Lillian’s photo and ashes for her friends to pay their last respects.
KOTA KINABALU: Members from the state tourism industry got together at Shangri-La’s Tanjung Aru Marina here on Sunday evening to pay their last respects and bid farewell to a well-known, well respected and much-loved personality in tourism, Lillian Agama.
They came from near and as far as Australia to spend a few moments with Lillian in a gathering which saw her friends making toasts to her and singing her favourite songs. Earlier, Fr Felix Chung led a simple blessing over Lillian’s ashes. Friends were also encouraged to take one of Lillian’s many bangles in memory of her as she was rarely seen without at least four on her wrist.
“Lillian does not like to see people cry, so in her memory we are celebrating how she touched our lives and how much she loved us and vice versa,” tourist guides and close friends of the late Lillian, Beverly and Rita, said.
Sabah Tourist Guides Association chairman Daniel Doughty said that he was touched by the amount of concern Lillian had for tourist guides in Sabah. “When I visited her at the hospital, she wanted to know the progress of our work with the tourist guide zoning and told me to make sure that they get what is due to them,” Daniel said.
And despite knowing how Lillian does not like to see people cry, many of those who came to pay their last respects were unable to hold back their tears and cry they did. Most spoke about how Lillian had touched their lives and how much they would miss her.
Lillian who was known as ‘Mama Li’ in the industry by her peers and juniors, was a tourist guide who specialized in nature tours. She obtained her tourist guide license in 1989. Her being picked to guide the royal couple Duke and Duchess of Cambridge Prince William and his wife Catherine Middleton, when they visited Danum Valley two years ago also earned Lillian the nickname ‘Royal Guide’.
She was diagnosed with having Myelodysplastic Syndrome which causes aplastic anemia. It is a pre-leukemia condition and Lillian passed away early in the morning on Feb 6 at the Ampang Hospital with her family by her side.
A funeral service was held for her in Petaling Jaya and her remains were cremated on Feb 7 before being flown back to Sabah on Feb 9 for the memorial service with friends.
Her ashes were scattered in the sea during a simple ceremony on Monday morning attended by her family and closest friends. Lillian was 62 and is survived by her children John and Agnes.