STS : Lee Siew Choh remembered as caring doctor and family man
Yap Yok Foo
23 July 2002
Lee Siew Choh remembered as caring doctor and family man
THE late Dr Lee Siew Choh, 84, continued practising medicine and even
made house calls after he was diagnosed as having lung cancer in
October 1999.
In a moving tribute at his father's funeral at Mount Vernon
Crematorium, his older son, Dr Peter Lee, 44, said: 'He never refused
a house call, whatever the time or location.'
Medicine was his passion and he did not accept fees from those who
could not afford to pay; sometimes, he even gave cash to his needy
patients, he added.
Dr Lee, who retired from politics in 1991 after dedicating 32 years of
his life to it, died at home last Thursday afternoon.
A member of the People's Action Party (PAP) from 1958, he left it in
1961 with 13 other MPs to set up the leftist Barisan Sosialis because
of differences with the PAP over the proposed merger with Malaysia.
The younger Dr Lee remembered his father as a 'very good husband, who
accompanied mum to the many appointments in the hospital, even after
he was afflicted with illness'.
He also used to surprise his two sons, Peter and David, 42, a dental
surgeon, with supper when they were undergraduates.
Dr Lee, who was married to Madam Kathleen Fam, 83, a retired teacher
and sister of Fraser and Neave chairman Michael Fam, also had a
daughter, Yu Lian, in her early 40s, who is a lawyer.
About 100 people turned up for the funeral service.
Veteran opposition leaders Chiam See Tong and J.B. Jeyaretnam were
among those present.
Said Mr Jeyaretnam: 'I didn't always see eye to eye with him. But, at
least, the man spoke out and that's an essential quality.'
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