What many of you may not know is that William, Will even Jon to some of his friends (because of his last name being hyphenated), knew that his proper name was actually Wilfred Willem Jon-Ming , above all he preferred to be called William.
William was born on February 21, 1947 in Paramaribo, Suriname South America (which is a relatively small country in South America), it was also known as the Dutch Guiana’s which is located at the top of Brazil between British and French Guiana. His primary language was Dutch as his home in Suriname was under Dutch rule when he was growing up. Suriname gained their independence in 1975 and at the time of their independence William no longer lived in Suriname. English was his second language which they had to learn in school in Suriname, and he spoke Taki Taki which is a dialect that many of the Surinamese people speak; it’s a mixture of several different languages combined, due to Suriname being such a diverse country. William learned to speak some German because he did live and work in Germany for a short period of time. When he left Suriname to go live in Holland at the age of 19, he was drafted into the Dutch Navy but received an honourable discharge. William eventually joined the Merchant Marines (he always had a story) and as many of you know William had the gift of gab, he loved to talk and he could talk to anyone pretty much about anything.
William and I met in April of 1970 in New York, married in August of 1971; he was 24 and I was 22. We moved to Charlotte in March 1994 where we have lived for 28 years and married for 50 years. William had a passion for basketball (in NY they would call him Jabbar on the basketball courts, he had skills). Over the years he played in many tournaments and as he moved into his Senior years he played in the Senior basketball games in Charlotte and his team even went to a couple of the regional playoffs. Being that he grew up in South America he also had a love of soccer (again, more stories of his playing soccer with a little ball and no shoes back home in his country growing up) but his first love was always basketball. William loved music pretty much any type be it jazz, rhythm and blues, Latin; calypso, even hip hop, he could name songs/artists just by hearing the music alone.
But much more than anything he was a loving husband, father and grandfather. His pride and joys were his son and grandchildren whom he loved with all of his heart.
Over the past couple of years William dealt with health issues due to having had a couple of strokes, he was doing well and working really hard with PT; but unfortunately due to his having a fall at home he passed away at CMC hospital on Tuesday May 17th, surrounded by his loved ones, William was 75 years old. He is preceded in passing by his parents Gonda Manstra and Gerardus Jon-Ming; as well as his grandparents Leo and Louise Manstra.
We will cherish his memories always; son David (Angie); grandchildren, Amina, Geronimo, (Gabby); sisters Lucy, Carmen, brothers Eddie, Davie and Robbie; niece Alyse who always called him PePe meaning godfather (as he was her godfather and his grandniece Samira.
So I say to my William what my grandpa use to always tell me “We will meet again some sunny day”.
A memorial service for Wilfred will be held Saturday, May 28, 2022 at 11:00 AM at McEwen Funeral Service-Pineville Chapel, 10500 Park Road, Charlotte, NC 28210.
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.McEwenPinevilleChapel.com for the Jon-Ming family.
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