In Memory of Sam (Young Hon Way 楊漢威 )
He was born in China’s Zhongsan District in Guangzhou Province on 14th July 1932. He came to New Zealand in 1949 with his sister Una. His father was, by then, an established fruit shop owner in the Coromandel and the following excerpt from the source
is how Sam described his arrival to New Zealand:
Sam recalls his arrival:
There were three of us. We left our village just as the Communist party took over the government of China. My mother was 38, I was 17 and Una was 15. We travelled by ship on the ‘Tai Ping’ to Sydney and then by plane to Whenuapai airport. We arrived on the 19 November 1949. My father hired a taxi cab and came to Auckland to pick us up. He then took us directly back to the shop in Coromandel. That’s where we were to live - in accommodation at the back of the shop.
‘I remember the next day was Friday and we were quite busy. My father taught me how to trim outer leaves off the lettuces by flicking the knife inwards whereas I had always trimmed outwards! That was my first lesson in the shop and that was the beginning of my livelihood as a greengrocer! Eight months later I moved to Auckland to work in Norman Choy’s Karangahape Road fruit shop. I stayed there until 1954 then I went to work for Wah Jang’s in Queen Street.’
‘In Coromandel we opened everyday from 8am to 5pm. The weekends were very quiet. Friday was our best day. That is when people from smaller settlements came to do their shopping. We would sell fruit and veges, biscuits, sweets and cigarettes. There were several Chinese men who use to come in the shop. They were married to Maori women. Una helped in the shop serving customers and Mum did the household chores. (Una later took a seasonal job down at the Coromandel Mussel Company.) Owen (Young Hon Kew 楊漢僑), our young brother was born in Coromandel Hospital in 1950, so Mum had her hands full!’
Sam died peacefully at the age of eighty-five on 25th October 2017.
The eulogies by Eddie (his eldest son), by Owen (his younger brother) by John (his son-in-law) and by Prof. Jilnaught Wong (one of his best friends) painted a colourful portrait of the strength and character of this humble man.
He would have been a brillant scholar had he not left his village secondary school just one year away from graduation, bound for New Zealand. He was the top scholar in his years in school and he was known to be very good at calligraphy with his brushes.
He was one of the founders of the Auckland Zhongshan Clan Association and had served as the Association’s Honary President and competent Honary Secretary for many years, keeping records of the Association. Visit the website of Zhongshan to see the success of this Association he help founded:
http://zhongshan.nz/en/about-azsca.html
He was a keen photographer, developing his own photographs from the darkroom at the rear of his house.
He was also keen in the motor cars, preferring the Japanese made one to the European ones.
He will be sadly missed by his family members.
Rest In Peace, Sam.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7heyoAdF8WU