Jean Yvonne Chong

child born to Edna Millette Nation (Dellimore) and Joslyn Smalling on May 19th, 1944. She was born

and raised in Port Morant, in the parish of Saint Thomas in Jamaica, West Indies. Jean migrated to

New York at the age of 14 and lived in Brooklyn, New York where she attended George W. Wingate

High School.

Jean met the love of her life, Winston Chong, in Jamaica at the age of 11 when she would tag along

with her two older cousins (more like sisters), Willow and Alveta, who were his close friends. They were

married in 1964 and two children, Michelle Nadeen and Dane Barrington were born from their union.

They started out on Carroll Street in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, and then settled in their new home

in Queens Village, New York. Winston departed this life in July, 1974 leaving Jean a widow with an 8

year old daughter and an oh so mischievous 2 year old son.

Jean began her career as a stenographer and secretary on Wall Street with the Sullivan & Cromwell

law firm and, after many years, obtained her real estate agent license. Jean was passionate about traveling

the world and was fortunate to experience the culture of five continents, countless number of

countries, most of her beloved Caribbean and dozens of cruises. Her love for travel inspired her to take

pilot lessons, flying four-seater Cessna airplanes out of Republic Airport in Farmingdale, New York.

Jean then fulfilled her ultimate dream when she became the Owner and President of Dynasty Travel

Service in 1983, a fitting name for a Chong.

Jean was a believer in Christ and almost never missed a Sunday watching Dr. Fred Price of Crenshaw

Christian Center on television. It is through Dr. Price’s ministry that she was led to become a faithful

member of Christian Cultural Center (then Christian Life Center) in 1995. Jean was an inaugural

member of the International Christian Sisterhood, served on the homeless ministry and served as an

usher at the special services including Easter Sundays at Nassau Coliseum. In 1999, after 20 weeks of

hands-on training of camera equipment, lighting, editing, dubbing and taping equipment, Jean took

her Christian ministry to another level. She mastered the art of television production and became the

Producer of Lifting Him Higher, a Christian-based series of programs that were engineered at her beloved

QPTV, Queens’ public access cable network and also aired on Montgomery Community Media

in Montgomery County, Maryland. Jean was quoted in Newsday in 2003 saying that her participation

with QPTV was a divine calling and went on to say, “I have a great opportunity to spread the Gospel

through music and dance. It would have been easy just to say I’m too old, I’m Black, I’m a woman,

I have an accent. But I was fascinated by the camera and have heard a saying, ‘When the student is

ready, the teacher appears.’ I can’t sing or dance, but I can produce a television show.” Jean and her son

in Christ, Michael Harley, were honored to receive the 2004 Hometown Video Festival Award and a

QPTV award for their work.

Jean retired from the travel agency in 2003 and moved to Silver Spring, Maryland, in February 2004

after being diagnosed with stage four metastatic lung cancer. Her doctors at Johns Hopkins gave her

six months to live. By the Grace of God, Jean miraculously beat the odds and, by November of that

year, was told she was cancer free. The medical review board at Hopkins deemed it divine intervention.

They were right. The Lord was not ready for her yet as she had more work to do. After making

a full recovery, Jean dedicated her time volunteering at Immanuel’s Church for many years in several

capacities and even earned the coveted Volunteer of the Year parking space right in front of the church.

She was privileged to become a part of yet another family of Christians who were her faithful sisters

and brothers in Christ over the years. Jean was consistently picked up for ladies’ lunch, visited weekly

in her home and during her hospital and nursing home stays, and received countless cards and phone

calls which all kept her spirits up until her final days.

Jean is survived by her daughter Michelle Chong Rush, son Dane Barrington Chong, step-daughter

Maxine Dawn Chong, grandchildren Demetri Chong Jenkins, Myles Isaiah Rush and Melia Grace

Rush, brothers Mark Smalling and Ossie Smalling, aunts Sybil Nation and Sylvia Smalling, cousins

Willowmay Chisholm, Alveta Peters, Carol Wilson, Marjorie Scarlett, Phyllis Burke, Darlene Burke

and Kathy Burke Lucas, nephew Herman Young, their families and a host of lifelong friends.

See video at: https://youtu.be/E0zPP14j2iw