Popiah King's late son Ben Goi ordered Valentine's Day bouquet for wife Tracy Lee before he died

Choo Yun Ting
The Straits Times
Feb 15, 2019

She was not expecting a bouquet of flowers for Valentine's Day this year after her husband, businessman Ben Goi, son of Popiah King Sam Goi, died earlier this month.

But, on Thursday (Feb 14), Ms Tracy Lee posted a photograph of her late husband and a bouquet of flowers on Instagram.

Mr Goi had ordered the flower arrangement before he died.

She had been relatively quiet on the social media platform since news broke of her husband's passing.

Ms Lee's long Instagram post drew attention from netizens, who commented on her post with encouragement and admiration for the love that Ms Lee and Mr Goi shared.

In her post on Thursday, Ms Lee wrote in Chinese: "Thank you hubby for giving me love and comfort, even though I don't ask for surprises, you always have your way of making me smile."

His pragmatism was one of the reasons why she loved him, Ms Lee wrote.

"Although outsiders have not approved of our relationship, and have even made nasty comments, but I know that I married you because I found someone who never thought of leaving no matter how much of a fuss I made," her post continued.

"That is why I trusted you with my life, to build our future together."

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bt3HN3pD_E7/

She wrote: "Regardless of how unwilling I am to let go, or how much I don't understand, I still have much to be thankful for."

In her post, Ms Lee shared that in 2018, she only remembered that it was Valentine's Day when she saw one of her late husband's photos on social media.

"This year, as usual, I'm not celebrating Valentine's Day... but there is extra comfort from you, knowing that you're thinking about us, that you did not mean to leave me and our child behind," she wrote.

"I know that you couldn't bear to leave either, but I know that you are no longer in pain, and that you tried your best."

"My dear, thank you, words cannot describe my feelings but thank you, I love you hubby," she added, with the hashtag #HappyValentine'sDay.

On Friday evening, there were more than 13,000 likes on Ms Lee's post, with many of them telling her to take care and stay strong.

Mr Ben Goi was chief operating officer of Tee Yih Jia, a food manufacturing business which his father expanded from a manufacturer of popiah (spring roll) skin into a global Asian food company.

He and Ms Lee welcomed their first child, a son, in February last year.

He was 43 when he died on Feb 3 of a stroke in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, while visiting his wife's family for Chinese New Year.

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