Mr. Gilbert Chan, a teacher at SXI for over 20 years passed away peacefully at his home in Taman David Chen, Air Itam, Penang on the morning of 15th September, 2005. The funeral was held on Saturday, 17th September, 2005 at 11.00 am at the Church of Risen Christ, Air Itam, Penang. He was fondly remembered by his colleagues and old students. Some of their recollections are reproduced for your reading.
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Recollection 1 By Dr. Gary W. Theseira (Class of ‘82) Many of us will remember Mr. Gilbert Chan's antics on the tennis court as well. While a competitive social tennis player, he never lost sight of the main objective of the sport of tennis ... to have fun! I will always recall a tournament at CRC when, as a recent knockout, I was dejectedly watching him play a mixed doubles match. He had just chased down and retrieved a deep volley wide on his backhand outside the doubles line and was running to get back in position when his shot was returned precisely from where he had just retrieved it. Knowing he had no chance of retrieving the shot, he locked his legs and took a long exaggerated slide to a stop (as one can do only on clay or wet grass), a huge grin on his face, much to my amuse- ment and that of the other spectators, who burst out in uncontrolled laughter. Having recently returned to playing tennis, I am still struggling to improve my game, but I will always remember two things: 1. If you chase down every shot; you will retrieve some of them and possibly win the point. 2. If you laugh in the face of futility, you are halfway toward winning the next point By chance, I bumped into him a few years ago on the USM campus where was officiating the tennis matches at a government sports meet. After 25 years, he still remembered many of my classmates and me. My tennis was horrid and I expected a ribbing, but he was supportive and actually gave me some advice and encourage- ment. Mr. Gilbert Chan had lots of class. I can only hope that some of it rubbed off on us. Like many of you, I too remember him fondly. Recollection 2 By Khor Kok Wah (Class of ‘73) My belated condolences on the passing of Mr Gilbert Chan, whom I remember very fondly as our exceptionally conscientious form teacher in Form 2A2 in 1970. He was a man of great substance in his teaching, both morally and in content. He had a soft and kind heart though he often appeared stern to ensure discipline. Rather surprisingly he was very sharing and told us a lot about himself. I remember feeling touched by his openness. He was our art teacher and taught us many art techniques. He showed us how to use cloth, cardboard, glue and a ribbon to make a cloth-bound personal art folio. In this folio we would keep all the paintings and art works he taught us to do. Each of us made one for himself. He also taught us calligraphy. My fellow classmates Eng Haw, Lawrence Ong, Peter, Peng Whye, Teik Sin, Frederick, Clement, Aloysius, Pee Thye, Hitendra, Chye Beng and others may recall this as well! A versatile teacher, he taught us tennis in the afternoons at the courts opposite SXI. One day that year he stormed into class obviously but incomprehensibly in a very bad mood. Rather loadly and sternly he told us he was giving a surprise test which he would write on the blackboard. He ordered us to turn around to face the back till he finished writing the questions on the board, threatening loudly that anyone who peeped at the board to get an advantage, would be very severely punished. I still recall the harsh tone of his voice and his very black mood. We wondered why, and what we had done wrong. Facing the back I was in great fear and nervous anticipation along with the rest of my classmates. As we waited facing the back not a word was spoken, but we could hear the furious writing of chalk on the board. No one dared to look around. After a long painful minute he shouted at us to turn around, read the board and start the test. To our great surprise we were greeted by just two very huge words - APRIL FOOLS! - written in bold, so large they covered both blackboards from top to bottom. We all exploded in laughter and joy, the roar echoing down the ground floor corridor, the floors above and the Catholic church across Love Lane. Yes, it was 1 April 1970. And never before or since have I ever seen such large words written on any school blackboard. We were caught completely off-guard. We often played pranks on our teachers, but this time he was one up on us. Sadly, during the year one of our classmates, Teng, passed away, after a fall from his bicycle. For most of us it was the first time we lost a classmate. Mr Chan led all of us to the cemetery to bid him farewell. Mr Chan kept his cheerfulness. I felt that he shared our sense of loss and understood our confusion. His presence consoled us. He provided an anchor to all of us during that period. We had only one year out of of his many years of teaching, and already it was an eventful memorable year. We grew up a lot under his leadership. His influence and impact over many a young impressionable boy would have multiplied over the years touching innumerable students. I have not met him since I left St Xavier's but I have always and will always remember him with great respect and fondness. Recollection 3 By Michael Quah (a fellow-teacher of Mr. Chan) Mr. Chan and I have worked together for over twenty years in SXI. I remember him as a cheerful person who cares about his students. He had a lively sense of fun and a gentleness and calm, all of which, made his company always enjoyable. May God be praised for making such a lovely person. Recollection 4 By Fabian Loh Yes I remember Mr. Chan well as he was one of my school teacher. He was always a joyous teacher and a very helpful person. An asset and a pillar to SXI. I would occasionally bump into him in Pulau Tikus area but have not been back there for some time now. Recollection 5 By Peter Lim (Class of ’78) It is indeed sad to hear about Mr. Gibert's demise. He was one of my teachers at SXI and I had fond memories of him especially his jovial disposition.He was affectionately known as Mr. “gu-bak chien ‘ and he always chuckled at this - no disrespectintended. It has been a long while since I last saw him (perhaps 8-9 years ago at Pulau Tikus) and he was then enjoying a mahjong game with some friends. Recollection 6 By Ow Eng Haw Our deepest condolence. More than a teacher to us, he was the main driving force in the development of lawn tennis in Penang. This is a passing of a generation that took teaching with passion. It is a reminder that many of us have yet to thank these great people that moulded us. I encourage all of us to take the opportunities to organize a dinner and some measure of thanks to our teachers before either they pass on (or we pass on).
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