Sweet Home Helena
SWIMMING LIFE
Sweet Home Helena
Home is where Flora Wong hangs her swimsuit Flora Wong celebrates success at the 2009 National Senior Olympics. Bess Wong
M
ontana’s capital city, Helena, lies in the western half of Big Sky Country and is home to nearly 30,000 people. The city boomed during the Gold Rush of the 1860s, as prospectors flooded the area and settled down to stay once the metallic fever had subsided. The tales of fortunes mined and lost in Helena could fill a book, no doubt, but one of this friendly city’s celebrated inhabitants, 87-year-old Flora Wong, has written a different kind of story in “Long Way Home: Journeys of a Chinese Montanan” (Sweetgrass Books, 2011) with an unexpected gold payoff at the end: her own extraordinary journey around the world and to the top of the podium in Masters Swimming.
8
usms.org
BOSTON BIRTH, CHINA CHILDHOOD Wong was born in Boston’s Chinatown neighborhood in 1928 and says she has few memories of living there; her family returned to China when she was not quite 8 years old. Her father was lured back to his homeland by the promise of a better life—He had worked hard and saved money in America that would help the family establish a farm in his native village, Lin Fong Lei, in Guangdong Province. Wong spent the next decade tending the rice paddies behind the house. Her father died in 1939, leaving her mother alone to care for several children. Though Wong says she was never hungry as a child, as the political situation deteriorated and World War II began encroaching
on their previously quiet corner of southern China, the family’s finances tightened. Wong also had to learn the scary lessons of war—When Japanese fighter planes swooped overhead as she and younger sister Maymie worked the fields, they learned to scurry for cover and wait for the safety of a silent sky before returning to their labors. The family survived the war, but the coming communist revolution offered a new threat. Sensing how dire the situation could turn for her children, Wong’s mother pushed all of them to emigrate back to America. She was successful; all of Wong’s brothers and sisters managed to flee China before the communist regime took power. (But Wong’s mother was forced to remain behind. She died in Lin Fong Lei in the early 1950s after being stoned by fellow villagers who were angry about the land she owned.)
NEW LIFE IN MONTANA To get her out of China, Wong’s mother engaged a matchmaker to help find a suitable husband in America. Thus, at just 19 years old, Wong entered into an arranged marriage to Charlie Wong, who hailed from a neighboring village in China but had moved to America some years before and established a successful grocery store in downtown Helena. Though she was born an American citizen, Wong’s passport and paperwork had been lost somewhere along the way, and it took tremendous effort to get back to America. She arrived in Helena in the middle of winter, a stark
change from the tropical South China climate she’d called home for so many years. In addition, Wong was pregnant and ill with malaria, making for a difficult transition all around. But once she recovered, Wong began exploring her new home and was delighted by what she found. Though Helena might not be the first city that comes to mind when you think of a vibrant Chinatown, at the time, Helena did have a small but thriving Chinese community. Many Chinese people had settled in the area, having found work with the railroads, and they became her friends, coworkers, and surrogate family. And over the next several years, Wong and her husband welcomed five children to their own family: daughters Nancy, Gloria, Bessie, and Thel, and a son named Poy. The Wong family and its Wing Shing Grocery store prospered and became a fixture in Helena. But in 1968, Charlie died suddenly, leaving Wong to figure out the next steps on her own. Like her own mother, she was left alone to care for several children, and bravely soldiered on until her children were all launched on their own paths.
DIVING INTO SWIMMING Once her children had left the nest, Wong could finally devote a little time to herself. And she soon found her way to the pool. Wong hadn’t been an athlete of any sort growing up, though she did work hard in the fields to help her family survive. Perhaps it was that innate strength and a constitution hardened through manual labor that enabled her to plunge into swimming as a 55-year-old without ever having swum a stroke before. Daughter Gloria laughs, saying her mom “had a lot of time on her hands” when she first
took up swimming after the children were grown and she had retired from working. Nancy continues, “We were worried about her not being able to get out much, so we got her a stationary bike. That didn’t work, so we got her a membership to the Y. And she looked at the pool and said, ‘I can do this,’ and decided she wanted to try it.” Wong recalls being interested in swimming because she had taken her kids for lessons at the Y, and she jumped in “because it looked like fun. I just wanted to try and see if I could do it,” she says. She didn’t take any formal lessons, just watched other swimmers and mimicked what she saw worked for them. A few other swimmers offered some advice, and before long Wong was doing lap after lap, blissfully enjoying a new chapter in the pool. Naturally competitive, Wong began participating in meets in 1991. Since then, she’s earned more than 700 swimming medals. Not bad for someone who didn’t swim as a kid. And for most of her meets and events, Wong’s had several of her children on hand to cheer for her. “We use it as a reason to have a family gathering,” Nancy says. “We’re all sort of scattered, and we all sort of converge on the meets together.” They celebrate her victories with her, and their mom has inspired them to stay active, too, swimming, running, and competing in triathlons here and there. Although her kids enjoy swimming, Wong is the most passionate athlete in the family. “When she found swimming, it’s like a whole new world opened up for her,” daughter Gloria says. “Mom was devastated after the loss of our dad. It took her a long time to get over that, especially with the difference in culture. She basically had to raise us all by herself, and we were Chinese in a white culture.
Mom really turned herself around and let us live our own lives. We in turn wanted to watch her live her own life, and she found something that she loves on her own and she does well at. And we are just in awe. We love to see her happy and enjoying her life in her own sense. We’re amazed. We’re just loving it.” These days, Wong trains about 2,000 yards per day, five days per week. Two of those sessions are with a Masters group at the Y, and though she’s dealing with some eye issues, her health is top notch and she’s showing no signs of slowing down in swimming. “My body likes it,” she says. And what’s more, it’s a good social grounding for her, too. “I love swimming. It gives me exercise and a chance to meet my friends. We encourage each other so we can do better.” Her “can-do” spirit and willingness to work hard for her success has helped inspire others around her in Helena and beyond. Although Wong isn’t a Helena native, she happily calls Helena her Home, with a capital H. And Helena loves her back;
the Y has granted her a lifetime membership and celebrates her accomplishments with a 10-foot-tall picture of her near
the front door. From there, her obvious good health and sparkly smile invite people to come in for a swim.—ELAINE K. HOWLEY
The Helena Y uses an image of Flora Wong to welcome members to the facility. Nancy Wong
Flora Wong shone at Summer National Senior Games in 2009. National Senior Games Association
january-february 2016
9
Sweet Home Helena
Home is where Flora Wong hangs her swimsuit Flora Wong celebrates success at the 2009 National Senior Olympics. Bess Wong
M
ontana’s capital city, Helena, lies in the western half of Big Sky Country and is home to nearly 30,000 people. The city boomed during the Gold Rush of the 1860s, as prospectors flooded the area and settled down to stay once the metallic fever had subsided. The tales of fortunes mined and lost in Helena could fill a book, no doubt, but one of this friendly city’s celebrated inhabitants, 87-year-old Flora Wong, has written a different kind of story in “Long Way Home: Journeys of a Chinese Montanan” (Sweetgrass Books, 2011) with an unexpected gold payoff at the end: her own extraordinary journey around the world and to the top of the podium in Masters Swimming.
8
usms.org
BOSTON BIRTH, CHINA CHILDHOOD Wong was born in Boston’s Chinatown neighborhood in 1928 and says she has few memories of living there; her family returned to China when she was not quite 8 years old. Her father was lured back to his homeland by the promise of a better life—He had worked hard and saved money in America that would help the family establish a farm in his native village, Lin Fong Lei, in Guangdong Province. Wong spent the next decade tending the rice paddies behind the house. Her father died in 1939, leaving her mother alone to care for several children. Though Wong says she was never hungry as a child, as the political situation deteriorated and World War II began encroaching
on their previously quiet corner of southern China, the family’s finances tightened. Wong also had to learn the scary lessons of war—When Japanese fighter planes swooped overhead as she and younger sister Maymie worked the fields, they learned to scurry for cover and wait for the safety of a silent sky before returning to their labors. The family survived the war, but the coming communist revolution offered a new threat. Sensing how dire the situation could turn for her children, Wong’s mother pushed all of them to emigrate back to America. She was successful; all of Wong’s brothers and sisters managed to flee China before the communist regime took power. (But Wong’s mother was forced to remain behind. She died in Lin Fong Lei in the early 1950s after being stoned by fellow villagers who were angry about the land she owned.)
NEW LIFE IN MONTANA To get her out of China, Wong’s mother engaged a matchmaker to help find a suitable husband in America. Thus, at just 19 years old, Wong entered into an arranged marriage to Charlie Wong, who hailed from a neighboring village in China but had moved to America some years before and established a successful grocery store in downtown Helena. Though she was born an American citizen, Wong’s passport and paperwork had been lost somewhere along the way, and it took tremendous effort to get back to America. She arrived in Helena in the middle of winter, a stark
change from the tropical South China climate she’d called home for so many years. In addition, Wong was pregnant and ill with malaria, making for a difficult transition all around. But once she recovered, Wong began exploring her new home and was delighted by what she found. Though Helena might not be the first city that comes to mind when you think of a vibrant Chinatown, at the time, Helena did have a small but thriving Chinese community. Many Chinese people had settled in the area, having found work with the railroads, and they became her friends, coworkers, and surrogate family. And over the next several years, Wong and her husband welcomed five children to their own family: daughters Nancy, Gloria, Bessie, and Thel, and a son named Poy. The Wong family and its Wing Shing Grocery store prospered and became a fixture in Helena. But in 1968, Charlie died suddenly, leaving Wong to figure out the next steps on her own. Like her own mother, she was left alone to care for several children, and bravely soldiered on until her children were all launched on their own paths.
DIVING INTO SWIMMING Once her children had left the nest, Wong could finally devote a little time to herself. And she soon found her way to the pool. Wong hadn’t been an athlete of any sort growing up, though she did work hard in the fields to help her family survive. Perhaps it was that innate strength and a constitution hardened through manual labor that enabled her to plunge into swimming as a 55-year-old without ever having swum a stroke before. Daughter Gloria laughs, saying her mom “had a lot of time on her hands” when she first
took up swimming after the children were grown and she had retired from working. Nancy continues, “We were worried about her not being able to get out much, so we got her a stationary bike. That didn’t work, so we got her a membership to the Y. And she looked at the pool and said, ‘I can do this,’ and decided she wanted to try it.” Wong recalls being interested in swimming because she had taken her kids for lessons at the Y, and she jumped in “because it looked like fun. I just wanted to try and see if I could do it,” she says. She didn’t take any formal lessons, just watched other swimmers and mimicked what she saw worked for them. A few other swimmers offered some advice, and before long Wong was doing lap after lap, blissfully enjoying a new chapter in the pool. Naturally competitive, Wong began participating in meets in 1991. Since then, she’s earned more than 700 swimming medals. Not bad for someone who didn’t swim as a kid. And for most of her meets and events, Wong’s had several of her children on hand to cheer for her. “We use it as a reason to have a family gathering,” Nancy says. “We’re all sort of scattered, and we all sort of converge on the meets together.” They celebrate her victories with her, and their mom has inspired them to stay active, too, swimming, running, and competing in triathlons here and there. Although her kids enjoy swimming, Wong is the most passionate athlete in the family. “When she found swimming, it’s like a whole new world opened up for her,” daughter Gloria says. “Mom was devastated after the loss of our dad. It took her a long time to get over that, especially with the difference in culture. She basically had to raise us all by herself, and we were Chinese in a white culture.
Mom really turned herself around and let us live our own lives. We in turn wanted to watch her live her own life, and she found something that she loves on her own and she does well at. And we are just in awe. We love to see her happy and enjoying her life in her own sense. We’re amazed. We’re just loving it.” These days, Wong trains about 2,000 yards per day, five days per week. Two of those sessions are with a Masters group at the Y, and though she’s dealing with some eye issues, her health is top notch and she’s showing no signs of slowing down in swimming. “My body likes it,” she says. And what’s more, it’s a good social grounding for her, too. “I love swimming. It gives me exercise and a chance to meet my friends. We encourage each other so we can do better.” Her “can-do” spirit and willingness to work hard for her success has helped inspire others around her in Helena and beyond. Although Wong isn’t a Helena native, she happily calls Helena her Home, with a capital H. And Helena loves her back;
the Y has granted her a lifetime membership and celebrates her accomplishments with a 10-foot-tall picture of her near
the front door. From there, her obvious good health and sparkly smile invite people to come in for a swim.—ELAINE K. HOWLEY
The Helena Y uses an image of Flora Wong to welcome members to the facility. Nancy Wong
Flora Wong shone at Summer National Senior Games in 2009. National Senior Games Association
january-february 2016
9
