Jean B. Lumb

Jean Bessie Lumb
Born 1919
Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada
Died 2002
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Spouse(s) Doyle Lumb (m.1939-1989)

Jean Bessie Lumb, CM (1919–2002) was the first Chinese Canadian woman and the first restaurateur to receive the Order of Canada for her community work. Most notably, she was recognized for her pivotal role in changing Canada’s immigration laws that separated Chinese families and for her contribution in saving Chinatowns in Toronto and other cities.

Lumb, one of twelve children, was born in Nanaimo, B.C. to Fun Gee Wong and Hone Hung Mah, both of Canton, China. Her father emigrated to Canada to work as a farm labourer. Lumb left school at the age of 12 to work and support her family. In 1935, she moved to Toronto and later opened her own grocery store as a 17-year-old. In 1939, she married Doyle Jenning Lumb, her husband of 50 years. The mother of six children and grandmother of nine grandchildren, Jean Lumb was the co-owner (with husband Doyle Lumb) and Director of the Kwong Chow Restaurant in Toronto for 23 years. Her husband was born in China and remained stateless until 1947 and died in 1989.[1]

Jean Lumb was very active in community work throughout her life. She achieved many firsts in Toronto. First Chinese woman on the board of governors of the Women’s College Hospital. First Chinese woman on the board of University Settlement House. First Chinese restaurateur and first woman to receive the Fran Deck Award for outstanding achievement in Toronto’s restaurant industry. First Chinese-Canadian woman to sit on the Board of Rotary-Laughlen Centre. She served as Director and Honorary Advisor of the Yee Hong Chinese Nursing Home for Greater Toronto and the Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Toronto, respectively.

Community Work

Awards and honours

Filmography

Jean Lumb, Loving spoonfuls, Episode 2, Indivisual Productions Inc., 2001.

Quo Vadis, Mrs. Lumb?, National Film Board of Canada, 1965.

Spirit of the dragon, written, directed and produced by Gil Gauvreau, Convergence Productions, 2002. Winner of the National Film Board of Canada's Outstanding Documentary Award at the Reel World Festival 2003

Under the willow tree: pioneer Chinese women in Canada, National Film Board of Canada, 1997.

Photographic Exhibition

“But women did come: a photographic exhibition on Chinese Canadian women”, Chinese Canadian National Council, 1993.

Personal and family

Lumb married Doyle Jenning Lumb in 1939 in Toronto, who had come to Canada from China, and they had 6 children.[2] Although Jean Lumb was born in Canada she lost her Canadian status after her marriage and regained it in 1947. Her husband died in 1989 and Lumb herself in 2002.

Lumb's brothers Robert (1917-1987) and Tommy Wong also moved to Toronto, where they founded Central Airways School (formerly Wong's Air School), that taught flying at Toronto Island Airport and Central Airways School on the Toronto Island Airport.[3] Their flying school closed down in the early 1980s. Robert lived in east end Toronto and Tommy in west-end Toronto.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.lovingspoonfuls.com/PAGES/grandmotherbios.html
  2. ↑ http://www.umanitoba.ca/cm/vol4/no5/spiritdragon.html
  3. ↑ http://www.thestar.com/business/2015/06/07/when-the-wong-brothers-soared-over-toronto.html

Becker, William B. “Dining Out in Toronto: Kwongchow Chop Suey Tavern.” Michigan Living Motor News, vol. 61, no. 11 (May 1979), p. 27.

“A Chinese Paragon: Jean Lumb, C.M.” Imagination 13 (May 1990), pp. 10–11.

Cannon, Margaret. “The Chinese Connection.” Country Estate (Late Autumn 1990), pp. 35–44.

Chan, Arlene. Spirit of the dragon: Jean Lumb, a proud Chinese Canadian. Toronto: Umbrella Press, 1997.

Chinese Canadian National Council, Women’s Committee. Jin Guo: voices of Chinese Canadian women. Toronto: Women’s Press, 1992.

“Dragon Ball”. Country Estate (Late Spring 1990), pp. 68–69.

Forster, Merna. “A Chinese Voice, Jean Lumb 1919-2002.” 100 Canadian Heroines. Toronto: The Dundurn Group, 2004.

Growe, Sarah Jane. “Grandmothers are really cooking.” Toronto Star (April 15, 2000), p. J16.

Growe, Sarah Jane. “Leaving a legacy important for us all.” Toronto Star (November 24, 2001), p. M21.

Huang, Evelyn and Lawrence Jeffrey. Voices from a community. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1992.

“Jean Lumb Award.” Chinese Education Journal (Canada) (Winter 1998), pp. 6–7, 8.

Keung, Nicholas. “A fresh look at our past.” Toronto Star (October 8, 2004), p. B01.

Moore, Brian. “Toronto.” National Geographic (n.d.), pp. 52–56.

Our grandmothers, ourselves: reflections on Canadian women. Edited by Gina Vallee. Toronto: Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2005.

Sherwood, George. Legends in their time: young heroes and victims of Canada. Toronto: Natural Heritage Books, c2006.

“Someone’s in the Kitchen with David” Star Week (April 1–8, 2000), p. 6.

Stein, David Lewis. “Toronto: What makes It Tick?” Chatelaine (August 1978), pp. 36–37, 95.

Stollery, Peter. “The Emergence of the Chinese Establishment: West from Canton, East from Spadina and South for the Writer.” Toronto Life. (December 1976), pp. 27–35.

Urquhart, Ian. “Chinatown Fights Back the High-Rise Shadows.” The Telegram (June 21, 1971)

External links

Chinatown, Toronto

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 4/13/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.