“I read in all the tributes written about Mr. Ho. There was little mention of his days when he first started a private high school in Toronto. No one knew much about his life back then. He was new to the country and the education environment. He had little time to socialize for he was busy exploring opportunities to find something to do. What better way than to continue doing what he was good at, in the education field.
When I joined him a year later in 1978, the two of us, with the help of Prof. Kong Shui Loon, started the foundation of the school ‘York Herbart School’, on Yonge/Bloor, downtown Toronto. Ho Sir worked tirelessly, going back to H.K. to recruit students 3 times a year. When students arrived at Pearson Airport, we had to pick them up, drove them to their residence, and then called their parents to notify them of safe arrival. Many times when flights were delayed, we had to stay at the airport waiting till early morning. No one realized how dedicated Mr. Ho was to his duty as a principal/teacher in a foreign country. After the students had settled down in the homes, Mr. Ho even drove them grocery shopping, buying rice, soya sauce, etc.
All this went on for more than 4/5 years till we expanded to a larger facility on College Street/Ossington when we had more resources and could hire more staff to help. Looking back I marvel at Mr. Ho’s resourcefulness and dedication to his duty. Numerous times in summer/winter I would gladly stay in bed when he called to say there was a flood/break-in in the basement of the school and we had to go downtown immediately to investigate.
No one is much aware of Mr. Ho’s life in the seventies and eighties and so I write to let you take a peep to fill in the void. It would be a shame not to recognize his contribution to society and the nurture to his students, in H.K. and Canada. Many of the students we first had in Canada are now Canadian citizens forming part of the mosaic society, contributing to the well-being of Canada as a whole.”
~ Ms. Gertrude Chan
