Eldest aunt

Here is a picture of my aunt. She is my mother's eldestsister. Her name Choon Choy Kam. She married a merchant called Young Chiew Man. The name translated phonetically into Cantonese means Sour Face, or a mean look, but he is really the nicest guy. They live in Sarawak, on the Borneo Island, in East Malaysia, so it is very far away. In the old days, when transportation is not so convenient, it may as well be the other side of the World.

We don't call her by her name. We called her "Ai Kem", or Eldest Aunt, Aunt number one. She is very sweet, and very nice to her sisters. (Grandmother had four girls and six boys) When we were young, we were very poor and struggling. A

i Kem and Chiew Man would sometimes send some nice gifts of clothes and what-nots to us to help out. Very nice lady.

In this second picture, which appeared to be taken at the back of the Penang airport, in the late 1950s. This

is probably when second uncle Simon Choon is going back to the US after a visit.

The entire family came out to send him off.

In the picture, from the left is Kok Heng (6th uncle, a.k.a. big mouth), Kok On (5th uncle, nice man, very gentle, died young), Kok Cheng (4th uncle, my friend, lives in Queens, NY now), and Simon (2nd Uncle, a.k.a. the Warlord, even more so a big mouth than 6th uncle, my least favorite person in the family, a toss up for least like uncle with big mouth), then Kok Weng (first uncle, died in the 80s or 90s, nice man, a.k.a. Old Horse), then my grandmother, Second Aunt (Choy Siew, aka Ah Yi, seamstress, nice lady, died early this year in an old folks' home), then my mother (the real sweetheart of the bunch, then 4th aunt (Choy Peng, a bit nasty, but tolerable), then wife of 4th uncle (nice lady, lives in Queens, NY, aka Ponnian. She is holding Ah Hoong, 2nd son).

In the front row is little Choon Mee Koon (4th uncle's daughter), Margaret Lee (Simon's step-daughter, called me gross, gruesome when we were kids), Bobby Lee (her brother, nice kid), Choon Yew Toon (cousin, 4th uncle's first son, aka Paul), and Siew Cheong. (I am not too sure about the last two kids, just guessing.)