Theresa’s mother, a staunch Buddhist, was never keen for her to be a Christian. As a young girl, Theresa was brought to different temples where different gods were worshipped. Once, her mother got her to drink a mixture of burnt joss papers and water because she was a sickly child. Yet, among the eight surviving siblings, Theresa, the second youngest, was the only one who wondered whom they were praying to and seeking.
Even when Theresa attended a convent school after the war and wished to be baptised after witnessing how calm, patient and loving the nuns were, her mother forbade her to do so. Eventually, her mother did not further object when Theresa was baptised a month before her marriage to Ng Kwee Choo, who was a baptised Christian.
Yet this baptism did not transform her heart for Jesus.
She reflected: “For 14 years after my baptism, I was merely a nominal Christian. I didn’t feel any different. I did not like to read the Bible nor sing hymns during worship services. I had problems with my mother-in-law. Kwee Choo too was not close to the Lord as he was neither interested in reading the Bible, nor serving the Lord. Instead he was addicted to playing mahjong and poker. I did not walk closely with God, for I had received Jesus as my Saviour only, not the Lord of my life.”
About a month after their wedding, the newlyweds left for England so Kwee Choo could pursue his Master’s in Social Anthropology at the London School of Economics on a British Commonwealth Scholarship. In the course of their two-plus years in London, Theresa’s mother, who was just 59 years old, died from burns sustained in a kitchen explosion. Sadly, Theresa was unable to return for the funeral and asked a nursing friend to represent her. Kwee Choo’s mother also attended the funeral as well as to stand in for both her son and Theresa.
While Kwee Choo was studying in London, Theresa never failed to cook a warm dinner for them every night. Holidays were spent in Europe. Church was mainly a Sunday affair, though they made it a point to listen to great preachers like Martyn-Lloyd Jones at Westminster Chapel, Lord Soper at Kingsway Hall and Leslie Weatherhead at the City Temple.
After returning to Singapore, Kwee Choo took on various positions in the public service, including roles in the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). In 1967, he turned down an opportunity extended by Mr S. R. Nathan, then Deputy Secretary of the MFA, to be a member of the Singapore delegation at the 22nd United Nations Assembly. Theresa recalls: “I was about to give birth to our second daughter, Patricia, at that time. Our older daughter, Vivienne, was not quite two yet. We had no maid during those days, but Kwee Choo chose to turn down this exciting opportunity so he could stay behind to help me.”
Subsequently, they both returned to London for Kwee Choo to take up a new position as Student Advisor (First Secretary at the Singapore High Commission in London), where he looked after the welfare of Singapore students in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
It was a heady and exciting time for Theresa and Kwee Choo during his tour of duty as a diplomat. They were invited to many important functions. Once, to accompany the newly appointed Singapore High Commisioner, Kwee Choo even travelled to Buckingham Palace in a horse-drawn carriage to meet Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. In later years, Kwee Choo was also the Chief of Protocol during the Queen’s first visit to Singapore in 1972.
It was not until 1976, 14 years after her baptism in 1962, that the Spirit of the Lord touched Theresa in a life-changing and transformative way.
Loss, Love and God’s Providence
Theresa, who celebrated her 88th birthday in August 2024, attended St Anthony’s Convent in 1947, two years after the war ended.
The war years had not been easy for Theresa’s family. She was the second youngest in a family of 10 children (subsequently eight, as two died young), born to her Straits-born parents. She recalls: “We were living at a friend’s home in Lorong 19 in Geylang when the Japanese invaded and occupied Singapore for more than three years.2 I remember all of us squeezing underneath a solid table, with sandbags piled all around, whenever there was an air raid siren. We were really alarmed by the constant bombing, which destroyed many houses. After Lorong 19, we went on to stay at many other places.”
Just before the Japanese surrender in September 1945, Theresa’s father died as a result of a colon problem. He was only 54 years old, and Theresa was just nine. Her eldest brother, Johnny Teo, who was about 30 years older than Theresa, then assumed the responsibility of looking after their mother and the younger siblings.
To support the family, Johnny tried making tomato ketchup using various types of melon. His efforts eventually paid off, and the tomato ketchup was a success. Johnny also went on to successfully make and sell Johnnyson’s Chilli Sauce, inspired by the Penang-made Lingham’s Chilli Sauce that had been around since 1908. Two of Theresa’s siblings helped out in Johnny’s factory.
In 1953, there was a shortage of nurses at Singapore General Hospital (SGH), which was then the country’s largest tertiary care hospital. While Theresa was studying at St Anthony’s Convent, an English senior nursing tutor came to the school to recruit nurses. By then, her brother’s chilli sauce business was not faring too well, and their mother wanted Theresa to get a clerical job, but she was not keen on a desk job.
“So when this nursing tutor came to our class to recruit, I seized the opportunity. I sat for the entrance exam and was accepted. However, I was still underaged at that time; I missed the cut-off age of 17 years and six months by just two months. So I worked for two months in the ward before starting my training at SGH. Once I qualified as a trained nurse, I went on to train for a year as a midwife at Kandang Kerbau (KK) Hospital. After KK, I went back to work with SGH and was with them for eight years. During that time, I could request to work in different specialities. That’s how I went through most of the wards as I could be transferred every four months. My monthly salary at that time was $165, of which $55 went to food and my room at the nurses’ hostel.”
During her days as a nurse, Theresa attended many dance parties with her friends. She was interested in all types of dances, including the tango, rhumba, cha cha, waltz and foxtrot. Together with her nursing friends, she frequented the dance venue at the Ambassador Hotel as well as the open-air dance floor at West Point Gardens in Pasir Panjang. “I especially loved the tango, but only with a good partner. I also loved jiving. The medical students at SGH would also organise parties at the large dance hall in our nursing hostel.”
It was love at first sight for Ng Kwee Choo when he first set eyes on Theresa in July 1961. Theresa’s friend, Elsie, had arranged for a group blind date with Kwee Choo and several other young men. That evening, Kwee Choo monopolised the dance floor with Theresa, knowing in his heart, “She’s the right girl for me!”.
At that time, Theresa was only interested in dancing. She was not keen on guys, but she was attracted to Ng Kwee Choo when they met. She recalls: “I knew from a friend that Kwee Choo was a religious guy, and looking back, I realised that the Lord had a hand in this match. There were others who were keen on me, but somehow, I was not interested in them.”
After their first meeting, Kwee Choo courted Theresa with much passion and determination. He called her several times a day and found every excuse to visit her at Brener’s House, the nurses’ hostel where she was staying.
Kwee Choo soon popped the question: “You think it’s okay for us to get married?”. Theresa was surprised but said yes as she felt that Kwee Choo really needed her for the rest of his life. They were engaged in January 1962, just six months after meeting, and married on 1 September that same year, with the Rev Gunnar Teilmann3 officiating their wedding.
In Kwee Choo’s speech at their golden wedding anniversary celebration in 2012, he said: “To me, Theresa is worth far more than rubies. Loving, capable and industrious, she has been a source of great strength and tremendous support to me for the past five decades. Whenever I go on a mission trip, she would double up as my mission partner as well as my ‘private nurse’. Indeed, I am what I am today due much to her prayer and intercession for me. And I thank God for such a wonderful, loving wife.”
Vivienne, their eldest daughter, affirms her parents’ love and tenderness for one another through their six decades of marriage: “Dad and Mum loved each other tenderly and deeply. He would always look out for her in every aspect, while Mum took care of my Dad’s practical needs, including nursing him through his last months in 2022 when his lymphoma flared up. Till then, she faithfully sat through his many sermons and talks, both in churches locally and overseas and in the mission field, and gave him feedback on how he could improve.
“They did everything together—went out together, ate all meals together—every day, and they shared the same heart for missions and evangelism. While my mother would probably have liked to do more in terms of her own ministry and mix with her own friends, she loyally followed him to support him in the mission field, where she herself ministered to other women.”
“We Were the Right Ones for Each Other”
Kwee Choo went home to the Lord in August 2022, shortly after he celebrated his 87th birthday. They were soul-mates in the true sense of the word. From Kwee Choo’s memoirs, it is clear that both have held on tightly to the vows they had made, knowing without doubt that they were the “right ones” for each other.
“We did almost everything together for the Lord, with Kwee Choo preaching the Word of God as often as he could while I was busy bringing lost souls into God’s kingdom. Kwee Choo made a vow to God at a Billy Graham Crusade in Sydney, Australia that he would serve Him after he obtained his university degree. And this he was finally able to do, with all his heart and soul, after the baptism of the Holy Spirit in 1979 until he was ill with cancer of the colon. Since his passing, I have felt so lost and sad. Now that he is no longer with me, I don’t feel like going to places of interest anymore, although my daughters and sons-in-law have asked me to join them in their travels.
“I try my best to live my life without him by leaning heavily on the Lord, who has always been my best friend, Lord and Saviour. May the praises of God be on my lips and His strength be on me for the rest of my life.”
Theirs has been a marriage of bliss and contentment, but they also had their share of ups and downs in the earlier years. “We experienced many problems in the early years of our marriage, as I was not submissive to God and my husband. Telling the Lord that I gave up hope on trying to change my husband, I resorted to praying for him instead. And the Lord miraculously changed him to be a more loving husband.”
Indeed, it was not always plain sailing.
Kwee Choo was baptised at WMC in 1955. He studied at the Anglo-Chinese schools at Coleman Street and Barker Road and even scored a distinction in Religious Knowledge in his Cambridge School Certificate Exams. He was a member of the Boys’ Brigade (BB) and was awarded the Queen’s Badge, the highest BB award. He attended church regularly, read the Bible daily, prayed regularly, taught at Sunday School and even sang in the church choir.
Yet, in his memoir, Kwee Choo confessed to being the personification of hypocrisy. Theresa called him a twah gui tao (Teochew for ‘big devil head’). One Christmas Eve in the early years, Kwee Choo and his friends hid away their poker game just before a carolling party rang the doorbell of the house they were at. They did this successfully, and looking back, Kwee Choo recalled in his memoir: “God had seen through our hypocrisy, especially mine. I must have deeply grieved the Holy Spirit, especially when God had been so gracious and merciful to me. In spite of my sins, God did not compel me to come back to Him. He wanted me to return to Him on my own free will to lead a godly life.”
In 1975, the Lord guided Theresa and Kwee Choo to Professor Khoo Oon Teik’s4 Bible Study group. Here they grew spiritually as they were exposed to the anointed teachings of overseas speakers, invited by Professor Khoo to share with the group.
Reflecting on the earlier years of her marriage and her personal encounter with the Lord, Theresa shares: “I had received Jesus only as my Saviour, not the Lord of my life, after my baptism in 1962. I didn’t like reading the Bible or singing hymns during worship services. I had problems with my mother-in-law. I was not able to pray well. One day, I just cried out to God in desperation, ‘Jesus help me!’ Not long after that, during a Holy Communion Sunday service in 1976, after Rev Dr Tony Chi preached on repentance, I truly repented of my many sins before the Lord. There and then, the Lord showed me that my sins were forgiven. In my mind’s eye, I could see Jesus nailed to the cross with outstretched arms, wearing a crown of thorns on his head and bending downwards. I felt the forgiving love of God overflowing within me. I also felt like a small ant before the Almighty God. After receiving communion, we sang the hymn Jesus Calls Us, O’er the Tumult. And as we sang, I began to weep profusely, knowing that I had not loved Jesus as I should have.”
That was the turning point in Theresa’s spiritual life. Since then, nothing has been more joyful and important for her than praising and worshipping God and reading the Bible.
For Kwee Choo, it was not until September 1979 that he experienced the outpouring of the Holy Spirit after responding to an invitation by the speaker, Bishop Chiu Ban It5, at a house meeting. Initially, nothing happened when the bishop and others prayed over Kwee Choo and laid hands on him. At 2am the following morning, however, he was awakened by wave after wave of warm sensations flowing through his body. Kwee Choo experienced tremendous joy and peace in his heart and received the gift of tongues as well.
Kwee Choo’s spiritual awakening in September 1979 was life-transforming, and it was indeed God’s gracious answer to Theresa’s faithful prayers for her beloved husband after her own spiritual awakening three years earlier in 1976.
From then on, both he and Theresa started to serve the Lord together. They attended many teaching seminars organised by WMC as well as the Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International (Singapore). They grew spiritually from strength to strength. Then the Lord led them on mission trips with the International Christian Mission (Singapore) to places like Siberia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Sabah, Indonesia, Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar and East Asia.
“What the Lord Longs for Is That We Believe Utterly”
These words from the devotional booklet by Selwyn Hughes, Everyday with Jesus, were part of the commentary which Theresa read one day after she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1995.
“I was told that it was breast cancer after I had a biopsy done on a lump in my left breast. My surgeon said it had to be removed completely, together with some lymph nodes. I was baffled and shocked. I asked the Lord, ‘Why me? What have I done wrong? What have I left undone? More importantly, would going for the operation glorify Your name?’ At that time I was witnessing to my sister-in-law, who had womb cancer with secondary spread to other parts of her body. I was telling her that Jesus could heal her if only she would put her faith and trust in Him for salvation and healing.
“Yet I was apprehensive and anxious myself. The verse from Everyday with Jesus that day was 1 John 5:4: ‘… for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.’ As I read Selwyn Hughes’ commentary on the wilderness experience, my fear began to subside, and my faith began to rise. He longs for us to believe utterly, with every layer of our minds, in sunshine and shade, in prosperity and adversity, in good times and bad times, in winter and summer. Selwyn Hughes also assured that heaven rejoices when a Christian absorbs God’s grace and stays true to Christ in the midst of the most fiery trials. I went through the operation with the Lord by my side. Everything went smoothly and well, and my recovery was very speedy. On the day of my discharge, one Indian nurse said to me, ‘I can see your God is with you.’”
Through this anxious time, the Lord brought both Theresa and Kwee Choo closer to each other. They began to appreciate each other more. In the speech he gave at their golden anniversary celebration in 2012, Kwee Choo revealed that after Theresa was diagnosed with breast cancer: “I was totally devastated. I would cry uncontrollably as I was afraid to lose her. I prayed to God to preserve her life, and I thank God that He did.”
In June 1996, a year after Theresa had her operation, both she and Kwee Choo travelled to Buryatia, Siberia to attend a five-day conference with pastors from different parts of the region. It was a historic get-together, being the first inter-denominational conference held in Buryatia. On their last day, Kwee Choo passed black stools. Upon returning to Singapore, he was admitted for a battery of tests and was diagnosed with low-grade lymphoma. Over the subsequent 16 years, the cancer spread to other parts of his body.
A few months later, while they were holidaying in Switzerland, Kwee Choo woke up one night with his heart filled with grief over the hurts that he had inflicted upon Theresa in the early years of their marriage. He silently wept, asked God for forgiveness and vowed to treasure Theresa as he had never done before for the remaining years of their lives. A few days later, as they were trying to turn in for the night, Kwee Choo told Theresa about his slight anxiety over his stomach cancer. Theresa laid her hand on his stomach and prayed for him.
Then, the clock they had bought as a gift for a friend started to chime. Theresa said: “We both burst out laughing. We laughed and laughed uncontrollably. The laughter was spontaneous and uncontrollable, and it must have lasted 10 to 15 minutes. We believe that it was the Holy Spirit who gave us this holy laughter to transform our mourning into rejoicing.”
“I Wanted to be Better Equipped to Serve the Lord”
Theresa loved singing and worshipping the Lord. Some of her favourite hymns are Jesus I Worship You; I Worship You, Almighty God; How Great Thou Art; Be Still My Soul; There Is None Like You; and I Love You, Lord.
She never failed to volunteer to lead worship, but she was not certain if she was doing it the right way. So Theresa signed up for a four-month course at Tung Ling Bible School in 1984, to better equip herself in leading worship and deepen her knowledge of God’s Word.
“The course I took at Tung Ling was then known as ‘short-term Bible school’. We were taught many subjects and read the whole Bible in a day or two. We had to lead worship and devotions in front of all the students and lecturers.”
Other members from Prof Khoo’s Wednesday Group had attended the same course at Tung Ling before Theresa, including Nellie Svasti and Anne Ng.
Anne’s husband, Philip Ng, who passed away in 2011, was a classmate of Kwee Choo’s from Anglo-Chinese Secondary School. Anne recalls their long friendship: “I remember Kwee Choo to be a very humble person who loved to read and was ready to share the gospel whenever an opportunity arose. I very much admire Theresa too, as she is a truly caring person. The four of us once went to a small town in Malaysia, where Kwee Choo preached a sermon and Philip shared his testimony.”
Anne continues: “My time at Tung Ling was very meaningful and beneficial. I remember we took a number of subjects, including one on the Tabernacle of Moses… and another on Solomon’s Song of Songs. I will always be grateful to Professor Khoo, whom I still regard as my ‘spiritual father’, for enrolling me in this course.”
Theresa recalls: “After completing the course at Tung Ling, I became a lot more confident in leading worship and more grounded in God’s Word!” This grounding would help to equip Theresa to give talks during the many mission trips she accompanied Kwee Choo on over the years. These talks included Becoming a Woman of God, which she gave at a workshop for women in Buryatia, and Women of Praise, Prayer & Power at a women’s conference in Kathmandu, Nepal. In addition to sharing her personal testimony, one of Theresa’s favourite topics was to emphasise the importance of the Fruit of the Holy Spirit in shaping character.
Through the years, especially after his Pentecostal experience in 1979, Kwee Choo often consulted and collaborated with Theresa on the many sermons and meditations he delivered in churches, conferences, workshops and seminars.
Once, while they were on holiday in Switzerland, Kwee Choo was inspired by the Matterhorn, a near-symmetrical pyramidal peak in the Swiss Alps and one of the highest summits in Europe. Theresa recalls: “We took a train ride up to Gornergrat, where we could view the magnificent grandeur of the Matterhorn. While warming ourselves with a hot bowl of goulash and feasting our eyes on the view of this mountain, Kwee Choo commented that the Lord had put in his heart the ‘ingredients’ required to be a ‘Matterhorn Christian’. After we returned to our apartment, we discussed this together and came up with three ingredients—unshakeable faith in God, rugged, massive and solid like the mountain; purity of life, spotlessly clean and white as the snow-capped mountain; and worshipfulness, like the peak pointing heavenward in communion with its Creator.”
Theresa was also serving very actively with the Women’s Society of Christian Service (WSCS). She served for about 12 years at WMC, including as Vice President, and for close to eight years at the Trinity Annual Conference (TRAC) level. She was also involved in the WMC Breast Cancer Support Group for about 10 years, under the leadership of Esther Chelliah.
Living and Leaving a Legacy of Faithfulness
Kwee Choo and Theresa moved in to live with their eldest daughter, Vivienne, and her family a few months before his passing in August 2022. Since then, Theresa has continued to live in her own comfortable ‘wing’ on the ground floor of Vivienne and her husband David Mok’s home.
In this season of her life, Theresa occupies her days reading and meditating on God’s Word, attending GYM (Glowing Years Ministry) activities, as well as studying the Bible with the Faber Re-Grouped Small Group6 twice a month. She also helps to care for the foster children whom Vivienne brings to live in her home as part of the Home for Good (Singapore)7 fostering network.
Theresa and Kwee Choo’s children, and their five grandchildren, have been blessed with a legacy of what it means to obey and serve the Lord. Their eldest grandson, Ethan Mok, son of Vivienne and David, shares: “Growing up, I somewhat took for granted that they were involved with missions so much—I figured it was simply what one did when one retires. I only appreciated later in life that it is a rare and beautiful thing to be still so active for the kingdom in one’s golden years.
“I saw their faith in the way they spoke to their grandchildren and in my grandfather’s writings. Grandma and Grandpa were firmly grounded in God’s Word and wholeheartedly committed to the Lord, and they took every opportunity to impart values and wisdom to others, be it through writing or casual conversation.
“Grandma and Grandpa, through the years, would always say that they were praying for us. Again, I took that for granted. It only hit me just a few years ago, when Grandma reminded me that she and Grandpa were praying for my wife and me every day. Somehow, at that moment, I knew that she was telling the truth—that they were really praying for their grandchildren every single day. Grandpa would also speak about his daily morning quiet times with Grandma, spending time in prayer, in the Word and singing hymns. That is the kind of shared faith and devotion to the Lord that inspires me and that I hope to have in my own marriage as well.”
Vivienne adds: “Without a doubt, my mother is a prayer warrior and has been interceding for my sister, Patricia, and me, as well as her grandchildren. I have been inspired by her to persevere in prayer and to recognise the importance and reality of intercession; to love God’s Word and not to be ashamed of the gospel; and to speak conversationally about God and Jesus to friends and strangers.”
For her loved ones, this is Theresa’s prayer: “Follow in your father’s and grandfather’s footsteps of living a life of love, honesty, integrity and holiness before the Lord. Walk closely with Him, dwell daily in His Word and spend time in His presence.”
And indeed, Theresa continues to live this by example, leaning on her Lord and Saviour every day.