By Alicia
Wong | Yahoo!
Newsroom – 46 minutes ago
Singapore's oldest person Teresa Hsu has died at age
113. (Photo courtesy of TEDxSingapore and Mezzé Films)
Singapore's famed 'Mother
Teresa', social worker
Teresa Hsu has died at age 113.
The supercentenarian was Singapore's oldest person.
According to an
announcement on the Heart to Heart website, Hsu's welfare service, Hsu died
peacefully at her home on 7 December. She was cremated on the same
day,"
Hsu wanted to "depart quietly and peacefully" and left instructions
not to make any announcement of her death in the news media, or
perform any ceremonies that would "cause disturbance and
inconvenience to others", said the notice.
The notice was signed by her co-worker Sharana Rao.
"She has further instructed that no claim be made of her ash by
whosoever," it added.
Hsu, a trained nurse, devoted her entire life to helping the less
fortunate.
Born in a tiny village in the Guangdong province of China, Hsu
traveled to various countries, such as Hong Kong and Paraguay, to
help others, before settling down in Singapore.
Here, she served first as an unsalaried matron at Kwong Wai Shiu
Hospital for about three years before opening an old folks home,
called the "Home for the Aged Sick".
After retirement, she turned her attention to her welfare service, Heart to Heart, where she reached
out to needy elderly folks and families.
Yahoo! Singapore last featured Hsu in our Inspiring
People column for her lifelong work with the less fortunate. Read
more about her life story
here.