Wing Gog Wong passed away peacefully at the age of 90 on the night of Feb. 5, surrounded by his family. He lived a long and complete life.
Known as “Lim” to his vendors and devoted customers in the first decades of his life in America as proprietor of the New Paris Café in Evanston, he built and ran a successful business for more than 25 years. In addition to being a successful business owner, he was a musician and scholar.
With unerring perfect pitch, he could tune his quiqin (the Chinese banjo) without any need for tuning tools, and he had raucous jam sessions with musician friends who occasionally dropped by.
He was deeply read and could easily weave relevant quotes from the Chinese masters into his daily speech. Until weeks prior to his passing, he daily solved the complex Chinese word puzzles found in the newspapers that he read voraciously.
He moved to Hacienda Heights, California, in 1984, where he lived in comfortable retirement with his wife of 60 years until her passing in 2006. He received frequent visits from his adult children and his many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
He is survived by his son, Raymond; five daughters, Mae, Fay, Mary, Mavon and Margaret (Fern, his third daughter, passed away in 2010); and his adopted son, Sammy. He also leaves behind 14 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren.
Funeral services will be held at the Rose Hills Mortuary, located at 3888 Workman Mill Road, Whittier, CA 90601, (562-699-0921). A viewing is scheduled from 4-8 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 13. His service will be held at 9 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 14, at the Hillside Chapel.
