Obituary — Geoffrey O'Young

It is with great sadness and sorrow that we announce the passing away of our beloved Old Scout Geoffrey O’Young 歐陽仁賢 (Class 5A - 1956). Geoffrey had suffered from illness and sadly passed away on 25th August 2013 in Sydney.

Geoffrey was best known for his passion and commitment in Scouting, within our 15th Hong Kong Group and he held key Commissioner posts in the Hong Kong Island Region. He was well-liked by all who have had the pleasure of working with him. His contribution in giving good trainings to the scouting community is well recognized and this has formed a firm foundation to how successful Hong Kong Scouting later became. Likewise, Geoffrey had built for 15th HKG a solid and sustainable development platform, which played no minor part in what Wah Yan Scouting has developed into nowadays.

His loves were in many fields including orienteering techniques, knotting and his greatest interest was in pioneering projects. He always enjoyed teaching scouts of all ages in the conventional skill of knotting and the not-so-conventional ideas in putting to use such skills when designing and executing a pioneering project. A tall fellow at over 6 foot, yet never felt distant even for a Primary 4 Cub Scout as his other passion was campfire music. For years he had visited Pun U Cub Scout meetings teaching scout songs to our primary Cubs.

After retirement in 1986 he migrated to Australia. He remained active and kept in close contact with the old scouts and the Wah Yan community. An avid sportsman, he played tennis almost every week enjoying his retirement.

Geoffrey had a family of 3, his widow Hermia and his son Wayne who is married and has brought to the family one Granddaughter. They all live in Sydney. A memorial Service was undertaken in Sydney on 31st August. On our part, we shall hold a Requiem Mass in the Wah Yan chapel on Monday 16th September at 7:30pm. All are welcome.

Geoffrey will be missed by us all but his most distinguished characteristic or impression which parted on many of us who know him will be his most gentlemanly demeanour. The tenacity he demonstrated to us in Scouting will remain with us forever. Like many of our mentors in Scouting, Geoffrey will live forever as an icon, as a model and as a goal for those of us who try to be a good Wahyanite.

Finally, we wish to share with everyone a small piece of Geoffrey’s sense of humour. Whenever he was confronting by a bunch of young scouts, he would say "I am neither old nor young, I am O'Young !"