Shelton C. Pong

Shelton Pong was born on October 24, 1915 in Shiqi village in the province of Zhongshan in China. He was the oldest son of Harry and Gim Wah Pong. Shelton graduated with a degree in Metallurgical Engineering from the prestigious Jiao Tong University in China. Soon after, he married Margaret Lee, who was social worker in Chengdu province. They were married in China but the Second World War forced them to leave China and settle in Margaret’s hometown of Hong Kong. They had their two children, Elaine and Edward, while living in HK.

Shelton left Hong Kong and came to British Columbia, Canada, following his father’s footsteps, to make a new life for his young family. He re-studied engineering at the University of British Columbia and earned a Canadian degree. Soon after graduation, he was reunited with his family when he was able to bring them to Ontario. He then worked in various companies and mines – often in the far north of Ontario – as a metallurgical engineer for the remainder of his career. He gave up one of his engineering jobs after an accident driving home from a post in the north. He then opened a Chinese take-out restaurant, “Ding-Ho” on Lawrence Avenue. He sold it after a few years and travelled all over North America with his family.

Shelton was a man of many talents and interests. He loved wood-working and was known to make extremely hardy home furniture. He played the recorder, Chinese urhu and even the violin. He loved to sing Chinese opera and would sing it to his grandchildren as lullabies. He was also a master at Tai-chi and loved to tell his grandchildren his fighting stories from his native China. His utmost love, however, was the outdoors and he found his niche when Margaret and he purchased a cottage in the small Ontario town of Coboconk. He would stay there summer after summer, keeping his garden, fishing, and doing landscaping and repairs.

Shelton had a stroke about 15 years ago. He recovered but his dementia set in not long after. He stayed at Cedarbrook Lodge for few years and then moved to Yee-Hong Nursing Home when his Alzheimer progressed. Though his memory was fading, he remained physically strong for many years and even participated in bowling the week before his passing.

Shelton passed away in his sleep at Scarborough General Hospital on Feb 26, 2012 after complications from a medical infection.

He was a very loving husband to his wife Margaret, loving father to his daughter Elaine and son Edward, very loving and caring grandfather to his three grandchildren: Jonathan, Karyn and Jessica. He was also a proud great-grandfather to Isaac and Lucas Chan. He is greatly missed by his family.