Tribute to our Father

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This post is all about our late father who almost single-handedly held the family together when we first moved into our Bedok kampong house in 1954 especially since our grandfather passed away 3 months from the time we moved in.

Born in 1930, he attended the Anglo-Chinese school at Coleman Street (now National Archives of Singapore) from 1936 to 1940. It was only after the war ended when he began his secondary school education from Oct 1945 to 1949 at Victoria School. He then redirected his education into the technical vocation at the Junior Technical School at Balestier Road in 1950, graduating at the end of 1952.
August 1953 saw him employed as a radio Technician at the Dept of Broadcasting at Radio Malaya (current day Mediacorp) at Caldecott Hill. He worked 3 rotating shifts (5.30am to 12.30pm, 9am to 4.30pm and 4.30pm to midnight) then an off day was given (in those days radio operated daily from 6am to midnight only). (Radio Malaya became Radio Singapore in 1963, then Radio Television Singapore (RTS) upon Singapore’s independence in 1965). Dad continued to work here for 32 years until his retirement in 1985 as Broadcast Operations Officer Grade 1, Singapore Broadcasting Corporation (SBC).
In 1958 he met and dated our mother and wedding bells beckoned in Oct 1960 when she joined him at the Bedok kampong house. The 2 of us were born into the family shortly thereafter. Dad was the sole breadwinner for the entire plus family who lived here. He was most hospitable to various other relatives to come live with us, either permanently or during the school holidays. He was a very filial son to his mother, and ably took care of all of us financially throughout his life. In 1974 he sold this house and moved us all to the newly built Marine Parade HDB flats and continued to stay here until now.
He passed away peacefully last year 2023 at the age of 93 living a good and long life. While we miss him immensely we realise that many wonderful memories of living here at this kampong house became possible because of him. He was also responsible for most of the photos in these posts (he would borrow cameras from his friends, until he was able to afford one later)

We are so proud of him. See photos of him at Radio Malaya in 1955, aged 25.


January 1955 inside the studio and in action - just 25 years of age

January 1955 at Caldecott Hill next to a Radio Malaya vehicle







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