Of the 209 overseas missionaries who served in the Sarawak Methodist Church, three - Ng Tuck Wai, Lam Khuan Seng and Lee Bee Jin (known as Lilye Lau after her marriage) - were from Peninsular Malaya.
Ng was born on November 19, 1923, in Ipoh, Perak. He was the eldest son of Ng Jee Wong and his wife Peh Yong. The elder Ng was a lay leader of the Chinese congregation of the Wesley Methodist Church in Ipoh.
After completing his studies at the Anglo-Chinese School in Ipoh in 1941, Ng Tuck Wai worked in a business firm while serving diligently in Wesley Methodist Church as the vice president of the youth fellowship, conductor of the church choir, and a Sunday School teacher. Ng set up Sunday School in Sungai Siput (a town about 87km from Ipoh) together with some youths and over the course of three Sundays, they recruited 165 children.
In 1947, after listening to the district superintendent, Rev Burr Baughman, share about the gospel work amongst the Ibans in Sarawak, Ng felt called to be a full-time missionary to serve the Ibans. In 1952, during the Malaya Annual Conference, he was assigned as the first missionary from the Malaya Methodist Church to serve the Iban communities in Kapit, Sarawak, as a teacher. He was also the first missionary from Ipoh Wesley Methodist Church.
On July 1, 1951, Ng was officially sent by Ipoh Wesley Methodist Church to serve as a foreign missionary (“foreign” because Sarawak was then a British crown colony). He arrived in Sarawak, the other side of the South China Sea, to teach at the Methodist Secondary School in Kapit.
Lam Khuan Seng, also from Ipoh, went to Sarawak around the same time as a volunteer teacher to work with Rev Baughman for three months. However, after more than a month, Lam felt that his calling was not with the Ibans and he left to work in the dental faculty of the University of Malaya.
In 1952, Ng was posted to the Kapit district to serve in the Methodist school and hostel. He served with Rev Baughman's wife, Madam Teck Lin. Rev Baughman, in his report to the Malayan Annual Conference in 1952, wrote that Ng was a man of great potential and competence, especially in his work at the school. In the middle of 1953 when Rev Baughman returned to the US on furlough, Ng was appointed to oversee the churches in Kapit.
The then district superintendent, Rev Louis R. Dennis, wrote in his December 2, 1953 district report that Ng was the only pastor-in-charge of the Sarawak Annual Conference, with two assistants who were his helpers at the Methodist school. In April the following year, he set up the youth fellowship, inviting only the three senior classes to join the fellowship. The response from the students was good and even the Malay students participated. The work among youths in Kapit got off to a good start.
In 1954, Ng was transferred from Kapit to Sungai Majau and Nanga Melinau, further upstream of the Rejang River. Every Sunday morning, he would lead the worship at various longhouses. Once a month at least, he would visit different fellowship groups.
After serving in Kapit for five years, Ng left Sarawak to further his studies in America in May 1956. He graduated in 1961 with a Bachelor of Science degree from Berea College, Kentucky and in 1963, he obtained his Master’s Degree of Science in Industrial Arts Education from Bradley University, Illinois.
He was employed by the Washington County Board of Education until his retirement in 1989. After he retired, he taught woodworking and sculpture at Homewood Retirement Village. He was a member of the Hagerstown Choral Arts and worked with the literacy group teaching adults to read and write. He was also a member of Halfway Trinity Church.
Ng married Marjorie @ Margie Louise Harvey in 1967 when he was 44. She was born on May 2, 1936 in Kitzmiller, Maryland, the daughter of a farmer. After graduating from the Alderson-Broaddus College, West Virginia, with a degree in nursing, Marjorie worked at Broaddus Hospital. She was the pianist at her church, a counsellor in the youth and adult fellowship and the conductor of the children's choir. She also served as an instructor for the student and youth fellowships.
Ng died at the age of 88 in 2012. He was survived by Marjorie and their son, Mike.
