Helen Wong

Self-reliant daughter. Supportive Sister. Loving wife. Caring mother and mother-in-law. Proud grandmother. Inspirational friend and surrogate big sister to many. Brave adventurer. Dedicated registered nurse and midwife. Smooth ballroom dancer. Selfless volunteer. Sui Man Helen Wong, who passed away peacefully on November 10, 2023, was all of these things and much more.

Helen was born on August 16, 1934 in Canton, China, the second of three children in her family. Early in her life, there were difficult times. When she was a young child, Helen’s father, Leung See Lap, died. Helen and her brothers had to live separately with different family members. During the Second World War, to stay safe, Helen and family moved from occupied Hong Kong to China.

Post-war in Hong Kong, while circumstances continued to be challenging, Helen focused on her education. She had a strong desire to learn and intended to become a teacher, like her dear older brother CK Leong (who later became an esteemed professor). But one momentous day Helen accompanied a good friend who was writing an entrance examination for a nursing program. After spontaneously writing the exam herself, Helen was delighted to be admitted to Kwong Wah Hospital Nursing School. She completed a rigorous three-year general nursing program and an additional year to become a midwife. In her spare time, Helen loved swimming.

Helen worked as a nurse in Hong Kong before following her sense of adventure. She set her sights on Regina, Saskatchewan, more than 11,000 kilometres from Hong Kong. Helen knew that nursing work was available in this city on the Canadian prairies. Plus a young man she had met in Hong Kong, through the friend she accompanied to the nursing exam, had already moved to Regina. His name: George Yip Ko Wong. With $60 in her wallet, Helen courageously travelled solo aboard an American President ocean liner on a voyage of almost three weeks to North America.

She arrived in Canada in 1957, and worked at Regina General Hospital. After a sweet courtship, Helen married George on April 10, 1958. The wedding announcement published in the Regina Leader-Post said: “The tiny bride was gowned in white lace over taffeta with a finger-tip length veil misted from a coronet styled headdress.” They honeymooned in Niagara Falls. Helen continued her nursing career at Grey Nuns Hospital, and she and George had three children: Daphne, Jacqueline, and Christopher.

Following a visit to Vancouver, Helen’s adventurous spirit spoke to her again. She convinced George that the family should go west to Vancouver, which happened in 1966. George and Helen bought a house in East Vancouver, and Helen worked as a nurse in the delivery room at Mount St. Joseph Hospital before they made a bold decision. To improve the family’s economic situation, they bought a grocery store on Denman Street in Vancouver’s west end called Chris Grocery. Helen left the career she loved to run the store, while George worked as a cook at Vancouver General Hospital and also helped at the store.

A customer at the store, who worked at St. Paul’s Hospital, found out Helen was a nurse and told her that the hospital needed people like her. St. Paul’s hired Helen, she and George sold the store, and what followed were the best years of her professional life as a registered nurse. Helen worked as a labour and delivery nurse in what was known as the Case Room at St. Paul’s. She put her heart and soul into caring for patients and their newborns, while being a supportive colleague and friend to fellow nurses, physicians, and interns.

Helen took early retirement. But as she would put it, Helen remained very “active.” Even though her English was excellent, she wanted to improve her writing skills, so Helen studied at South Hill Adult Learning Centre. George and Helen loved cooking delicious dinners for family and friends at their Kerrisdale home, and going to favourite restaurants, including the Flamingo and Golden Ocean. They were also curious about the world and enjoyed travelling.

In the eighties, Helen became a mother-in-law, and in the following decade, a grandma. Family including daughter Daphne Wong, son-in-law Van Wong, and grandchildren Tianna, Dionne (Alex), and Todd; daughter Jacqueline Wong, son-in-law Paul Barath, and grandchildren Hannah (Cale) and Liv; and son Christopher Wong, daughter-in-law Maria Chu, and grandchildren Miles (Elysse) and Sarah, dearly loved and will eternally miss grandma. For Helen, reading the book “Love You Forever,” and singing the song with the same name to her grandchildren, epitomized her love for family.

Community was very important to Helen. She and George were cherished members of the ballroom dancing community at Vancouver Ballroom. They also both volunteered at Kerrisdale Seniors Centre, where Helen tirelessly served meals.

Helen and George were inseparable for close to 50 years, so it was heartbreaking for Helen and family when George passed away in 2006. Community, again, was key and helped heal the heartbreak. Helen became friends with kind neighbours in the condominium complex where she lived independently. She served for years as a “volunteer patient” with the UBC Faculty of Medicine, helping future physicians with their diagnosis and treatment skills. Helen was a longtime devout parishioner at St. John the Apostle Parish.

A funeral mass will be held Thursday, November 30, 2023, 11:30 am at St. John the Apostle, 5457 Trafalgar St., Vancouver.

Thank you to family and friends for your love and support, and to the nurses and physicians in the Stroke Team, ward 6b, and palliative care at Vancouver General Hospital for the compassionate care you provided to Helen.

In lieu of flowers, donations in memory of Helen Wong may be made to the VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation at https://vghfoundation.ca/ Thank you for your generosity.

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