Person

Chow, Jessie

• Chan, Jessie

1916-1999

Jessie Chow was born in Vancouver in 1916. She was the daughter of a well-known Vancouver Chinatown photographer, Yucho Chow.

During the 1930s, Jessie worked in her father’s studio. She performed many duties but was best known as the colourist. Using oils, Jessie would hand-paint black-and-white portraits turning them into colour photographs.

In 1946, she would marry Fred Chan (born CHIN Thick Foo) who already had a first wife in China. The 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act prevented him reuniting with his first wife and family.

Once Jessie was married, she moved with Fred to Sydney, Nova Scotia where he had a home and a restaurant business. Later they moved to Moncton, New Brunswick and raised a family of four children: David, Freeman, Carol and Wesley. During their time in Moncton, Fred’s son from his first marriage, Howe Chan (aged 16), immigrated to Canada in 1949 and lived nearby. In 1968, the family would return to the Vancouver area.

Her son, Wes Chan, recalls his mother fondly. “My mom was an incredibly selfless and brave individual. She married a man she knew only through written correspondence, and left a family and community she had known for nearly 30 years to begin a new life far away on the opposite coast of Canada.

After a week-long train trip across Canada, she would arrive in an unfamiliar place with few Chinese and a climate that exchanged rain for lots of snow. It must have been incredibly frightening for my newly married Mom, but she overcame any reservations and learned to thrive.

She supported Dad in his successful restaurant business and raised a growing family of four children. Mom put her husband and children first. We remember Mom, well past midnight, shovelling away the snowbank from the edge of the driveway after a passing plow so that Dad could get his car into the garage after work.

For the children, Mom would give us the choice pieces of meat, such as the chicken breast or thighs, and she would eat the less palatable parts or bones. She never complained, always saying that it was ‘fun’ eating those parts. We didn’t realize until much later in our lives, Mom’s selflessness and sacrifice. She truly loved her family.

After Dad’s passing and her children grew and left home, Mom blossomed. She found time to do more of her crafts and activities. Jessie was a skilled knitter, a lifelong learner, and read newspapers cover to cover, often cutting out interesting articles to share with her family. Her greatest joy, apart from family, was her time spent with friends at the local YMCA. She became a respected senior member of her aerobics class and an inspiration to much younger participants.”

Jessie passed away on June 27, 1999. She was 83.

Chow, Yucho (1876-1949)

Chow, Mabel ([1900]-1940)

Chow Chan, Rose (1913-2002)

Chow, Peter (1915-1996)

Chin, Thick Foo (1898-1971)

Description supplied by collector/curator