Person

Lee, Ronald H.F.

• Lee, Hing Fong

1919-2020

Born on March 4, 1919 as LEE Hing Fong, Ronald Lee grew up in Vancouver’s Chinatown. One of nine children, Ron was described as the wild child. Sometimes, his mother had to chain him to his bed frame at night. She secured him through the belt loops of his only pair of pants, only to have him run off in his underwear.

As a kid, Ron and his brothers became avid hunters and fishermen to help to provide food for their large family. Ron would hunt in the area of what is now Knight Street and Marine Drive in Vancouver.

In his early career, Ron worked as a cook and then opened his own restaurant in the north. Not afraid of hard work, he always had a few jobs on the go to make a living.

In 1939, Ron tried to enlist in the Canadian Army but "was shown the back door because they didn't want Chinese." By 1942, however, the Army came calling and invited Ron and other Chinese Canadian men to join Force 136, a unit that would secretly operate in Japanese-occupied territory. They would undertake espionage, sabotage and training of local resistance fighters.

A strikingly handsome man, Ron found love twice: first with Doris Chan, whom he married in 1950, and later with Estelle Chen.

Meanwhile, Ron started a meat packing business in Victoria with some fellow war veterans, then moved back to Vancouver in 1958 to open Columbia Market at Columbia and Broadway.

He and Doris had six children together. However, their tendency to give free groceries to customers in need meant the couple had little money. With six kids to feed, Ron took on a second job at Economy Sausage, and then a third at H.Y. Louie company.

Upon retirement, Ron moved to Victoria to live with Estelle. During those years, he and Estelle travelled abroad and throughout Canada and the U.S. When Estelle died suddenly in 2008, Ron’s two youngest children, Valerie and Lori, invited him to move back to Vancouver and live with them in the family home.

Over the next twelve years, Ron and three or four of his children would regularly travel to Las Vegas, his favourite destination. Ron had taken up golf at age 70 and became an excellent golfer. He played his last round at 100 years old on a Vegas course. His other passion was baccarat and on his 100th birthday, he won $10,000 in Vegas.

In 2015, Catherine Clement of the Chinese Canadian Military Museum, interviewed Ron about his war experience. It was the first time that Ron, now 96, talked openly about his years in the Army. He spoke of the excitement of being a young man in London, England during wartime and the fear of having to jump from a plane, in the dark, during training.

Ron’s daughter, Patty Lee, recalls, “He told us about the cyanide pills in his army kit that you were instructed to take immediately if you were captured and knowing that once he was dispatched to war behind enemy lines, he likely would not be coming back.”

“We saw Dad start to slow down at age 100. In March 2020, all six of his kids celebrated his 101st birthday in Vegas. On Sunday, December 6th, 2020, Dad took his last breath and died peacefully at home. Dad will be remembered for his beaming smile and easygoing nature. He was one of a kind and lived life on his terms as best as he could. Our Dad managed life like water off a duck's back.”

Force 136 (1944-1946)

Chan, Doris (1921-1999)

Description supplied by collector/curator