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Save for later ANNA LEE: _Aunt. Trailblazer. Traveller. Caregiver. Born March 17, 1929, in Windsor, Ont., died April 25, 2020 in Toronto, of COVID-19; aged 91._ Anna Lee was born to

immigrant parents during the Great Depression and trailblazed her way through life. She was an independent single woman, a proud aunt who bragged about her nieces and nephews. But bragging

rights truly belonged to Aunt Anna. Strong family ties were innate to Anna. Her mother, Lena, was incapacitated shortly after Anna was born and her father, Ping, and three older siblings

raised her. Anna did not know her mother until she was old enough to accompany Ping to the hospital. Later in life she would care for her father and brothers at the end of their lives. Ever

kind-hearted, Anna doted on her rambunctious dogs, Buster and Butch, and geriatric cat, Button. They could do no wrong, even when they did. Two defining attributes would propel her

scholastically - “fast reader” and “night owl.” Anna could read an entire novel in one night. She had watched her older brothers attending university, concluded that’s the way life was, and

followed suit. By 1952, when few women attended university, let alone as a visible minority, she was one of just five women to graduate from the University of Toronto with a BSc in

chemistry. Were jobs in the field of science open to women at that time? Who knows? But we do know that Anna joined the family business, Dragon Brand Foods, in Windsor, Ont. She worked in

commerce and merchandising and the job launched Anna into what came next. When her family sold the food business and began to import arts and crafts from the People’s Republic of China, Anna

was among the second group of Canadians to visit China after Communist Party rule was established in 1949. This was one of many trips she would make during her lifetime, travelling

throughout Canada, the U.S., China and Southeast Asia, sometimes with family, often on her own. Part of the new business meant long days and nights at gift shows, including Toronto’s

Canadian National Exhibition. Her nieces and nephews came to help pack up delicate china, jade and porcelain ware. When all was boxed, everyone would head out for late-night Chinese food.

When Anna’s older sister-in-law died, Anna was still a university student, but she made a valiant effort to help raise her young nieces – with humorous results. One time she tried to give

Cynthia a perm, but it was an unmitigated disaster. No hair brush or comb would pass through the resulting tangle. Anna’s eating out was legendary, even in her later years, once going for

dim sum and ordering three of everything on the menu, never minding what anyone thought. “Eat up,” was her mantra. She also never wanted to miss a good party. In 2019, she attended one last

family wedding, thoroughly enjoying the dissecting of and feasting on her plateful of shrimp. The independent Anna struggled to make peace with her walker, then her wheelchair. She continued

to be a night owl, to the everlasting confusion of her caregivers who, when morning rolled around, would discover that Anna was finally ready for bed. Eventually, she moved to assisted

living in downtown Toronto (because it was “central and everyone could visit”). Unfortunately, her home was one of many overwhelmed by COVID-19 in the spring. She was among the many who

died. We will remember her spirit of adventure and her ability to laugh through hard times. She was always there for us, wherever we were in the world. _Cynthia Street is Anna’s niece._ _To

submit a Lives Lived: [email protected]_ _Lives Lived celebrates the everyday, extraordinary, unheralded lives of Canadians who have recently passed. To learn how to share the story

of a family member or friend, go to __tgam.ca/livesguide__._