Person

Wong, Dang Kee

• 王庭聰

• Wong, Hing Tong
• Wong, Eng Kee
• Ah Kee

1884-1959

WONG Dang Kee was born in China in 1884. In 1901, when he was 17, he married Yee Mei Ngu and they had a daughter, born in 1903, whom they named Kim.

Dang Kee immigrated to Canada when Kim was three months old, leaving behind his young family; he would never see his daughter again. He arrived in Victoria, B.C., on December 24, 1903.

Dang Kee settled in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and found employment working at a hand laundry business. He worked his way up to become a co-owner of the business, and eventually bought out others to become the sole owner. Though he experienced discrimination throughout his life in Canada, he never dwelled on these.

He brought his wife, Yee Mei Ngu, to join him in Canada in 1921; the couple was finally reunited after almost two decades apart. Their daughter, Kim, had by then married in China and remained with her new family. Dang Kee and his wife would have five more children together, all born in Canada.

In 1930, Dang Kee sold the laundry business and moved to the family to Springhill, Nova Scotia. He became a restauranteur, opening the Glory Cafe. Ten years later, the family moved once again to New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, and opened the Radio Cafe, which became the family business.

Dang Kee was a proud, progressive father and a strong believer in the importance of education for his children. All of his Canadian-born children completed post-secondary education: two daughters graduated from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, another attended the Boston Institute of Medical Technology, his youngest daughter studied nursing at Women’s College Hospital in Toronto, and his son attended Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia.

His daughter, Lily, recalled, “Dang Kee was a proud family man. In the face of adversity, he persevered with his subtle sense of humour, tolerance, hope, and dedication to hard work to enable the next generation to have a rich and fulfilling life for which all his children were grateful.”

Dang Kee passed away in 1959.

Wong, Lily (b. 1922)

Yee Shee (wife of Wong Dang Kee) (1884-1973)

Description supplied by collector/curator