Love everlasting

With his family through the years. (Clockwise from top left) The Lee family relaxing at the veranda of their Oxley Road home in May 1965; three generations of Lees at a family gathering on 4 February 2000; posing happily for a photo with his wife on 14 February 2008 at Sentosa; and Grandpa and Grandma Lee with their grandchildren (from left) Haoyi, Shengwu, Huanwu and Hongyi.

Love everlasting

Mr Lee may have been the architect of modern Singapore, but he was also a loving and devoted husband, father, grandfather, brother and son.

Interviews with Mr Lee in his later years revealed softer dimensions of his personality.

When Mrs Lee passed away on 2 October 2010, Singaporeans caught a glimpse of the overwhelming love he felt for his wife and the profound grief he experienced on her passing. When she became bedridden after a series of strokes, he was her daily bedside companion, reading aloud her favourite poems or telling her about his day.

In his eulogy at his wife’s funeral, Mr Lee said that he had precious memories of their 63 years together. Without Choo, he said, he would have been a different man, with a different life.