Fung Sun Yee Wong

We have stories from Fung Sun Yee Wong’s childhood in China, from the war years and beyond. Stories of her guarding the family’s cows, at only three years of age. Stories of her hardships raising a young family alone. And she would also tell stories that made us laugh, because she loved to laugh.

Fung Sun was very conscious of healthy eating. If she heard us opening cupboards to sneak soy sauce on our food, she would scold us loudly from the other room. Yet she loved Filet-o-Fish burgers, fried chicken and Hawaiian pizza! She didn’t read or write or speak a lick of English, but she embraced North American traditions. Fung Yee always decorated her own Christmas tree and gave out Halloween candy to the neighbourhood children.

Fung Sun enjoyed all the feminine things that a lady would - she liked to garden, was excellent at knitting, loved flowers and…watching professional wrestling. Sometimes she watched it on two TVs at once. Yes, Fung Sun was an armchair coach. She wouldn’t even know their names so she would make up her own for them.

It is hard to put all that Fung Sun was in writing. No matter how hard we try, we can never do justice to what she overcame in her lifetime.

Fung Sun Yee was born in China one hundred years ago. Her family couldn’t afford their daughters education and she never went to school. When she was 17, a man who had emigrated to Canada called on the village to seek a wife. Fung Sun decided to marry him despite his age of 34. She bore him their eldest, Benny, and for their livelihood he came back to work in Canada. She would not see her husband for the next 6 years. When he was able to return, they conceived their second son, Charlie, before he had to leave again. Fung Yee spent most of her youth without a man by her side. We can only begin to imagine her struggles as a young woman raising two children alone. Japanese occupation in China during war years meant all she could hope for was her and her sons’ next meals.

In 1951, she brought their sons with her here by boat. The journey took three months but the family was reunited for good. The Wongs lived near Chinatown briefly before moving to Richmond, where they welcomed their three younger children: Leo, Eddy and Kathy. They moved again to Delta and lived for 8 years. Canada was never going to be the Gold Mountain that Fung Sun had heard stories about. Canada was about relentless farming, hard work, and raising a family without pennies to spare. Fung Sun would cry at night over the bitterness. But still this did not defeat her, for she did it not for herself but for the children they loved.

In 1966, Fung Sun’s husband was ready to retire. Benny and Charlie were now adults and the couple settled with their three youngest in their permanent home in Vancouver. It is on that same property that Fung Sun lived the rest of her years before passing away at age 101.

It is very hard for any parent to be predeceased by a child. Sadly, the first death in the family was her youngest son, Eddy’s. A motorcycle accident took Eddy away at the age of only 17. You may be surprised to know that he was an incubator baby. The doctor told Fung Sun that he would not live. Despite this prognosis, she took him home from the hospital and he lived for 17 years. Ultimately, Eddy’s passing would be the family’s first, but nonetheless Fung Sun’s love and care had triumphed.

Her husband would be next to pass, to pneumonia, at the age of 79. The third person to precede her in death was her eldest son, Benny, followed by his wife, Fee Fong Quon.

At her passing, Fung Sun was blessed with her three surviving children (Charlie, Leo and Kathy), 9 grandchildren (Sam, Ken, Diane, Wayne, Raymond, Sherri, Lisa, Jennifer and Michael), and 10 great-grandchildren (Cindy, Stephanie, Samantha, Nicholas, Olivia, Quinton, Karlie, Kailyn, Stella and Sylas.

There is a quote: “He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.” Fung Yee’s why was her husband, her children and all her future generations. We will never be able to replicate how she did it, but we will always admire her hardiness and her drive.

Thank you, Mother, Grandmother, Great-grandmother, for your love, your selflessness and your strength. We will remember.

A heart of gold stopped beating, Hard working hands at rest, God broke our hearts to prove to us, He only takes the best.

Goodbye to my family

Goodbye to my family, my life is past.

I loved you all to the very last.

Weep not for me,

but courage take,

Love each other, for my sake.

For those you love

don’t go away.

They walk beside you

Every day.