A great loss !

Its always painful when you lose someone who is like a brother to you.My brother in law ( I always refer to him as this though he is actually my wife's)passed away after a long battle with cancer.He should not have gone this way because he was always so health conscious and careful with his lifestyle. I have nothing but the highest respect for him from the early days when I married my wife till now a span of more than forty years.I have always admired his determination in life .He worked for the govt. at one time but made it a point to get his degree which he did through distance learning from the University of London. His singularity of purpose in life is amazing.He never failed in what he set out to do.The only thing he did not manage to do (and I used to tease him on this ) was to play golf though he tried very hard.That aside ,he was a self made man getting little assistance from any one in his quest to succeed in life .Of course in the early days there was always his wife who stood by him through thick and thin. Their marriage was blessed with 3 lovely daughters who grew up to be his gems in his life.He was a doting father and would give his children whatever he could and its heartening to see the bond between father and children.He loved not only his children but mine and others' too.Whenever we went to Spore he would make sure that my own children were treated well. His only vice ,I should say passion was eating something which he really enjoyed.Eating a meal with us was always a lavish affair with him making sure that we got the best food he could get.We were always humbled by his generosity and the way he treated us.We loved him not because of this but because of the qualities which he displayed as a man from so many perspectives.He did well in life but was never snobbish or proud.He would always make it a point to think of others like he is one of the few men that I know who would go to the market and come back with loads of food for the family.He loved to eat and made sure others shared with him. He would go to the market everyday and take the trouble to buy the necessities back.Carrying the stuff back was no easy task but he did this willingly and happily.If we drove down to Spore he would make sure that our car was loaded with fruits ( The best he could get). He did what he had to do and I must say did it well.To him family was everything and in his life he made sure that all his children are well taken of even after they were married and had families of their own.He always walked tall because he had never done wrong in his life and had given so much not in terms of money alone but in terms of how to live life as we go along.He was very " Chinese" and held fast to Chinese beliefs and philosophy and tried by his very own example to pass this on to others. Its not easy to come across a man of his calibre who really had so much character.We will miss Uncle Chao and may his soul RIP and to his family all I can say is that "Be happy that he has gone to a better place " and he has done what every man should be proud to do and he did it all His Way !