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"Uncle Lee Leong Chye just passed away at 7.10pm today due to heart problem. Body will be sent to mortuary. The wake service will be for five days from tomorrow at Jelutong funeral parlour."
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The name was unfamiliar to me. We had an Uncle Lee in our Cheng cell but I had no idea of his full name. To find out the defunct's house address, I looked into our church directory and was surprised to learn that this late church member was also living at Cheng. Despite the doubt, I was still mumbling in my heart, "That could not be him. He looked so healthy."
Later, when a second SMS from Sis Doris reached my hand phone, I called Jeremiah's wife Phoebe, "Is it our Uncle Lee?" She answered with a calm but sad voice, "Yes, he is the one. Sunday after he came back from a wedding in Seremban, he was not feeling well. This morning, he was admitted to the hospital and his heart was very weak..."
I knew Uncle Lee after I joined the Cheng cell in end 2008. His tall, dark and skinny body was easy to recognize at the canteen after the church service. Every time I greeted him, he would greet me back with a very friendly smile. A former tough military man, he seemed to me rather like a soft-hearted grandfather. I never expected the Lord had taken him home so soon.
As I had the MLM class to attend on Tuesday and a replacement French class to give on Wednesday, I could only go for the wake service on Tuesday evening. Since I became a committed Calvarite, I never made any effort to attend any wake service of other Calvarites or their family members who had passed away, giving myself the excuse that I did not know the location of the funeral parlours in Melaka. This time, I contacted Phoebe to follow their car to the venue.
During the journey, Phoebe told me a touching story: After Uncle Lee had gone to be with the Lord, his daughter discovered a piece of paper in his bible, on which he had written a prayer to forgive a list of people who had hurt him in different ways.
Some of our church members were already there when we arrived. We showed our condolences to Uncle Lee's family members. And my tears dropped when I saw Uncle lying peacefully in the coffin and thought of Dad who had also finished running his race at about the same age. In front of the coffin were Uncle Lee's picture and a bouquet of white flowers. Below was the bible which Uncle Lee had carried with him for years.
This was the first Christian wake service I attended. I found it beautiful to display the bible as the defunct's most precious belonging when he was in this world.
At about 8.15pm, all of us were seated to sing worship songs accompanied by guitar. Then Jeremiah who gave a short speech used God's words to remind us that Uncle Lee had gone to a better place where there were no sorrows and no tears.
After him, Bro HS and Bro Bob testified to us how Uncle Lee had faithfully served in the church and been a blessing to a lot of people. I hope that when I die, people will also have something good to remember about me at my wake service.
Uncle Lee's son-in-law also shared with us his gratitude to his late father-in-law who had been like a friend to him. Next, Ps Angeline led us to pray for Uncle Lee's family members. The service was closed with worship songs again.
See you in heaven, Uncle Lee.
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