[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 4]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 5438]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               RECOGNIZING THE LIFE OF MRS. BOY JIN WONG

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. HILDA L. SOLIS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 17, 2005

  Ms. SOLIS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and honor the life 
of Mrs. Boy Jin Wong who passed away on Saturday, March 12, 2005. A 
resident of West Covina for nearly 50 years, Mrs. Wong was a 
businesswoman, breast cancer survivor, mother, grandmother, great-
grandmother and wife.
  Mrs. Wong and her husband, Bing Tew Wong, opened the Great Wall 
restaurant in the 1950s just as West Covina was growing from less than 
5,000 residents to more than 50,000 residents. Her son, Council Member 
Ben Wong, said ``despite her limited English language skills, countless 
Great Wall customers will remember being warmly greeted by her and her 
enduring smile.'' When the Great Wall closed its doors in 2001, then 
Executive Director of the West Covina Chamber of Commerce, Fred 
Burkhardt, stated ``the Great Wall is an institution of West Covina 
that is going to be severely missed.''
  Mrs. Wong is remembered as a generous person and someone who treated 
everybody as if they were honored guests. Mrs. Wong and her husband 
donated money for scholarships and to build a school in their home 
village in China. She was an active member of the community, 
participating and contributing to numerous local organizations and 
charities.
  It is with pleasure that I honor the life of Mrs. Boy Jin Wong. She 
will be greatly missed by her family, friends and community.

                          ____________________