June Ho Gong was born on December 8, 1932, in a village in Canton, China. Her father was a rice farmer and businessman who sold meats and her mother was a housewife. She was the oldest of 7 children. The family was poor, and June had to help take care of her brothers and sisters. She started school when she was 12 years old, attending a school that was far from her village, so she had to stay with a relative. She stopped attending school at 15 years old.
In 1949, June married Edward Gong, and they moved to Hong Kong with his parents to escape the Communist takeover and wait for immigration papers to be approved to go to the United States. They began their journey by ship to the United States in January of 1950. June was pregnant by then and remembered being seasick all the time. The journey took 21 days.
June, Edward, and his parents lived in San Francisco for 2 years. June and Edward's sons, Terry and Ennis, were born here in 1950 and 1952 respectively. In 1952, the family moved to Visalia along with Edward's parents and opened up a grocery store. June and Edward's daughter Jeanette and son Leslie were born in 1953 and 1954, respectively. When the lease ran out on the store, the family moved to Fresno. Edward and his father opened up R&E Market, and once Leslie was old enough to attend school, June helped out at the grocery store more.
R&E Market closed in 1973, and June went to work as a seamstress at a clothing factory in Sanger sewing pockets onto jeans. She worked there for 19 years until her retirement.
When China opened their doors to the world again, Edward, June, and their family went to visit other family in the old village in Canton. June's father, brothers, and sisters were still there. Edward and June helped bring over all of them, including the children, for their immigration to the United States in the 1980's, bringing over a total of 24 family members in 3 stages.
June and Edward were married for 62 years before he passed away in 2011. After he passed, June was able to do some traveling, taking cruises to Mexico and visiting family in Panama. She lived independently by herself but always had visits from family. She was the best hostess, always making sure everyone felt welcomed in her home and that they were well fed.
June is survived by her 4 children; Terry (Linda), Ennis (Shirley), Jeanette, and Leslie. She is also survived by her 6 grandchildren; Jennifer (Darren), Joanna (Dzuy), Kyra, Kaleigh, Veronica, and Jerry Jr, and her 4 great-grandchildren; Emily, Ryan, Riley, and Braedyn.
