(1923 - Aug 16, 2006)
MISS Lim Geok Kheng (right),
who passed away on Aug 16, 2006 at the age of 83, was the first
Fairfield Old Girl to head Fairfield Methodist Girls' School in
1960 until she retired in 1982.
Miss Lim, who studied at Fairfield before the Pacific war, and
knew the missionary principals, Miss Mary Olson and Miss Carrie
Kenyon, was a direct connection that extended to the early years
of the 20th century.
As senior mathematics teacher, she took charge of her alma mater
which faced daunting challenges, among which were the changes
in educational policy of the new nation of Singapore after 1965.
A rapidly expanding enrolment looked forward to a new emphasis
on science and mathematics, second language, physical ruggedness
and all the actions and activities that were associated with them.
Perhaps the most pressing problem was that of location and space,
and for which Miss Lim will be remembered.
Located at Neil Road, a busy and noisy thoroughfare at the fringe
of Chinatown, Fairfield was bursting at the seams, and a five-storey
extension in 1968 proved only a temporary respite to the congestion
which was not finally resolved until 1982 when Fairfield moved
to Dover Road, to become two separate primary and secondary schools,
both co-educational. There the new Fairfield was born.