Dr. Jane Man-Gok Wong

Jane’s dedication to her family, her caring nature and her generosity will forever live on in the hearts of those who knew her.

Jane was an accomplished, fiercely independent, strong-minded woman who was ahead of her time. She was a dedicated doctor, often helping her patients solve medical issues that they had struggled with for years. She always went above and beyond to offer her medical advice to friends and family.

In addition to her professional accomplishments, she was a person of deep faith who went out of her way to help others. Whether it was cooking meals, sharing tips on vitamins and supplements, giving investing advice or any other areas where she thought she could make a difference, she always did it with the best of intentions so others could benefit.

Born in Hong Kong in 1931, she was the sixth of seven children of Dr. Reginald Jaep Wong and Elizabeth Shun-Yat Tang. She was a child during World War II and lived through Hong Kong’s Japanese occupation. During that time, her family fled to Macau where she finished high school. She studied medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) in Dublin in the 1950’s and went on to do residencies in Honolulu, Hawaii, Kingston, Ontario (paediatric residency) and Ann Arbor, Michigan. In the late 1960's, she moved to Winnipeg to join her sister, Virginia, who was an anesthesiologist there at the time.

In 1970, she made a life-changing decision to adopt a baby girl, which at the time, was an anomaly for a single, minority woman. She raised her daughter, Caroline, as a single parent, managing to build a successful medical practice while juggling child-rearing. Daily life included driving 45 minutes to and from school in Winnipeg’s French-speaking neighbourhood of St. Boniface, and shuttling to a multitude of extracurricular activities, including many trips to the Winnipeg Winter Club for Caroline’s figure skating practices. In addition, she cared for her older sister, Constance, who was a doctor in the nearby town of Selkirk, driving her back and forth to Winnipeg on holidays and long weekends. In 1981, she took care of her brother Edwin’s three children as they immigrated to Canada, briefly expanding her family of two to five. She took them all on many fun trips including skiing in Banff, Disneyworld in Florida and even Bemidji, Minnesota. Jane loved to cook and experimented with all types of cuisines ranging from French soufflés to English roasts to traditional Chinese dishes to Indian curries. She hosted many holiday dinners, indulging her friends and family in her homemade cooking.

In the late 1990's, Jane retired and moved to West Vancouver, British Columbia, where she spent her next 30 years. She loved her community and got involved in St. Stephen's Anglican Church, the West Vancouver Senior Centre and enjoyed her neighbours in her Salishan townhome complex. In her retirement years, Jane learned French (even going on a homestay in France), ballroom dancing, Pilates (she had her own reformer which she used daily), guitar and the ukulele, and enjoyed following the stock market. She embraced being a grandmother and regularly flew to Hong Kong to spend time with her daughter and granddaughters, even joining them on side trips to Australia.

Jane is survived by her older sister (Mona), daughter (Caroline Wong), her son-in law (Thomas Frick) and her three granddaughters (Audrey, Ava and Arden Wong-Frick), in addition to her beloved "furry granddaughter” (Lady), as well as a number of nieces and nephews. She was pre-deceased by her brothers (Hugh and Edwin) and her sisters (Virginia, Constance and Ann).

A memorial service to celebrate Jane’s life will be held at a later date.