Ms Hsu died last Wednesday at the age of 113 - she was Singapore's oldest living person - but news of her death only emerged this week in a posting on the website of Heart to Heart Service, a charity which Ms Hsu had set up.
"In accordance with her wish to depart quietly and peacefully, and her instructions not to make any announcement in the news media, as well as not to conduct or perform any rituals or ceremonies that will cause disturbance and inconvenience to others, she was cremated on the same day," said the statement by Mr Sharana Rao, her co-worker at Heart to Heart. "She has further instructed that no claim be made of her ash by whosoever."
Born to a poor family in China in 1898, Ms Hsu decided at age 47 to be a nurse and enrolled in a nursing college in London, even though the school only accepted students up to age 25.
She moved to Singapore in 1961, after she helped set up three homes for the elderly and two homes for young girls and neglected children in Ipoh.
Here, Ms Hsu founded a nursing home called Home of the Aged Sick with her sister Ursula Khow on a piece of land that the latter bought for her.
The home is now known as the Society for the Aged Sick. It has 244 beds on its current premises in Hougang, from the seven patients she started out with.
Ms Hsu retired at the age of 85. Post-retirement, Ms Hsu continued to serve in the social services sector, setting up Heart to Heart Service to deliver food and necessities to the needy elderly.
In recognition of her efforts, Ms Hsu - who was dubbed as Singapore's "Mother Teresa" - was given the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre's Special Recognition Award in 2008, as well as the Active Senior Citizen of the Year Award in 2003.
ORIGINAL SOURCE
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