Iva Wong

Iva Wong IVA WONG had a good life. She was born in San Francisco and died here on Jan 23rd, a few weeks short of her 86th birthday.
Iva was raised in Chinatown during the Depression, and took on full responsibility for raising her sister when she was just a young teen because her parents were farming on the peninsula. She also cared for their mother through her terminal illness. These early hardships and responsibilities forged her strong character for a lifetime: loyalty to family, self discipline, strong work ethic, and an iron will for making the best of scarce resources for all their needs.
She took pride in graduating from Berkeley with a BS in biochemistry at a time when neither Asians nor women were encouraged or supported in such ambitions.
It was at Berkeley where she met Mynin Wong, the engineering student who would become her partner for 63 years. She never stopped calling him "my boyfriend." Mynin was the idea man, the ceaseless worker, the dreamer - and Iva was the tireless organizer who kept everything in order, on track, under budget. They were a successful team in everything - family, friends, business, travel.
Iva was a woman of many virtues and a few vices: she never saw a Schubert's pastry she didn't like; she didn't suffer fools gladly; she surrendered authority to no one; and she ultimately refused to go gentle into that good night. In life, like at every party she ever threw or attended, she wanted to experience everything to the fullest, talk to everyone there, and be the last one to go home.
She had a restless and questing mind, a sharp dry wit, natural style and grace, a frown that could freeze interlopers, a smile that could light up a room, and a fierce and undying loyalty to family and friends.
She is survived by husband Mynin; brother Lincoln Chin and sister Bernice Gin, both of Tucson; three children - Carol Dorothy (Michael, d.) of Long Beach, Craig Wong (Gayle) of Alhambra, and Carin Wong (Ronnie) of Encino; grandson Reed Wong of Los Angeles; and many beloved nieces and nephews and their families, all of whom gathered every spring for decades to celebrate March Birthdays, the excuse for the annual family reunions that were filled with loud conversations, raucous laughter, home-cooked food and running children. She will be honored and remembered by them all forever.