Obituary

In the end we ended up writing an obituary about one of out friends in class
so here it is :D

Ming Kit Minerva Yu-Maurer, aged 29, passed away on the 4^th of April 2026 at Princess Margaret Hospital in Perth, after losing her battle with cancer. She has been able to accomplish so much in her lifetime, though she has been taken from us much too soon.

Minerva was born on the 12^th of November 1997, at Prince of Wales Hospital in Hong Kong, to parents Stephanie and Vincent Yu. She moved to Perth in the year 2000 when she was three years old, and grew up with her three older brothers, Ryan, John and Ming. Minerva was known as Mini to her friends, and Kit to her brothers. She grew up in Canningvale, and although her brothers used to tease her, they were still very protective and looked out her. Her fondest memories of growing up with her brothers included building Lego and playing Pokémon with them, as well as watching anime and movies together.

Minerva attended Queen of Apostles Primary School from 2002 to 2010, and achieved fantastic academic as well as sporting results. She received a Champion Girl medal in athletics, and a Runner-Up Champion Girl medal from a swimming carnival. She later attended Leeming Senior High School in 2011, and she continued with her outstanding results. She received many excellence awards, and although there were many high expectations after the success of her brothers, she easily went above and beyond. She graduated from Leeming Senior High School in 2015, achieving an ATAR of 99.2 which earned her a spot in the elite ‘99 club’, as well as receiving the school dux award.

Minerva then went on to study engineering at Curtin University in 2016. She completed a four-year course and graduated in 2019, receiving a Bachelor of Engineering. She began work at Western Power for a year, but later moved on to help redesign the new Domestic and International Terminals at Perth Airport.

Minerva loved to travel and explore new places. She visited Japan in 2008, and this was the first time she and her brother Ming had gone on an aeroplane trip without their parents. She also visited South Korea and Taiwan in 2009, Singapore in 2012, and Thailand in 2022. She visited Hong Kong yearly to visit her family, and it was one of her favourite places in the world. Minerva has also travelled around Australia, visiting places such as Monkey Mia, Esperance, Kalgoorlie, Bunbury, Albany, Geraldton, Kalbarri and Shark Bay.

She later met her husband, Mario Maurer, when they were stuck in an elevator together in Hong Kong, in 2019. The two connected instantly, and eventually wed on the 8^th of August 2021. They spent many love-filled years together and had two children, Mary and Drew Yu-Maurer, whom they raised in Perth.

Minerva took part in a lot of volunteer work, such as helping out at an animal shelter and organising events with the Curtin University Committee. Minerva was always willing to help out anyone in need, and was highly respected and valued among her peers. She was an avid reader, and in her spare time she enjoyed watching anime, listening to music, and spending time with her friends.

Minerva used to be quite quiet and reserved in primary school, but she later became more confident and outgoing in her high school years. Minerva always aspired to be the very best she could be, and always strove to do what was right. She committed herself to making a difference in people’s lives and making the world a better place, even if by only the smallest of actions. She always brightened up other people’s days, and was very sweet and compassionate, going out of her way to help others. Minerva was very energetic and enthusiastic, especially about things she was passionate about, and her eagerness was extremely infectious and uplifting. She was very resilient and never let anything get her down, always smiling. She was very hardworking and responsible, as well as very loyal and trustworthy. She was very outgoing and fun to be around, drawing people to her with her sunny personality and natural charisma.

Minerva was diagnosed with cancer in 2024. This was a shocking and distressing revelation, but she bore the news bravely. She was treated with chemotherapy, which was initially very successful. She battled cancer for two years, but eventually the chemotherapy had little effect when the cancer became more resistant, and then there was nothing to be done. All throughout these difficult past few years, Minerva remained optimistic and still went out of her way to help others, keeping everyone smiling. She hardly ever complained, which was remarkable for someone who had to endure so much, but she accepted that there was nothing she could do and made the most of the short time she had left. She was saddened by the thought of leaving her loved ones, and so she spent as much time with them as she could. When the time came, she died peacefully next to her husband’s side, which is all she ever wanted.

Funeral arrangements are being made by her friends and family with the aid of Simplicity Funerals, and will be announced at a later date. Those who are interested can contact the funeral home for more information, or any of her friends and family. In lieu of flowers, we would ask that you donate to the Cancer Council Australia to fund more research into finding a cure for this disease.

On behalf of Minerva, we would like to thank everyone who has been involved in her life. There are too many names to list here, but I know she would especially have liked to thank her family and friends for the roles they have played in her life. Thank you to Stephanie and Vincent Yu, for raising such a wonderful person and standing by her all of her life, and to her three brothers, for always being there even if they did tease her on occasion. I know that Mario will miss his wife dearly, just as we all will, but I know how much Minerva cherished their relationship. Minerva’s biggest regret was not being able to see her children grow up, but I know that she will be watching over them; she loved them more than anything. I would also just like to thank all of the doctors and specialists for everything they have done to help in her battle with cancer, and for making her as comfortable as possible for the end. I would also like to thank Simplicity Funerals for being so understanding and helping us pay tribute to Minerva the way she would have wanted to be remembered. Minerva was a loving mother, wife, and a true friend; she will be remembered by all who knew her.

Portraits of Life

 Giving Love

Morrie gives his love to everyone and is content with life. He feels healthy and making anyone smile gives him a purpose to live even if he is slowly suffering. He shows Mitch that love is better than material goods and money. When he is dying, he is surrounded by those who love and care for him during his most desperate time of need. He believes that love is essential for humans to give, take in and share their lives with others. Thus, without it we will suffer meaningless and unfulfilling lives.

    

         Relationships with Family and Friends

Love for family and friends is more important than career and money and without friends and family, life will be much harder to live as they give you support and love. They give you the secure ground to stand on. A relationship between family and friends cannot die if you truly love others and remember the distinctive feelings of warmth and tenderness from being able to love, give and take in love; you will still be in the hearts of the ones you love. Even death cannot break the bonds of love between relationships; love is immortal. Morrie, even on his death bed he is surrounded by the people he loves. He has a positive attitude towards his death.   

Death

This is a quote said by Professor Morrie. The interpretation of this is one must accept the possibility of one’s own death before he can truly appreciate what he has on earth. This prompts the urge to appreciate the values of life; bringing back the important things into perspective. Thus we learn to live our lives with no regrets. Morrie is halfway between life and death so he knows what to ‘pack’ on his journey; know how to live before he dies. It also strongly relates to the topic of death that Morrie teaches Mitch. Furthermore with Morrie dying, this topic is prominent from the very beginning. Morrie emphasizes how important to understand we will die and how it will benefit us for the remainder of our lives.

 

Forgiveness

Learning to forgive others and to forgive yourself is another lesson taught by Morrie. This poem by Sydni Masoncup evidently tells us we should forgive others but always remember the mistake we did and try not to do it again. You can’t get stuck on regrets on what happened. Morrie recalls a story about his old close friend Norman. When Norman and his wife moved away, Morrie’s wife, Charlotte had to undergo a serious operation, Norman never contacted them even though they knew about the situation. This leads to their relationship to crumble and they never contact Norman again. However, Norman tried to apologise and reconcile but Morrie obviously never accepted his apology because of his pride. Later, Norman died and Morrie regretted how he never forgave him. Therefore, Morrie sees there is no point in holding any kind of grudges and we need to forgive for the things we have done.  It is an important condition for happiness.

Self reflection

What I Believe About Life

‘Tuesdays with Morrie’ has definitely changed my view on life. Morrie Schwartz was a professor and a teacher until the end. Even after death, Mitch Albom’s book has inspired and enlightened people around the world. In the book, the lessons of life given by Morrie are told. In his last moments, Morrie was ‘in between’ the gap between life and death, thus able to inform the readers valuable and important things they should ‘pack’.

Life nowadays has been complicated. I have learned from the book that in order to live in harmony and avoid unnecessary conflict, we must learn how to communicate and compromise. It’s best to have a positive attitude, and have the ability to turn what might often be perceived as a negative situation, into a privilege.
Culture has made a set of ‘rules’ that most of us follow, however, this set of rules might not be the best, as most of them are most self-centred. I have learned from ‘Tuesdays with Morrie’ that if the culture does not suit you, just forget it. Live the way you want, the way that makes you happy. 

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                In the book, Morrie had also inferred that we should not let self-pity consume you, but concentrate on the good things in your life, because if you do not, you might lose sight of what is important and what is not.

‘Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.’
            
               When Morrie was dying, he did not focus on the fact that he was dying, but focused on the people around him, thus he remembered the important things in life, relationships. Relationships between friends, students and family gives you support. If it was not for them, we would not have the secure ground that we stand on today.
                In fact, there is no foundation, no secure ground, upon which people may stand today if it isn’t the family. If you don’t have the support and love and caring and concern that you get from a family, you don’t have much at all. Love is so supremely important. “Love each other or perish.” Family is no just about love, it is about knowing that there is someone watching out for you, and nothing can ever give you that, not money or fame.
                He had also told us that sometimes we must trust others. Sometimes, you cannot believe what you see, but what you feel. And if you are ever going to have other people trust you, you must feel that you can trust them, too – even when you’re in the dark.
Even when you’re falling.
               
                Morrie talked a lot about death in the book. He said that when we are looking death in the eye, we look at life from a different place, a healthier place, a more sensible place; it is as if some mystical clarity of thought comes. Culture does not encourage you to think if ‘what if this is your last day on earth’ until you are about to die. We get wrapped up in egotistical things, career, family, money, and materialistic things – we’re involved in trillions of little acts just to keep going. This is why we do not look back at lives, and think if we are living a life we want. If we were to die today, would we die in peace, knowing that we have lived life to the fullest?
                In my opinion, when we learn to die, we learn to live. Mitch had said that maybe death is a great equalizer, the big thing that can finally make strangers shed a tear for one another. This is because love is essential for one to truly live, and when we are on death’s door, we learn to love things we have always taken for granted. The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come it. Morrie had repeated emphasized that ‘Love is the only rational act’.

                Everyone knows that they are going to die, but nobody believes it. It we did, we would be doing things differently. The better approach for death is to accept that you are going to die, and be prepared for it at any time. This way, one would be more involved in life. You should ask yourself if today is the day, would be ready, have you done all you wanted to do, and if you are the person you want to be.
                We have to appreciate things around us, things such as sunshine, trees and how they change with the seasons, how the wind blows. We do not notice how vital and how much we rely on simple things like that, but when you cannot go out and experience these things, a big part of us feels missing. When Morrie knew that his time was almost up, it was as if he was seeing these for the first time. Why do we wait until our last moments before we learn how to appreciate nature and other things in life that we rely on so much, but take so little notice of it?

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In conclusion, ‘Tuesdays with Morrie’ has given me a new view on life. He has highlighted the important things in life, and thus make me step back and look at my life, and ask myself if I am satisfied with my life, if I’ve done all the things I want to do. I have been inspired and touched by Morrie’s actions in his final moments, and I aspire to do the same.