Lo Hing So

Basic Biographical Data

Pastor Lo Hing So was born on January 19, 1916, in Foshan (佛山), Guangdong (廣東). His father, Lo Sun Choy (羅新才), was the first national ordained minister in the Hakka Mission, South China. His mother, Madam Chan Shun Tak (陳信德), was among the early batch of graduates from Bethel School for Girls (伯特利女學堂) in Guangzhou (廣州), the first Adventist girls’ school in South China. Since his childhood, Lo Hing So traveled with his parents itinerating among the Hakka people. He was home schooled until age twelve, when he was sent to Sam Yuk School at Dongshan (東山), Guangzhou.

In 1934 he attended China Training Institute (中華三育研究社), the Adventist junior college at Qiaotouzhen (橋頭鎮), Jiangsu province, to further his education. Upon graduation from the teacher training course, he was hired by the South China Training Institute at Guangzhou, where he taught continuously for twenty-two years. Due to the Sino-Japanese War, he followed the school to Sha Tin (沙田) and then to Clear Water Bay (清水灣), Hong Kong.

In early 1942, Pacific War broke out and Hong Kong fell into the hands of Japan. He again moved with the school to Laolung (老隆), Guangdong province.

In June 1943 he married Miss Rose Chung Wai Chee (锺惠慈), a nurse from the Canton Sanitarium and Hospital, in Laolung. After the war in 1946 he followed the school to Dongshan, Guangzhou. A year later, he moved again with the school back to Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong.

In 1957 he was sent by the South China Union Mission to study aboard. He graduated from the Philippines Union College in 1958 with a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics. He then went back to Hong Kong to serve as academic dean of South China Training Institute until 1960, when he was appointed principal of Kowloon Sam Yuk Secondary School (九龍三育中學), where he remained at that position for twenty years until his retirement in 1980. All together he dedicated forty-two years of his life in the ministry of the Church.

Pastor Lo Hing So was a hard working and thrifty person. During the war years, he not only supported his younger brother Timothy Lo to medical school, he also provided for his widowed mother. In his mother’s sunset years he dutifully took care of her with love and full attention until she rested in the Lord in 1979. As a result, he was known among the church circle as the “model filial son.”

Photo of Pastor Lo Hing So taken 1982

Lo Hing So (left) with parents and elder sister Susana (right)

Wedding of Lo Hing So and Rose Chung in 1943

He was always diligent in the discharge of his duty. Day and night, he was conscientious about his work. Not only did he worked overtime, he also put long hours into his work, studying late into the nights and the weekends, seemingly never giving in to fatigue. He adopted as his own motto in life, the admonition from Elder James White (NB. It was a quote of James White, not Ellen White), “It is better to wear out than to rust out”.

In his many years in the educational work, he was one of the most experienced and finest teachers. While serving as principal, whenever there was an unfilled vacancy, he would readily step in. Besides having to do his own work as an administrator, he would often serve as a class master, the registrar, the academic dean, the librarian, and education committee member. Indeed, he was a person who wore multiple hats. In his many years as a teacher he had accumulated many pedagogic skills. He was an excellent mathematics teacher, and taught mathematics for many years. While he was a principal, whenever a teacher was absent, he would step in without hesitation in a moment’s notice, whether it was Chinese, foreign language, natural sciences, or philosophy,. Therefore, he was also known as the “multi-talented teacher (萬能教師).”

In his teaching, he was concerned not only with the students’ intellectual knowledge, but also with their spiritual and moral development. The genuine concerns he had for the well being of his students, and the kind and gentle ways in which he dealt with them, had earned him great respect and love from among his students, who are now living (or scattered) all over the world.

Although he was quiet by nature, whenever he preached, his sermon was very inspiring and very convincing. Therefore, he was frequently invited to preach at local churches, to conduct evangelistic meetings, and to lead out in weeks of prayer meetings in churches and schools. Due to his consecration and his high spirituality, he was formally ordained to the pastoral ministry in 1958.

His dedicatory spirit and his administrative ability were well acknowledged. In 1960 he was called to be the principal of the Kowloon Sam Yuk Secondary School. Under the blessing and guidance of God, he turned around the financially difficult situations faced by the school and changed the school into a position of strength. He obtained authorization from the Hong Kong government to run the school as a full-day, bilingual senior secondary school with eight to nine hundred students. Because of his dedication, the school grew in fame not only among the Adventist circle, but also in the Hong Kong community. But the greatest desire of Pastor Lo Hing So was to share the Advent message with the students and their parents. Indeed, under his able leadership, the school became one of the most effective means for soul winning. Many students, their parents, as well as general public were led to the Lord.

Pastor Lo Hing So’s service to God’s work in south China was not limited only to our church‘s education and congregational ministry. He was also a very capable administrative leader in the South China Island Union Mission. He was appointed the Education Director of the Hong Kong-Macao Mission and also of the Union Mission. He carried many other responsibilities besides his main position. In addition, he authored and edited many articles for publication in the Signs of the Times monthly (時兆月報) and the Last Day Shepherd’s Call magazine (末世牧聲). His ability and his knowledge were also recognized by his peers in the Hong Kong society. Therefore, Hong Kong Education Department appointed him chairman of the Hong Kong Schools Examination Board for three consecutive years. During his twenty-year tenure as the principal of Kowloon Sam Yuk Secondary School till his retirement, he was once concurrently serving as the principal of Tai Po Sam Yuk Secondary School (大埔三育中學) and senior pastor of the Kowloon Church.

I have heard many people said that Pastor Lo Hing So was an educator who had no PhD degree, yet was a scholar with many talents and abilities; an inspiring, powerful and well respected gospel minister who never graduated from a theological seminary; a scholar who was proficient in oral, written, and translational English, yet had never attended a foreign language school. However, I must add, he was not only my older brother and my mentor, but above all he was my example and spiritual role model. In my whole life I want to constantly learn from him again and again.

Pastor Lo Hing So dedicated his whole life to the church, faithfully serving the Lord for forty-two years, until he retired in 1980. He and his wife then migrated to Australia and settled in Cooranbong, to be near their oldest son, Dr. Bruce Lo Wai Ning (羅惠寧), a faculty member of the Sciences Department in Avondale College, Australia. Happily Pastor Lo often told other people, “It has been my most treasured privilege and honor to be able to continue to share the love of God and the Advent message with the people here in my sunset years.” Though officially retired, he continued to be active in God’s work. Especially, he was able to utilize his knowledge in Chinese literature to author and translate many devotional writings. Working with Elder E. L. Longway (羅威), he translated many of Mrs. Ellen G. White’s writings into Chinese for use as morning devotional books for the years from 1985 to 1988. From 1986 to 1988 he was responsible for translation of Adult Sabbath School Lesson Quarterly into Chinese. Furthermore, he wrote many broadcasting scripts for the use by Advent World Radio (AWR) in Guam (關島) and the Eastern Asia Committee (東亞委員會). During the eight years of retirement in Australia, Pastor Lo Hing So continued his work of sowing and harvesting. Often he was invited to preach in various churches, conducting visitation and giving Bible studies, counseling, especially spreading the gospel of Jesus to those overseas Chinese who do not know English, and leading many of them to Christ.

In the fall of 1987, together with his older sister, Susanna Wong (黃羅佩恩) and her husband . Stamford Wong (黃慎修), a former worker in South China Union, Pastor Lo Hing So and his wife Rose, went back to China to visit their younger brother Timothy (羅家寵) and younger sister Ruth (羅眷愛), who had been separated for close to forty years. They had a great reunion. At the same time they visited some church members in China and shared with them their testimonies and God’s bountiful blessings. It was quite a happy journey. When he returned to Australia he continued to work on the translation of the Adult Sabbath School Lesson Quarterly, day and night without a break.

In the early morning of August 11, 1988, Pastor Lo Hing So had a heart failure and passed away peacefully. He was buried at the Avondale Cemetery near Avondale College in Australia. His funeral was held at the Avondale Memorial Church. On the night before he passed away, he was still translating the Adult Sabbath School Lesson Quarterly. Unfortunately he could finish only up to the tenth lesson of the fourth quarter of 1989. The original manuscripts and the translated portions were still lying on his desk. Such spirit of sacrifice and dedication will continue to inspire us in generations to come.

On August 16, 23, and October 1, 1989, respectively, separate memorial services were held in honor of this Seventh-day Adventist pioneer, a pastor of high moral ethics, and a well respected educator, in Sydney Adventist Chinese Church, Australia; in Kowloon Church and Kowloon Sam Yuk Secondary School, Hong Kong; and in Loma Linda Chinese Seventh-day Adventist Church in Loma Linda, California, USA.

In September 1989, the administrative committee of Kowloon Sam Yuk Secondary School voted to honor their late principal, who had led the school for twenty years in characters building and his extraordinary contribution, by naming the newly completed HK$ 200,000.00 Library as “The Late Principal Lo Hing So Memorial Library.” The committee further voted to accept the US$3,000.00 donation from the Lo family who collated the money from funeral gifts received from friends, and use it for the purchase of computer system in the library to glorify God and to benefit the students. This library has now been formally dedicated.

The widow of Pastor Lo Hing So, Rose Chung (锺惠慈), now reside in Alstonville Adventist Retirement Village, New South Wales, Australia, to spend her sunset years near her oldest son, Dr. Bruce Lo Wai Ning (羅惠寧). Bruce, a former faculty member at our Avondale College for many years, is now teaching at Southern Cross University near Alstonville. Her second son, Dr. Joseph Lo Wai Hing (羅惠慶), was once a professor at Houston University, and also was in computer business in Texas, and had helped the local church to establish a Seventh-day Adventist High School with great prospect. In 1997 he and his wife joined the faculty of Macao Sam Yuk Middle School, where he later became the principal, continuing his father’s work to train the youth of China. Pastor Lo Hing So had three grandsons, Reginald Lo (羅惠強), Welby Lo (羅惠銘), and Gary Lo (羅惠基), two granddaughters, Kathrina Lo (羅惠蘭) and Melissa Lo (羅惠蓮). They all received Christian education.

Pastor Lo’s older sister, Susanna Wong (黃羅佩恩) graduated from the nursing school of Shanghai Sanitarium and Hospital in 1937. She, near eighty years of age, lives with her family in Loma Linda and all are active members of the Chinese church. His younger bother, Dr. Timothy Lo (羅加寵) was a physician in our medical institutions in China. After migrating to America, he pastored the Oakland/Alameda Chinese Seventh-day Adventist Church. Now although he is retired, is still actively serving the Lord. His younger sister, Ruth Lo (羅眷愛) was also a nurse, graduated from Shanghai Sanitarium and Hospital and served many years in our hospital. After the change of government she once served as superintendent of nurses at the hospital attached to Jiangxi Medical College (江西醫學院). Now she is retired. May the Lord bless Pastor Lo Hing So’s remaining family members, faithfully serving the Lord until His return to unite together in heaven. Amen.

The editor’s note: Susanna Wong passed away on April 18, 1994. (the exact date to be confirmed by Grace Koh.) Eight years after the death of Pastor Lo Hing So, his wife Rose passed away in 1996 at the Alstonville Adventist Retirement Village. She was also buried at Avondale Cemetery, Australia next to her husband. Dr. Timothy Lo, the writer of this article, passed away on August 8, 2002 in northern California. Around 2005/2006 his sister Ruth Lo also passed away in China. In 1990 son Dr. Bruce Lo moved from Wollongong University to become the Professor and Head of School of Information Technology at Southern Cross University, Australia. He now lives in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, USA since 2002 and is a Professor of Information Systems at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. In 2005 Dr. Joseph Lo was called by Hong Kong Adventist College to serve as its academic dean. Three years later, he returned to the US. He and his wife May Lao now live in Houston, Texas.

Translated & edited by C.Y. Wu and B. Lo in 1999

South China Training Institute in 1953, where Lo Hing So was a teacher for many years. Here seen as seated on the left on the second row.

Family of Lo Hing So in 1961

Pastor and Mrs Lo Hing So at Kowloon Sam Yuk Middle School taken in the 1970s

Pastor and Mrs Lo Hing So at their retirement home near Avondale College, Australia, during a visit by sons Bruce and Joseph and their families 1986