The Helena City Commission proclaimed July 15 as Flora Wong Day, honoring one of the state’s most famous and fascinating Chinese-American women.
She’s a survivor of the Japanese invasion of China and the Chinese Communist Revolution. She’s a Helena Hall of Fame athlete. She’s an established business woman and author, and she’s a great-grandmother called “Mom Wong” by loved ones.
And, she’s a former Helenan who still calls Montana home. When she found out about the proclamation, the 95-year-old Wong was shocked, and she covered her face and wept tears of joy.
“She’s just an amazing, amazing lady,” her daughter, Nancy Wong, said. “She’s the strongest woman I know.”
Flora Wong was born in Boston to Chinese parents. Back then, being Chinese-American was relatively rare; the Chinese Exclusion Act, passed in 1882, explicitly banned Chinese people from naturalization into the United States.
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At 8 years old, Flora’s parents moved back to China for a more peaceful life. However, shortly after they arrived, the Second Sino-Japanese War began.
The family endured for 10 more years, and Wong’s mother, Chen Sun Ho, tried to find an escape for her six daughters.
She arranged a marriage for Flora with Helena’s Charlie Wong. They briefly met and wed in China, and Charlie returned to Helena, waiting for the U.S. to clear her arrival.
It was hard and arduous. The love letters sent between Charlie and Flora described the loneliness and frustration of immigration.
Being born on U.S. soil was the only way for someone of Chinese descent to become an American citizen. Her Boston birth may have been what saved her, Chinese-Montanan expert and Notre Dame educator Mark Johnson said.
After Flora finally made it to Helena in December 1948, she became a mother, businesswoman and athlete.
She and Charlie worked at the Wing Shing Grocery store on South Main’s historic Chinatown, and she later worked at the Chinese Kitchen and Oriental Gift Shop.
Not one to be kept still, she later was inspired by her son’s Helena High School swimming career to take up athletics herself.
She played in four National Senior Games and one World Senior Game in her retirement, swimming and running. She was named Montana Big Sky Athlete of the Year in 1999, and in 2009, she was added to the Helena Sports Hall of Fame.
She published a memoir in 2011 titled “Long Way Home: Journeys of a Chinese Montanan” describing her life.
A proclamation in her honor was chiefly worked on by family friend, historian and aunt of City Commissioner Emily Dean, Patty Dean. She consulted with Johnson and Montana historian Bob Swartout.
Patty Dean said Flora is an exemplary Helenan. Johnson said she’s both honorable and a living reminder of Helena’s history.
While not known for its diversity now, Helena was at one point 21% Chinese — something he’d be disappointed for Montanans to forget.
“Flora Wong is a key connection to the present and Montana’s past,” Johnson said. “She is strength, resilience, family and a testament to Montana values.”
Flora and her family were expected to attend the proclamation at 6 p.m. Monday. While she can’t live in Helena anymore due to her age and Charlie’s death, she tries to visit once a year, Nancy said.
The declaration, in part reads: “Flora Wong serves as an inspiring role model, demonstrating that it is never too late to pursue new passions and achieve great success, even in one’s senior years.”
They celebrated the day by showing her grandchildren where Flora used to work and raise her family, including a visit to the Parrot Confectionary, where Flora sampled her grandchildren’s treats.
“She’s exuberant, inspiring, and her motto really is ‘Just do it,’” Nancy said. “She’s so honored to be honored… We’re all just so happy.”
Christine Compton is a reporter for the Helena Independent Record.