PEOPLE
22 SPCCAA
Vivien and John Lowe enjoying their visit with Ms So.
A Visit with Ms So
In February 2015, while on vacation on the US West Coast, we paid a visit
to Ms So (
蘇曼如老師
) at her home in Oakland, California, thanks to the
thoughtful arrangements made by our classmate Julie Chan (
陳亦如
) (1966),
Ms So
’
s daughter, who also taught at SPCC and married a colleague Mr
Edmund Tse (
謝汝強老師
). They are indeed a family of SPCC teachers!
Ms So was our Mathematics teacher in the 60s, and was known
among us for her dry humour besides of course her astute mastery
of the subject. As very well put by one of our classmates – Ms So’s
comments in marking our homework clearly reflected her care
and attention for her students.
We had met with Ms So a few years back but had not delved
much into the past, and this time we were keen to find out more.
Aged 95, Ms So was lively as ever when we visited her and readily
provided us with interesting details of herself and her time at
SPCC and after. It was pure delight listening to her vivid account
of people and events.
Ms So, often taken to be Shanghainese, is actually Cantonese, but
her father had settled in Shanghai with his family and she went to
McTyeire Girls’ School in Shanghai. McTyeire was an exclusive
American school boasting alumnae such as Soong Ching Ling
and her sisters! She then attended the University of Hong Kong
majoring in Chemistry and Mathematics, but after two years
returned to Shanghai due to the Japanese occupation of Hong
Kong. She finished her college education at the prestigious St.
John's University.
John and Vivien Lowe (1966)
Photos of Ms So when she was young.
