Cane-wielding teacher in Lat’s comics dies

Those were the days: Chai Kee showing the cane-wielding Mrs Hew or Lee (inset) in a framed photo taken off Lat’s comics at his home in Canning Garden, Ipoh.

IPOH: Lee Siew San, who was the inspiration for Mrs Hew, the cane-wielding schoolteacher with butterfly-rimmed glasses and beehive hairdo in Lat’s comic strips, has died. She was 80.

Her eldest son, Alvin Hew, 53, said Lee, who has been extremely proud to be the inspiration for Lat’s comic character, passed away peacefully at their Canning Garden home here at about 1.30am on Wednesday.