Joy in the face of grief: A testimony (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)

Wednesday June 23, 2010

Daughter puts up brave front in face of grief

By FLORENCE A. SAMY
florenceasamy@thestar.com.my

NILAI: Goodbye, see you in Heaven. Joy Wee clung to her faith that her grandmother, father and three siblings are now in a better place as she put on a brave front when the five were laid to rest at the Nilai Memorial Park here yesterday.

The five – Roland Wee Seng Hock, 53; his children Joash, 23, Jacinth, 18, and Jelyn, 15; and his mother-in-law Lim Kim Boon, 79, died when their multi-purpose vehicle collided with an oncoming trailer which was overtaking another vehicle at the Kuantan-Segamat road last Thursday. (Click here to read the tragedy).

Wee’s wife, Chew Chin Loi, 54, and their two other children, Jemima, 17, and Josiah, 13, remain warded at a hospital in Kuantan.

Last rites: Relatives and friends of Wee mourning the loss of the five family members at the Nilai memorial park where they were buried yesterday.

 

Joy, the oldest child, had flown in from the United Kingdom. At the memorial park, the 26-year-old was seen comforting the others despite her own grief.

Scores of family and friends came from across the country and overseas to say their final goodbyes to the five, and many cried.

Wee’s father was seen weeping openly. Lim was buried first followed by Wee and his three children. The four were buried side by side.

As the coffins were lowered, Joy was seen gently touching the displayed pictures of her loved ones as she said her final goodbye.

“My mum also thanks God for loaning my father to her for 29 years, as well as for loaning Joash, (23 years), Jacinth (18 years) and Jelyn (15 years).

“I believe one day when we get to Heaven, they will be there welcoming us,” Joy said.

Joy comforting her grandfather. — AZHAR MAHFOF /The Star

 

Speaking to reporters later, Joy said she was very proud of her loved ones. She described her grandmother Lim as someone she respected and loved a lot.

On Wee, a senior principal assistant at a Muar secondary school, Joy said her father had touched so many lives – and wished that she could one day be a role model like him.

Joash was a good musician who loved football and tennis, as well as served God with all his heart.

As for Jacinth, Joy said she was a very hardworking person with a big heart who “would not hesitate to buy presents for all of us.”

“I am glad she found out about her Public Service Department pharmacy scholarship before she left,” said Joy.

On youngest sister Jelyn, Joy said both had shared a very close relationship.

Joy, who was supposed to take an exam this Friday in the UK to qualify as a pharmacist, said she would stay back to be with her mother and two siblings.

“My mum is very strong. She taught me to be strong, otherwise I would break down,” she said solemnly.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

¹³But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. ¹⁴For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died. ¹⁵For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died. ¹⁶For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever. ¹⁸Therefore encourage one another with these words.