Ho Yuen Hoe

Venerable Ho was relatively unknown to the public until 1996, when she was featured in a television programme – The Extraordinary People – at the age of 88.

Ho Yuen Hoe was born on 18 February 1908, to a family of silk weavers in Guangzhou, China, the second of three children.

In her late teens, a group of snakeheads persuaded her and several other girls to emigrate to Singapore, ostensibly to work on a rubber plantation, but the job did not materialise.

Ho became a hairdresser in nearby Macau, but after discovering that her husband had another wife and children she decided to return to Singapore alone, vowing never to remarry.

[5] As her wealth grew, she acquired more properties, and she began to adopt children from poor families, becoming a single mother of six daughters and twenty-five godchildren.

To raise additional funds for the home, she cultivated and sold prize-winning white orchids at Tanglin, and vegetarian food at Kong Meng San Temple in Bishan.

Venerable Ho's work was unknown to the public until 1996, when she was featured in a television programme – The Extraordinary People – at the age of 88.

[4] Inspired by Venerable Ho's devotion and compassion, volunteers and donations began to stream in, allowing the home to provide better medical care and facilities for its residents.

To help in raising funds for its construction, she published a recipe book called Top 100 Vegetarian Delights in 1998, which brought in more than S$100,000 (U$66,667).

It regularly organises in-house activities such as cooking, hand-craft, karaoke, and games, as well as visits to places of interest and participation in various community events.

Despite her advancing age, Venerable Ho continued to raise funds to provide better medical care, and she set up committees to help organise Dharma classes for children and secure donations for various Buddhist causes.

[8] On 11 January 2006, Venerable Ho died peacefully in her sleep at the Man Fut Tong Nursing Home, at about 9:30 pm, just one month before turning 98.

Discharged in December 2005, she was recuperating well at the nursing home until she developed a chest infection and breathing difficulties a few days before she died.

[9] The abbess' ashes were kept for 100 days at her temple, before making their way to her final resting place in Zhejiang province in China, where her niece lives.

Five hundred hardcover copies of the book have been printed to raise funds for the Home, which costs S$4.5 million a year to run.

[11] A bronze sculpture by sculptor Chern Lian Shan, and a portrait of Venerable Ho by artist Marcus Lim were also unveiled at the event, by President S. R. Nathan.