Farewell, Uncle Cyril and Auntie Terry

 

Cyril Alexander Clark, fondly known as Uncle Cyril to many, left us on October 24 at the ripe old age of 94. Married to Terese Fernandez, they have two children, two grand-daughters and four great-grandchildren.

 

Cyril Clark with our eldest sister, Ruby, at
staff quarters, Kota Tinggi Hospital

Their daughter, Linda, was my classmate from Primary School to Secondary School in the Johor Bahru Convent and over the years, we discovered much in common between us.

 

For a start, both our fathers worked as Hospital Assistants with the Johor Bahru General Hospital (now known as Hospital Sultanah Aminah).

 

But even before Linda and I were born, our fathers already had a relationship, not only as work colleagues but as friends since Uncle Cyril was still a bachelor.

 

Facade of the Johor Bahru General Hospital,
circa 1946

My Johor Stories readers are familiar with my growing-up years while living at our grandfather’s house, a bungalow with an adjacent badminton court, that was once located at No. 154 Jalan Ngee Heng.

 

This property no longer exists as it was acquired by the Government and the land is now part of the Jalan Tun Abdul Razak expressway while only a small portion of our driveway still remained.

 

Until recently, this space was occupied by an enterprising warung operator next to a gigantic advertising pylon, planted there. After the warung had relocated and the shady tree was felled, what is left is only a small, triangle piece of land.

 

Uncle Cyril holding Ruby at the staff quarters,
Kota Tinggi Hospital, circa 1954

I am describing this because the compound of No. 154 faced the side wall of the first unit of that row of double-storey pre-war shophouses that still stands at Jalan Ngee Heng, opposite Wisma Maria and the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel.

 

In those days, while most of the shophouses operated various businesses on the ground floor, the upstairs were mainly for residential use. As a bachelor, Uncle Cyril became a friend of the family when he was one of the tenants, upstairs at No. 155, a next-door-neighbour to our grandfather’s house.

 

Uncle Cyril was about the same age as our Uncle Roland, grandfather’s eldest son, and around the same time, both of them joined the Johor Bahru General Hospital and were trained as Hospital Assistants.

 

My parents – dad, a Hospital Assistant and mum, a Midwife – were already working with the Johor Bahru General Hospital and when they joined the Health section of the Hospital, my parents were posted to work with the Kota Tinggi Hospital.

 

Incidentally, Uncle Cyril was also posted to the Kota Tinggi Hospital where staff were provided with quarters to live within the hospital compound. My mum told me that Uncle Cyril’s quarters was located opposite their quarters in Kota Tinggi.

 

When our eldest sister, Ruby, was born in 1954, she was an adorable toddler and my mum recalled that their colleagues enjoyed playing with her. Besides the attendant, Maniam, who liked to carry her, Ruby was also a favourite of Uncle Cyril.

 

Precious photo mementoes of Uncle Cyril with Ruby, captured a long time ago at the hospital quarters in Kota Tinggi, are treasured among my dad’s collection of old photographs.

 

Staff quarters at Jalan Dato Wilson was 
flooded on one Christmas Day, circa 1950s

When my parents were transferred back to work with the Johor Bahru General Hospital, our family moved into the hospital quarters at Jalan Dato Wilson.

 

Around this time, Uncle Cyril was also transferred back to work with the Johor Bahru General Hospital and this was where he met with the lovely Terese Fernandez who was then a Stenographer with the Administrative section of the Hospital.

 

For the uninformed, a Stenographer or Steno in short, is one who is skilled in writing in shorthand – an abbreviated form of handwriting – and typing out a transcription of the oral dictation.

 

In those days, Stenos like Auntie Terry who worked with Government Departments, had to pass exams taken every year, in order to receive an annual increment in salary. By the way, Auntie was proficient in shorthand, both in English and Malay.

 

Wedding photo of
Mr & Mrs Cyril A. Clark

Back then, it was common for couples to have formal wedding photos by professional photographers, taken at photo studios, and would develop duplicates to present copies of their wedding photos to family and friends.

 

So in 1956, my parents were among the happy recipients of a copy of Uncle Cyril and Auntie Terry’s wedding photo. I saw this precious photo among the collection of wedding photos my parents received, along with some old newspaper cuttings of wedding photos, as it was then a trend to announce marriages in the newspapers.

 

Linda’s family and our family were among the families who lived in the hospital quarters of the Johor Bahru General Hospital until such time when our parents bought their own homes in residential areas.

 

When our family moved to Larkin Gardens, Linda’s family shifted to Melodies Gardens. However, not long after we stayed in Larkin, my parents were transferred to work with a Health Sub-Centre and was based in Masai for some 13 years.

 

Meanwhile, Uncle Cyril continued to work in the Johor Bahru General Hospital where he developed a strong reputation with a career in the Operating Theatre.

 

I can recall, since Primary School, seeing Uncle Cyril picking Linda up from school in his White Volkswagen (Registration MB 4099). By the way, my dad’s VW was in Blue, registration number, JB 6655!

 

In Secondary School, we had to pair-up for Home Science class. Linda and I were partners for this class where we divided the kitchen tasks between us but I was always happy to do the washing up.

 

Linda and I with the late, great MJ
on our visit to the waxworks exhibition

My siblings and I, who lived with our grandparents in Johor Bahru to conveniently walk to school, would spend our term holidays in Masai with our parents. During these long, year-end school holidays, Linda and I used to have fun writing cards and letters to each other.

 

It was a bygone era – long before the age of email and social media – where the Postman was my favourite man-in-uniform because he was the one who brought me mail from friends and family, near and far, by what we now call, snail-mail.

 

Ahead of the Christmas season, my dad would send Christmas cards by post to a list of people that included Uncle Cyril and Auntie Terry. Likewise, Uncle Cyril would send us Christmas cards and his was always among the first to be received every year.

 

Uncle had a lovely singing voice and made a reputation for himself and Johor when he joined the Talentime, a singing contest held by Radio & Television Singapore (RTS), that was telecast live on Singapore national television.

 

We watched this exciting telecast in Johor Bahru with much pride and I cannot forget how the host introduced Uncle as the ‘Singing Ben Casey’ after a doctor character, Ben Casey, from a popular American TV series (1961 to 1966).

 

His most memorable success in the Talentime was when Uncle was placed among the top three singers. The prize was a wristwatch and Uncle picked a lady’s version because he wanted to present it as a gift to his dear wife, Auntie Terry.

 

Uncle Cyril was not only familiar with our extended family but was also aware of my interest in writing Letters to the Editor. You see, Uncle and my dad were old-school people who enjoyed reading the hardcopy, broadsheet daily newspapers and Uncle often read my contributions about current issues on the Editors page.

 

When Uncle Cyril read my response to a feature about caring for the elderly in a piece titled, Spare a thought for your elderly relatives, published in The New Straits Times on 5 June 1997, he recognized my writing style and guessed the writer was me.

 

Because he was not familiar with my Chinese name, Uncle checked with Linda to confirm if I was the writer. And Linda confirmed with Uncle that the writer was indeed, me!

 

Steamboat dinner with Uncle Cyril, Auntie Terry,
my parents and our eldest sister, Ruby, in 2011

After Linda and I completed Secondary School, further studies and our careers took us along different paths but our bond, established over the years, kept us close.

 

After their retirement, our parents would meet socially to renew their acquaintance and reminisce about mutual friends. Among the most memorable times we spent together was over a steamboat dinner in 2011 where my sister, Ruby, joined us.

 

Another time was the Thanksgiving Dinner we hosted in October 2012 to jointly celebrate our parents – dad’s 90^th and mum’s 80^th – birthdays, a grand reunion where Uncle Cyril and family met with former colleagues and members of grandfather’s family who were familiar with him since their Jalan Ngee Heng days.

 

From time to time, Linda and I shared updates about our parents’ health as it was a major concern particularly during the global pandemic years. Thankfully, our elderly folks were kept safe throughout the pandemic.

 

Uncle Cyril, when we met at the
neighbourhood shop in Jult 2021

In 2021, I was on a grocery run to a neighbourhood shop and was pleasantly surprised to bump into Uncle who was also shopping there. It was good to see that Uncle was still up and about but I observed that he had difficulty in walking.

 

Family and friends, familiar with Uncle Cyril and Aunty Terry, are aware that they were a loving couple, often seen together and simply quite inseparable.

 

When Aunty Terry deteriorated in health and had mobility issues, Uncle patiently cared for her to the point when it was necessary to engage a carer to lend an extra pair of hands at home.

 

Aunty Terry was admitted to hospital several times, with the most recent when she suffered a serious bout of pneumonia. Upon her discharge, her health deteriorated further and had to be fed through a Ryles tube.

 

On September 21, Uncle was rushed to the hospital and placed in Intensive Care to monitor his blood condition as his platelet count was dangerously low. This was due to Dengue fever and when he gradually recovered, Uncle was moved to the General Ward for infectious diseases.

 

While his condition was stable, Uncle took a turn for the worse when he suffered a serious lung infection which resulted in breathing difficulties. Upon the doctor’s advice, Linda informed her family members who were based in the UK and Australia, to make travel plans to come back soon.

 

At the funeral for Uncle Cyril

Uncle passed peacefully on October 24, survived by his beloved wife, two children, two grand-daughters, four great-grandchildren and one younger brother.

 

When I joined their relatives, former colleagues and friends, gathered to support the family in an emotional send-off, I met with Uncle’s former colleagues in the Operating Theatre of the Johor Bahru General Hospital.

Retired Nursing Sister Harjit Kaur and OT Nurse Diana Lim had their fair share of anecdotes as they reminisced about working with Uncle in the OT which was then located on the ground floor of the main building.

 

“Cyril was a gem who promoted goodwill and understanding among all of us,” said Dr Maria Fernandez, fondly called Dr Merlin of the Asia Medical Group, as she recalled the time when she was with the Johor Bahru General Hospital.

 

“He was always smiling in spite of the heavy workload and never complained,” she continued, “Sometimes we had to be in the OT for 12 hours at a stretch but the only one who never grumbled was Cyril.”

 

Dr Merlin explained that at that time, there was only one Government hospital in Johor so all the serious medical cases in districts like Batu Pahat, Muar, Mersing, were all sent to the Johor Bahru General Hospital.

 

From meeting well-wishers at the wake, we learnt more about how much they appreciated Uncle’s kindness in helping their elderly at home with medical treatments like changing dressings for wounds or giving them insulin injections.

 

It then occurred to Linda that her dad’s time in helping others with their elders’ home-care was probably why he used to arrive late to pick her from school or was the reason why she waited in the car while he attended to them.

 

As Uncle was diagnosed with Dengue fever, the family decided to get Auntie’s blood tested too, to see if she was also infected and to give her the necessary treatment.

 

At the funeral for Auntie Terry

Two days after Uncle’s funeral, her blood test results were received and it revealed that Auntie was dangerously weak, with many of her organs already shutting down.

 

That night, Auntie was admitted to hospital and she passed peacefully on November 1, just days after her beloved husband had left.

 

As we grieved with the family, we were encouraged that they had done their best to make Uncle and Auntie comfortable and had cared for them in their twilight years.

 

We take comfort in knowing that Uncle and Auntie, who were inseparable in life and apart only for a few days, have gone to a better place – together again, as always.

 

May you rest together in eternal peace, Uncle Cyril and Auntie Terry. God Bless.