Remembering Mr Goh Chin Chye
Former ACS teacher and Sports Secretary, Mr Dennis Goh Chin Chye, passed away on 05 March 2013. He was 94.
Born in Penang, Mr Goh studied in ACS. A keen sportsman, he played centre-half for the school hockey team and represented the school in cricket. He was also one of the pioneers of the Singapore Scouting Association and was popularly known as “Dolphin” in scouting circles.
Mr Goh taught in ACS from 1946 until his retirement in 1984. Known as a strict disciplinarian, he was ever popular with his students.
Cheong Kun Hung (ACS Class of 60) describes him as a ‘disciplinarian with a heart’. When some of the Pre-U girls were suspended for truancy, Kun Hung recalls the compassion shown by Mr Goh when he allowed them to remain in school so that their parents would not come to know of the suspension. “Instead, Mr Goh had them stitch back the falling gold ribbon onto the curtains in the school hall as punishment”, Kun Hung stated.
To another old boy and former scout, Albert Chan (ACS Class of 57), Mr Goh came across as a quintessential ‘macho’ boy scout leader. Albert was among the guests at the school’s 100th Anniversary dinner held at the Prima Tower Revolving Restaurant in Keppel Road when Mr Goh made his grand entry to the applause of the ACS family present. “It was such an inspiring moment to see a man in his late sixties run from Clifford Pier and all the way up 10 floors to the restaurant!”.
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