Despite her near-celebrity status for her tireless work in caring for
the less privileged, Ms Teresa Hsu had shunned the public eye - up until
her death last week.
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.
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