Donor Profile: Lily Y. Wong

Donor Profile: Lily Y. Wong

For many donors to the Chinese Garden, the project has a deeply personal resonance. Businesswoman Lily Y. Wong recently shared her own thoughts about how the garden connects her memories of the past with a family legacy for the future.

Reflections of the Past

by Lily Y. Wong

No two gardens are exactly alike, but the new Chinese Garden at The Huntington reminds me of my hometown, a small village in the Jiangsu province of eastern China. It is a lush, abundant area with many ponds, lakes, and rivers. Parks very much like this garden were a part of my everyday life. I remember running through them to keep up with my grandmother, stopping to say hello to friends, or making my way to school with my dog Charmy. (I had chosen the name because it sounded American.) I had no idea of what was to come; it was a happy, ignorant childhood.

Back then, I thought of the United States as the golden land. Now I live in Southern California, where my husband, John W. Wong, and I raised our four children, and where I established my professional life. It is a pleasure to support the Huntington Chinese Garden in my adopted hometown of San Marino, so that my children, grandchildren, and one day their children will be able to see the roots we’ve set down here. The bridge in the garden is particularly emblematic because I see my own life as connecting the East to the West, my new and beloved home.

Lily Y. Wong, shown above with her granddaughter Marissa, is founder and principal of the LYW Group of Companies and an active member of the Asian American community.