Fay Hing Lee Wong

September 5, 1917 to September 23, 2000

The Early Years

Fay Wong or Lee Fay Hing was born in Wan Hong, Qau Hung Li, Toisan, Guangdong, China on September 5, 1917.   She was the first born of Lee Nan Gan and Wong Tuei Seng.   Fay's father was a resident of Vancouver Canada and as was the custom, returned to the village to start a family.  Fay's father returned to Canada shortly thereafter while Fay's mother stayed for five years.  When Fay was four, Fay's mother immigrated to Canada but left behind with her paternal grandmother (Lee) Ng Oi Hai.  Fay's mother took her nephew with her to Canada, and Fay always felt that had she been a boy, her mother would have taken her to Canada.

L-R Fay's mother, Fay and her grandmother

Fay did have the opportunity to attend school as her parents sent money home to educate her.  She attended up to the eighth grade when her mother decided to stop sending money home for her education.  Fay remarked that her mother stopped educating her because she was a girl and that someday girls become "the other family's person," when they get married.

Word came from Canada that as soon as possible, Fay should be married.  When Fay reached age 17, a matchmaker arranged her marriage to a Wong Gan Voy (Voy Wong) from a neighboring village.  Fay never spoke to or met her future husband prior to the wedding ceremony and was very disappointed with his short stature and appearance when she finally glimpsed him from the wedding sedan chair that she was carried in from her village to his.

Fay's grandmother died when she was 17 and shortly after she married.  Fay thought her grandmother had stomach cancer due to her bloated stomach.  Her grandmother did realize her wish to see Fay married before she died.  Her grandmother lay in the village home for several days despite the smell.  A year after she was interred, her grandmother was then exhumed and the bones were wired together in an upright position, placed in an urn and then re-interred.

Separated by the Japanese invasion of China and World War II, it would be 10 years before Fay would see her husband again.   Fay lived with her mother in law, (Wong) Lee See Yung.  These were difficult years for Fay, first because she was the second daughter in law in her mother in law's home and treated as a servant.  She would get up early in the morning to start the cooking fire, gather dried grass from the hills for fuel, fetch water, cook and clean.   Her mother in law and sister in law would eat first before her.  Money sent home from Voy would go to her mother in law first and Fay had to ask for an allowance and other spending money.  But Fay was very frugal and a savvy businesswoman.    She left money out and collected interest when the money was repaid.   With her growing capital, she bought small plots of land and then rented them out to sharecroppers.  She also farmed the land herself and raised chickens and pigs.

The war years were terrible for China and Fay saw many deaths due to starvation.  She and her family survived and by war's end, Fay sent letters to Voy urging him to return for her.  After the war, Voy went first to Seattle because it was easier to get on a ship to China.  He visited Fay's mother and Vancouver relatives before leaving on December 23, 1946.  Upon Voy's return, Fay became pregnant in 1948 and the two planned their return to the U.S.   Fay intended that they both work hard in the U.S., amass as much money as they could and then return to China to live the life of wealthy peasants.

Return to the U.S.

The trip to the U.S. started with Fay's first visit to large cities outside of the county seat Toisan City.  She and Voy went to the provincial capital Guangzhou (Canton).  Fay wanted Voy to buy a residence in Guangzhou so she would have a place to stay, in case she couldn't go to the U.S.  Fay wasn't going to stay in the village anymore.  They purchased a building with the money that Voy had bought home from the U.S. for $3,200.  It was a two story building with living quarters on top of a street front store on Yen An Road.  Next was the journey by train to the Royal Crown Colony of Hong Kong.  Voy and Fay had to wait in a Kowloon hotel for Fay's visa and immigration papers from the U.S. Consulate because the immigration officer in San Bernardino who had to verify Voy's status was ill.  With papers in hand they secured passage on a passenger liner of the American President Lines and left Hong Kong on October 25, 1947.  It was a horrible trip for Fay, pregnant and sea sick most of the time.  She stayed below decks and survived on peanuts.  Finally, they docked in San Francisco on November 14, 1947.  Riverside Mayor, Bill Evans, picked up them up for the long drive back to Riverside.

After Ellen's birth, the family knew they had to get a larger home.  Voy contacted a realtor and the search was on for a house near the restaurant.  They found a large two story home at 4161 8th  Street (University Ave.), but first the realtor had to canvass the neighbors to make sure it was OK for a Chinese family to move into the neighborhood.  The house would not only house Fay, Voy and Ellen, but another family, Wong Bing Tew, his wife, and daughter.  The house was also home to many Toisan villagers who came to work for the restaurant.

	(Photo L-R Janlee, Fay, Ellen, Voy, Don - circa 1952) Over the next six years, Fay had four more children, Don (June 25, 1949), Janlee (May 21, 1951), Linda (September 18, 1952) and Julie (February 24, 1954).  By then, Wong Bing Tew and his family had moved out of the house as the partners split up and Wong Bing Tew and Harold Wong sold their shares to Voy.
	Another Wong arrives (Linda) L-R Ellen, Janlee, Don (Linda in baby carriage) circa 1953 in the family home at 4161 University Avenue.

THE RESTAURANT YEARS

Fay started off as kitchen help, cleaning, preparing meats and vegetables and gradually becoming a cook.  Her break from the village mentality of male dominance came as she asserted herself and came out to "the front" to take over as cashier and host when Uncle Poy retired.

Fay and Voy placed the highest value on family and education and raised five children who all graduated from college. Fay was a major donor to the Chinese Pavilion near the Riverside Main Library and recently endowed an Asian Art Slide Library at the University of California, Riverside.

Fay in her green tile kitchen at the family home 4161 University Ave., Riverside (formerly Eighth St.)

The Wong Family children circa September 1971. L-R Top, Linda, Julie, Ellen.  L-R Bottom, Don, Janlee.  Taken in White Park next to Chungking Restaurant in the "helicopter" tree.  The Wong children spent many hours playing in White Park and had names for various trees and plants in the park including the "danger" tree (a tree with thorny branches), the cork tree (with bars around it's trunk to keep people from pulling out it's bark), Little Texas (a cactus garden) and Little Africa (palm trees).

After Voy passed away in 1975 and all of her children moved away, Fay stayed alone in Riverside for another 15 years.  In 1999, she donated her house to the University of California, Riverside and moved to stay with Don in San Francisco.  She died of a stroke in San Francisco on Saturday, September 23, 2000 at the age of 83.

She is survived by her children Ellen Wong of Martinez, Don Wong of San Francisco, Janlee Wong of Davis, Linda Huang of San Francisco, Julie Duncan of Davis,12 grandchildren, two brothers, Paul and Jack Lee of Vancouver, Canada and three sisters, Edith Wing of Calgary, Canada, Margaret Eng and Mary Loo of Vancouver, Canada.