Jack Bow Wong

Jack Bow Wong

Montgomery - Jack Bow Wong passed away peacefully of natural causes on May 9 at Angels for the Elderly, Montgomery, Alabama, at the age of 98. By his side at the time of his transition were his loving wife Jean Chin Wong, his daughter Irene Wong, and his son-in-law Alan Gribben.

As a boy Jack Wong stayed behind with his mother in a village in Canton, China while his father immigrated to the United States and established several businesses in Fresno, California. Jack and his older brother William took over those enterprises after his father died suddenly during a visit he made to China. Eventually Jack managed a prosperous restaurant, Dragon Café, that he and his brother owned in Fresno. Jack's warm personality, sense of humor, and ability to remember names and faces made the café so popular that local politicians, Hollywood films stars like Robert Mitchum, and soldiers passing through Fresno during WWII stopped to dine on delicious Chinese and American food at Dragon Café, which stayed open until four o'clock in the morning.

In the 1950s the Wong brothers sold the café and opened a succession of Fresno businesses: Wong's City Market on Highway 99, Fairland Department Store in Chinatown, and Wong's Food Mart on Olive Avenue. Jack was a co-owner and general manager of the latter grocery store, and his nephew Tom and his wife Gina ran the meat department and a take-out restaurant. Jack became a well-liked figure among his customers and the large Chinese community in that San Joaquin Valley city.

After retiring and living with his older daughter Lorraine and her husband Alex Fabros for several decades, helping them rear their daughters Michelle and Alexandra, Jack and Jean moved to Montgomery, Alabama in 2013 to live with their younger daughter Irene, who retired as a school guidance counselor to become their chief caregiver. As their health declined, Jack and Jean resided in assisted living apartments in Oak Grove, then Country Cottage, and finally Angels for the Elderly. They were visited often by their Fresno family members.

Jack developed and never lost a passion for music. He could play Chinese and American folk songs, "Clementine" and "Home on the Range," on the harmonica and the Chinese butterfly harp (a hammered dulcimer). Later he also learned to play the piano. He took particular pleasure in playing and singing patriotic songs, "The Star-Spangled Banner," "America the Beautiful," "God Bless America," and American standards, like "As Time Goes By," "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes," and "Danny Boy." If he favored one musical piece above all others, it was "Moon River."

Jack Wong was predeceased by his father, Jeung Don Wong, his mother, Don Toi Woon, his brother William Wong and sister-in-law Katherine, his brother Gim Wong, and his nephew James Wong. He leaves behind his wife Jean Chin Wong to whom he was almost (short of only one month) married for seventy-one years. He is also survived by his daughters Lorraine Fabros of Fresno, California and Irene Wong of Montgomery, Alabama; sons-in-law Alex Fabros and Alan Gribben; grandchildren Michelle Fabros-Emerling and her husband Chris Emerling of Fresno, Alexandra Fabros-Davis, an Air Force officer, and her husband Nick Davis of Fresno, Walter Gribben, M.D., of St. Louis, Missouri, and Valerie Gribben, M.D., of San Francisco, California. His brother William's children—Frederick, Wellington, Benedict, Patricia, and Isabella—likewise mourn his loss as do Tom and Gina Wong and their children Nanette Hernandes, Kent Wong, and Jeanette Wong.

A memorial service for Jack Wong was held on May 24 in Fresno, California. The family would especially like to thank Dr. Shaikh Wahid and Dr. Donald Marshall, Hospice of Montgomery, and the director and caregivers of Angels for the Elderly, all of whom treated Jack with great tenderness and regard in his final months.