In memory of Mammie (Chi-Hung Chung Wong, 4/24/1920 - 3/23/2022)
Mammie, as we called her, was born more than a hundred and one years ago on 4/24/1920 in a large traditional Chinese family in Guangzhou. She had two brothers and three sisters. She married our father in 1942, whom she met through a “match maker” and with the blessing of her parents. She did not have any formal schooling, but she learned to be a good cook and was a good mother to her family.
She lived through perhaps one of the most dramatic transitions in modern Chinese society—from an old-fashioned large stationary family to a small, new and vibrant one. She maintained her family traditions and values as she guided our family through many locations and sometimes harrowing conditions. From Guangzhou to northwest mountain area of Guangdong province with the Japanese army chasing close behind, back to Guangzhou after WW II, then to Hong Kong to avoid persecution by the Communist party, to Taiwan (in at least 5 locations) to follow the government that our father was loyal to, and then to the United States (in St. Louis, Boston, Memphis, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Andover).
During the war, she took on the sole responsibility of caring for her young children when our father was captured by the Japanese army and had to manage her three rambunctious sons by herself when boarding a ship to Taiwan from Hong Kong to meet our father in Taipei. She demonstrated her strength and values by keeping her family united despite undergoing some difficult times. She taught us the value of education and culture, to abide by the common law, and to respect elders. She might have appeared to be a bit dominating when enforcing the rules. She definitely was a woman with unwavering principle, a sense of fairness, and a strong will.
Mammie is survived by her three sons and their spouses (Robert/Grace, Henry/Caroline, Richard/Nini), her six grandchildren (Michael, Dennis, Annie, Shirley, Lisa, Aaron), and nine great-grandchildren (Phoebe, Timmy, Derek, Miles, Simon, Noura, Owen, Kyle, and Tyler).
Arrangements have been entrusted to the Burke-Magliozzi Funeral Home of Andover.