Page 13 - Life Legacy Project

A Hardworking Childhood
“I chucked the bombs as hard as my 3 year old arms could” That is the last thing Dennis Wong remembers about growing up in China.
Born May 23, in the city of Guangzhou, in the Guangdong province, Dennis Wong knew the world only as a war zone for the first few years of his life. World War II was blooming and a nationalist family like his, was a primary target of the advancing Japanese party. Everyday his family woke up alive was a blessing. Shortly after he turned three, the family of 5 was set to go into hiding. However, his father, hoo-shui, had a different plan in mind. Leaving at dusk, Dennis and his father boarded the last secretive train out to Hong Kong, leaving his mother and 2 sisters behind. Little did he know that he would not see them again for 40 years.
They rode the train all the way to Hong Kong, His most vivid memory of leaving the only country he had ever known was tossing explosives off the back of the train, so that the communist party could not follow their tracks. After escaping China and all of its inglorious warfare, Dennis, age 15 and his father worked as hard as they could to make a living in California. They both worked blue collar jobs so that Dennis could go to his dream school; The Culinary Institute of America in St. Helena, California. He worked as janitor, busboy, night shifts, all on top of going to school and taking English classes. Although he never got to go to culinary school, denied because of his lacking ability to speak fluent english, he still achieved his culinary dream and became a sous chef in Orange County where he met his future wife, Alice. She also was born in China and came to the United States for college. Dennis and Alice got married and had 3 beautiful children; Benita, Clement, and Channing. Dennis said his favorite part of being a parent was “watching them grow up and become their own individual person”.
Dennis Wong is currently 73 years old and is an inspiration to everyone around him. He travels the globe and has visited every single continent. Dennis is very active in his church, leading seminary and a sunday school class. He is most proud of his children, all three getting into ivy league colleges. Dennis Wong is unlike any other person I’ve ever met. Uninterested in leaving a mark on the world, uninterested in an epically useless attempt to survive our deaths. He walks lightly in his humble ways and teaches his grandchildren to have high standards for themselves, no matter what the standards are around them.
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Written by Summer Rozema