range of knowledge and interests, and was open to new things and other people's opinions. We have heard people around her told us many times that they like her. My uncle and two aunts had always been very

good to me also. It was their guidance at several critical moments that allowed me to seize important opportunities. Now our close relationships with my cousins, uncles and aunts are inherited from Grandmother and Mother.

Mother came to Canada in 1991, when she was 69 years old. Although she had a strong ability in reading English at that time, she was not proficient in speaking English. At that age, she was still interested in everything. She quickly made several Canadian friends. Not too long later her English was as fluent as her Chinese. Mother chose Christianity and joined the Jehovah Witnesses. Religion drove away her worries and gave her peace of mind. In 1997 I changed job to United States. In 2000, my wife and son moved to US, for my son to obtain better opportunities to enter a top university. Mother decided to stay in Canada. Over the 24 years since then, Mother successfully underwent two cataract surgeries and three breast cancer surgeries. Her church friends have given her a lot of direct help and great spiritual support. In 2017, Mother fell in the hallway in her senior apartment. Her apartment manager immediately called an ambulance to take her to a hospital. When she was discharged, the Canadian government sent a geriatric case manager to follow her home, and found that Mother had reached the stage where she needed to enter a nursing home. Three weeks later, Mother moved into a single room in a facility not far from her original residence. There Chinese meals were available. All her ID cards and checkbooks were handed over to her church pastor, Mr. Lee, for custody. Later, Mr. Lee and other church members visited her often and took her to various activities. Mother rarely felt lonely over these years.

In Mother's 102 years and 66 days, she experienced big suffering in the first half of her life. She kept struggling, carrying heavy burdens on the bumpy road, and fighting for any possible protection for her loved ones in adversity. She witnessed the meanness of human nature, and also witnessed the beauty. Her second half of life was truly blessed by fate and spent in a world full of love. Bringing Mother to Canada was the best thing we have ever done.

We are deeply grateful to everyone who helped Mother, her institute, her leaders, her colleagues and their children, and her friends. They gave her the opportunity to accomplish the tasks with her talents, and always cared and helped her. We are deeply grateful to her apartment manager, her case manager, her nursing home staff, her church members, our relatives, our classmates, our neighbors, and our friends, who reached out to us at critical moments in Mother's life and when we needed the help most. We also want to thank our children, who have inherited my mother's genes, her character and talents in all aspects, and brought her a lot of happiness. I especially want to thank my wife Ling Shu, who quietly maintained the normal operation of our family, and her professional knowledge enabled her to pay attention to every detail Mother needed and to different solutions. We are deeply grateful to Canada, a friendly country where my mother spent 33 years happily. Now my mother has returned to her adored Lord, who has been always blessing her.