Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Mah, Helen
Parallel form(s) of name
- 馬月嬋
- 龔馬月嬋
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Other form(s) of name
- Helen Mah Yick
- Gung, Helen
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Description area
Dates of existence
1918-1976
History
Helen Mah was the daughter of Mah Tin Yick who owned a hand laundry business in Salmon Arm, B.C. She was born February 20, 1918.
When Helen was only five years old, her mother died shortly after giving birth to a second child. With Mah Tin Yick unable to find a second wife due to the 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act, Helen and her baby sister Mary Laura Mah were sent off to the Oriental Home and School, an orphanage located at 732 Cormorant Street in Victoria.
After high school graduation, Helen moved to Calgary to work as a nanny for a Chinese family. She longed for something more and eventually left for Toronto, searching for a nursing school that would accept a Chinese student.
Helen attended the Women's College Hospital Nursing School and graduated from a three-year diploma program in 1942. Thus began a long and successful career in nursing.
On April 10, 1943, Helen married David Peter Gung. Together they would have two children: Patricia Laura Gung (b. 1948) and Janet Elizabeth Gung (b. 1953).
On one family trip back to Victoria in 1964, Helen and Dave took their children to the pool at the famous Crystal Garden. It was a grand public facility that barred Chinese entry when Helen and David were growing up. On this occasion, however, the couple were finally allowed to swim in the famous pool.
At age 50, Helen became a widow and a single parent as Dave passed away a month before they were to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary.
Despite having only one income, Helen found ways to keep her youngest daughter, Janet (later known as Janet Bradley Worthington) enrolled in piano lessons. In honour of her mother’s sacrifice and following in her father’s footsteps, Janet has played the piano and conducted a choir at every church she has attended.
Six years after David died, Helen was diagnosed with malignant lymphoma and passed away in 1976.
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