Our
grandmother passed away peacefully at age 103 on July 2. After bidding her a fond farewell with a grand send-off, my mum invited family members over to look at grandma’s things
and pick out something of hers to keep as a memento.
 |
Grandma's stock of Sam Fong square cakes
of face powder! |
That
night, my siblings joined our cousins and aunts to open the storage boxes and
old suitcases where gran’s things were stored.
Mum had kept everything that belonged to gran when she lived with us,
exactly the way gran had packed the items.
We
saw that gran had meticulously preserved her old clothes – sets of outfits she
may have outgrown but were too precious to throw out – neatly wrapped in sheets
of old curtains and secured by large safety pins. While most of her outfits were tailored, there
were also blouses and trousers that were bought ready-made or received as
gifts.
For
home wear, gran used to wear matching sets of blouses and loose trousers made
of cotton material. The blouses were
usually sleeveless or with cap-sleeves with two patch pockets in front.
I
remember she was fond of shopping for fabrics to tailor into sets of blouses
with collar and sleeves, teamed with trousers.
Her regular tailor was a seamstress in Kulai known as Heong cheh, and later when Aunty Polly and her
husband were based in a farm near Kluang, gran found another tailor in Kluang.
 |
| Bernice is thrilled to find a quilt among gran's belongings |
Then
we saw gran’s sewing box. Gran may not
have been skilled in tailoring her own clothes but she was handy in mending
tears and sewing on buttons. I remember,
when she was living with us, gran would sew a few markings with red colour
thread to identify her own flannelettes and panties, as if they could not be
identified next to those belonging to mum and I! *Wink wink!*
There
were also separate boxes of buttons and threads, scissors and other sewing
items but one of the unique looking things was a rectangular metal box that was
darkly discoloured and smooth with age. It
was that type of deep box used for dried pellets of Chinese herbal medicine that
were wrapped within balls of hollow wax.
 |
Grandfather [wearing dark jacket, standing Right behind
trophy] with a sports group; Photo dated 1935 |
Gran, who was a proponent of traditional medicine for maintenance of
good health, had melted a great deal of wax into the box and it was half-full
of solid wax and stuck with pins and needles.
My sister-in-law, Veronica, was so fascinated that she quickly claimed it.
Speaking
of panties, gran had a collection of underwear which mum distributed to her sisters
– particularly the white cotton Marks & Spencer ones – which they had previously
bought for gran. There was also a stack
of brassieres that were virtually brand new.
And since there were no takers for gran’s bras, Veronica took the lot!
Cousin
Bernice was after a particular patchwork quilt that gran was using but we
discovered that it was too late to retrieve because it was buried with her. Her disappointment turned to joy when she
found another quilt among gran’s belongings and happily kept it for herself!
 |
Family at funeral of great-grandmother, Lim Ah Nee,
in front of 154, Jalan Ngee Heng, Photo dated 1941 |
Gran
also had a variety of hand fans – woven and feather fans – but the Japanese-style
foldable ones were more convenient to carry.
So Bernice picked out one folded fan made of batik cloth for herself and
I chose one made of sandal wood for her to take back to the UK to pass to my
sister, Pearly, there.
As
Bernice unpacked the bags and boxes, she took the liberty to throw out what was
confirmed as “junk” and retrieved a number of interesting items like
back-scratchers and massage equipment, gran’s compact powder as well as her
stock of favourite face powder – boxes of Sam Fong square cakes of face powder!
 |
Notice how the front windscreen of this hearse has two
glass panels that open outwards for ventilation! |
While
some of us were going through gran’s wardrobe, the others were looking at old
photos from gran’s collection in two photo albums. One album was filled with photos of
grandfather or Ah Kong while the other had some coloured photos of gran when
she was on holiday. Besides postcards
and birthday cards that she received, we found more loose photos kept in
separate envelopes.
In
a large envelope, we discovered large photo prints and were amazed at the
well-preserved photo quality even though they were now faded sepia tones. The inscribed dates reminded us that the
funeral photo for mum’s Teochew grandmother was 1941 while another group shot
of Ah Kong with a sports team was dated 1935.
Unfortunately,
another photo of a funeral was undated and no one could identify the face of
the deceased. But I noted that the
hearse – clearly not air-conditioned – had two glass panels for the front
windscreen that were opened outwards for better ventilation!
 |
A card that Pearly sent to grandma
on her 90th birthday |
It
was also fascinating to see the building in the background of the 1941 funeral photo
that shows the row of shops that still exists along Jalan Ngee Heng, opposite
Wisma Maria and DoubleTree by Hilton JB.
A bit of Ah Kong’s house, No. 154, a double-storey bungalow, built with
concrete ground floor and wooden upstairs, can be seen at the far left. It was a landmark on the road with the entire
compound of a bungalow and badminton court, surrounded by a tall bamboo fence,
but it has been demolished.
It
was interesting that for that funeral, the family was wearing traditional
sackcloth with all the trimmings of a somber send-off for great-grandmother Lim
Ah Nee, who was Ah Kong’s mother. I
remember horror stories of gran’s mother-in-law who earned the nickname, Nyonya Kuching because she was reputed
to have a hot temper. A similar portrait
of her that was used on the hearse, is in my own collection of family
artifacts.
More
than a week later, mum reminded me to take a final look into the storage boxes
and bags before they are disposed. So
here I am looking through gran’s wardrobe, admiring the fabrics and discovering
interesting outfits.
 |
| Trixie is also curious when I opened the bag of gran's clothes |
Dad
couldn’t help laughing as he watched me trying on gran’s clothes and was
brutally honest to tell me that in gran’s clothes, I have added another 20
years to my age. I saw some blouses that
I like and may even wear but assured dad that I would certainly dress up the
outfits to make them look trendy!
Mum
picked out a few pairs of gran’s solid colour trousers, especially the black
silk ones while I found a dark mustard coloured casual pair. Then mum spotted the blouse that gran used to
wear with that particular pair of trousers and asked me to keep them.
There
was a silk blouse, the type bought from the Chinese emporiums with a label that
read: Hand Embroidered, Made in China,
and I had to keep. There were also
several sets of China-made cotton pajamas in pastel green and yellow with
embroidered flowers and butterflies that looked almost new so we set them aside
to present to the aunts later.
 |
Check out these classic buttons that were
fashionably wrapped in the same fabric! |
Mum
pulled out matching sets of tailored blouses and trousers made from
flannel-like fabric that were sewn by late Aunty Helen, gran’s daughter-in-law in
Sydney. This aunt, who was also skilled
in knitting and crocheting, had a sewing business then and must have machined
several sets of outfits for gran to keep her more comfortable in cooler
weather. I thought these were uniquely
sentimental so they are kept for our eldest sister, Ruby, who could wear them in
winter when she stayed with her sons in Perth!
My
favourite piece must be one of gran’s tailored silk blouses that featured big
buttons. In those days, it was the
fashion to have buttons machine wrapped in the same fabric and I thought they
were simply classic!
I
took my choices from gran’s wardrobe for a quick hand wash and when I soaked
them into water, my nostrils were assaulted by a pungent mothball smell. It instantly brought back memories of gran’s
penchant in preserving her things with generous portions of mothballs! When two rounds of rinsing couldn’t quite
remove the mothball flavour, I gave the clothes a final rinse with fabric
softener for a more familiar fragrance.
Now
I have some of gran’s things not just as precious mementos but also to use. With the clothes neatly ironed, I’m waiting for
the opportunity to wear them in honour of our beloved grandmother. So look out!
And don’t be surprised to spot me with the vintage, gran-look-alike
style.
