Kwong Family

Wong Kwong at left, Yee Von Kwong seated in centre, and their children Sam and Jean to her left, circa 1914.

Dates:

Wong Kwong: b. China 1876 d. 10 February 1932

Yee Von Kwong: b. China, 21 August 1877 d. 16 July 1973

Cemetery Location:

Wong Kwong: Block F, Row 1, Plot 13

Profile:

Wong Kwong was in Revelstoke in the late 1890s. He could read and write both Chinese and English and became a labour contractor for the CPR. Wong also operated stores and a laundry in town.

He brought his wife, Yee Von Kwong to Revelstoke in about 1907, and their ten children were born here. One died as a child. Wong Kwong died in 1932, when the youngest son, Jimmy, was just five.

Mrs. Kwong continued to run the laundry, and paid off all her husband’s debts. Her feet were bound in the old Chinese tradition, and she used canes to help her walk. All of the children were educated, and oldest daughter Jean became the first nurse of Chinese ancestry to graduate in Canada in the 1930s. Son, Johnny Kwong, once owned Mannings Restaurant and Chalet Restaurant.