The namesake of the popular fish head noodle eatery, Ka-Soh, died last Thursday.

Madam Chooa Yoon Seam, or ka soh, as she was fondly known by colleagues, customers and even celebrity diners at the Amoy Street eatery, was 86. She died peacefully in her sleep.

She became synonymous with the food outlet, famed for its creamy fish head noodle soup, after more than 40 years working as a waitress there.

She retired in 2004 due to heart problems and respiratory difficulties.

Born in Guangzhou, China, she came to Singapore in the late 1930s and worked as an assistant at roadside hawker stalls.

In the 1960s, she was roped in to help at a fish head noodle stall in Chin Chew Street where her mother-in-law was working as a waitress.

The stall, owned by the late Mr Tang Swee Kee, was then named Tou Yuen.

Madam Chooa quickly became known to diners by the nickname ka soh (Cantonese for daughter-in-law) because it was what her mother-in-law called her.

Customers then grew into the habit of referring to the outlet by the catchy phrase, ka soh.

Mr Tang Tat Cheong, 55, who inherited his father's fish head noodle business, thus decided to register the company as Ka-Soh Gourmet Paradise in the 1990s.

The stall, which moved to Amoy Street in 1995, was renamed Swee Kee (Ka-Soh) Fish Head Noodle House.

It opened an outlet in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 2000. It also spawned another eatery, Ka-Soh Seafood Restaurant, at the Alumni Medical Centre of the Singapore General Hospital in 2007.

Customers remember Madam Chooa as an affable waitress who went out of her way to accommodate requests.

Sales manager Rudi Lee, in his 50s, who has been dining at the eatery since the 1980s, says: 'Ka soh was a good waitress with a hawker-style professionalism. She always did her best to make customers comfortable.

'If a group of diners was too large, instead of turning them away, she would rearrange tables and chairs to make space for them to be seated.'

Retiree Jimmy Ang, 84, a customer for more than 40 years, recalls: 'Ka soh was always very warm and friendly so my wife and I kept going back to eat there.'

New diners who do not know her, however, might think she had a fiery temper.

Mr Tang says: 'She had a booming voice and when the stall got busy during lunch and dinner hours, she would often tell impatient customers in a no-nonsense tone that if they wanted to eat there, they had to wait.'

Her only child, Ms Lilian Wong, 56, a travel agent, says Madam Chooa was devoted to her job.

She says: 'Her whole life revolved around her work. When the stall was in Chin Chew Street and opened till late, she used to go to work at 4.30pm and return only at 4am.'

And she kept working until she was 81, when her body grew too weak.

Ms Wong says: 'Before that, nobody could persuade her to stop working. She was an independent woman who had a mind of her own.'

Mr Tang echoes the sentiment: 'Ka soh was a loyal worker and it is hard to find employees like her these days.'

Indeed, not even a fainting spell at the eatery, due to breathing difficulties when Madam Chooa was in her 60s, could dissuade her from giving up work.

Ms Wong says: 'My mother quit smoking so that she wouldn't experience breathing problems and would be able to continue working.'

Madam Chooa's health took a turn for the worse in 2006 and she had to be sent to a nursing home in Sims Avenue.

The last time Ms Wong saw her mother was the weekend before she died. She had not been eating well and was frail.

Ms Wong received a call from the nursing home on Thursday morning, informing her that her mother had died in her sleep.

Madam Chooa was cremated on Saturday and her remains are at the Kwong Wai Siew Peck San Theng columbarium. Her husband, who used to run a business repairing air-conditioners, died more than 10 years ago.

Mr Tang, who visited her during Chinese New Year last year at the nursing home, says: 'My eyelids were twitching a whole week before ka soh died. I feel sad that she is gone.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times on Jan 14, 2009.