Graves at Masjid Semabok, Melaka
FAMILY ACCOUNTS OF WALID'S DEMISE
Walid's demise was a great loss to his family.
The actual date of Walid's demise is unknown. Nobody seems to remember.
There is no written record of Walid's demise.
His tombstone lies under a fallen periphery wall of the graveyard at Masjid Semabok. It is difficult to remove the fallen wall and recover Walid's tombstone.
Possible date of Walid's demise:
FAMILY ACCOUNTS OF WALID'S DEMISE
Walid's demise was a great loss to his family.
The actual date of Walid's demise is unknown. Nobody seems to remember.
There is no written record of Walid's demise.
His tombstone lies under a fallen periphery wall of the graveyard at Masjid Semabok. It is difficult to remove the fallen wall and recover Walid's tombstone.
Possible date of Walid's demise:
- late July 1953
- circa 20-30 July 1953
- early August 1953
- circa 1-7 August 1953
- July/August 1953
Bapak's father (Walid) died a month before Bapak completed his studies at Kirkby College and returned to Malaya.
Bapak was most probably not informed about Walid's demise, but he must have sensed that something was wrong since Walid had suddenly stopped communicating with him. His mother couldn't read nor write. Bapak was devastated when he came home and learnt that his father had died. His best friend was gone forever. Bapak always told me, when his father died he shouldered full responsibility to look after his mother and young siblings. There was nobody else who could help his family. Many of his siblings were still underage children.
His mother (my Nenek Inchek) also told me the same story when I was a teenager - her husband Walid died while my father was still studying. Walid died a month before my father returned to Malaya. They did not inform my father because they did not want him to worry, which could affect his studies. Nenek Inchek said they waited till my father reached home to tell him the sad news.
His siblings shared their bitterness about their father's sudden demise, being orphaned, and being left without any financial assistance. Mak Bedah related Walid's demise. She said she was just 10 years old when Walid died. She sat near Walid's feet and held his toes when he died. I think she was older; she was actually 14+.
Date of Walid's demise
There were 2 possible dates of Walid's demise:
- Walid died in July/August 1953, one month before Bapak returned from Kirkby (from me)
- Walid died in January 1954, 4 months after Bapak returned from Kirkby (from Bapak, 2007).
- Bapak told Nuraishah his father died on 4 january 1954.
Cause of Walid's demise
Walid died of hypertension (HPT) and atherosclerosis (from Bapak, 2007).
I guess he probably had an aneurysm, a burst blood vessel, something haemorrhagic, or a fatal hemorrhagic event.
The family said he died of a heart attack.
The family account described he felt some pain at the base of the head. Then he laid down, and his children gathered around him, and he died.
I don't have his death certificate to be able to describe his cause of death.
Possible causes of Walid's death:
- hypertension (HPT) and atherosclerosis - from Bapak (2007)
- heart attack - based on family account
- pain at the base of the head - based on family account (Mak Bedah, 2015)
- hemorraghic event at the base of the brain - from me
Walid's age at death
Status of Walid's children when he died
I don't know which aunts & uncles were already married when Walid died.
Ages of Walid's children when he died
Below are the ages of Walid's children when he died. Their ages ranged from 8 years to 32 years:
- Mak Ainon (32) -- she was married since her eldest daughter Kak Hawa is much older than Abang Sharif. She probably married at 18 in 1939 (start of WWII).
- Child died as infant
- Che Nah (29) -- she was not married yet. She married late in her 50s in the 1970s.
- Mak Lah (27+) -- she was married. She probably married at 18 in 1944. Her eldest son is older than Abang Sharif. Bapak was still a kampung boy when Mak Lah married (there is a photo of a group of kampung boys with tulisan Jawi on the back).
- Child died as infant
- Mak Sarah (25) -- she was not married yet. Her eldest child Kak Fatimah/Rahimah Atan is Abang Sharif's age (born 1956). She probably married at 27 in 1955.
- Pak Bakar (23) -- he was not married yet. His 2 children are younger than me. He married in Singapore.
- Bapak (21+) -- Bapak married at 24 in 1955. Abang Sharif was born on 29 Oct 1956.
- Mak Nya (19+) -- she was not married yet. She married at 21 in 1954. Her eldest son Abdul Wahid (Rahim was born 12 June 1955) is older than Abang Sharif.
- Bik Wa (18) -- Form 5. She was still a schoolgirl.
- Pak Cik Pau (16+) -- Form 4. He was still a schoolboy.
- Mak Bedah (14+) -- Form 2. She was still a schoolgirl.
- Pak Din (13) -- Form 1. He was still a schoolboy. I remember he stayed with us and was a young man.
- Mak Sekmah (11+) -- Std 6. She was still a primary schoolgirl.
- Pak Salleh (8) -- Std 2. He just started primary school. I remember he stayed with us and was a teenager.
Bapak's responsibilities after Walid's demise
Only Mak Ainon and Mak Lah were married when Walid passed away in 1953. Bapak must have looked after 9 of his 13 surviving siblings, and his mother. That was what he meant by his responsibility (I think of it as a burden). Imagine a 21-year old working to support 10 others. It must have been hard for him. The rest of the siblings were raised by Bapak and got married the following year or later.
Siblings' marriages
Approximate date of marriage of Bapak's siblings:
- Mak Ainon (32) -- She probably married at 18 in 1939 (start of WWII).
- Child died as infant
- Che Nah (29) -- She married late in her 50s in the 1970s.
- Mak Lah (27+) -- She probably married at 18 in 1944, and Bapak was about 13.
- Child died as infant
- Mak Sarah (25) -- She probably married at 27 in early 1955 -- same year Bapak got married.
- Pak Bakar (23) -- He probably married in the 1960s in Singapore.
- Bapak (21+) -- Bapak married at 24 in 1955, 2 years after Walid died.
- Mak Nya (19+) -- She married at 21 in 1954, after Walid died & before Bapak got married.
- Bik Wa (18) -- She probably married at 23 in 1958.
- Pak Cik Pau (16+) -- He probably married at 26 in 1960.
- Mak Bedah (14+) -- She probably married at 30 in 1968.
- Pak Din (13) -- He probably married at 29 in 1969.
- Mak Sekmah (11+) -- She probably married at 18 in 1959.
- Pak Salleh (8) -- He probably married at 25 in 1970.
Mak Ainon and Mak Lah were already married when Walid died in 1953. So Bapak had to look after 9 of his 13 siblings till they all got married after Walid died. They started marrying a year after Walid died, beginning with Mak Nya (1954), then Mak Sarah (early 1955), Bapak (Dec 1955), Bik Wa (1958), Mak Sekmah (1959), Pak Cik Pau & Pak Bakar (1960), Mak Bedah (1968), Pak Din (1969), and finally Pak Salleh (1970).
Mak Ainon, Mak Lah, Mak Nya, and Mak Sarah were married before I was born.
Mak Ainon and Mak Lah were married before Walid died in 1953.
Mak Nya and Mak Sarah married after Walid died and before I was born.
I was a little girl (before going to school) when Bik Wa, Mak Sekma, Pak Cik Pau, and Pak Bakar married.
I was a primary schoolgirl when Mak Bedah married to Pak Hitam. I remember she was single and then married Pak Hitam. She brought us to her husband's bungalow on a hill, where I met her 8 step-sons.
I was a young teenager when Pak Din and Pak Salleh married. I remember looking at a photo of Mak Cik Fauziah before she married to Pak Din. I remember attending Pak Salleh's wedding.
After all his 9 siblings were married, Bapak had to take care of Mak Sarah as her husband recently died, while she was pregnant with her youngest son. Her husband had slipped, drowned and died in Port Klang while working (angkat guni barang) at the wharf. I remember she moved back to Banda Hilir to live in her own house which Bapak and his brothers built. Bapak helped to look after Mak Sarah and her children. I remember HABHAL also came from Singapore to Mak Sarah's house, wearing a white suit with a necktie and a red fez (tarbus merah). He was a fair mamak ... like a Turkish man.
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