By Eugene Moy & Cindy Fong

CHSSC officially celebrated Ching Ming on Friday, April 12 at the historic Chinese Shrine located in Evergreen Cemetery in East Los Angeles. Thanks to Gordon Hom and Anita Lee who spent several days prior to the event tidying up the site, especially the area within the shrine enclosure.

On Friday, they, along with O.C. Lee, Willie Lew, Ernie Low, Mei Ong, Susan Sing, Chuck Woo, and the authors, spent the first part of Friday raking weeds and pine needles. On hands and knees, the group scraped dirt and debris that partially covered some of the over 165 headstones. These headstones were placed by Metro to mark the reburial of remains relocated from the nearby Gold Line construction. A special shoutout to O.C. for preserving the day with his photographic talent.

Susan led the crew in arranging flowers at the Shrine, the Metro memorial wall, and on every headstone.  Additional bundles of flowers were placed at the shrine in memory of some of the original Shrine restoration committee members, including among others, Irvin Lai, Gilbert Hom, Randall Bloch, and Charles Wong.  The entire group placed lighted incense at the Shrine and paid respect to our LA Chinese American pioneers.

We then packed up all our gear and drove a short distance in the cemetery to the location of the graves of Donaldina Cameron and some of her family members.  Many may know of her crusading spirit in the late 19th-early 20th century in San Francisco, rescuing enslaved Chinese girls and providing a group home for them. Few may be aware that a good part of her early life was spent in Southern California; hence, many of her family are at rest at Evergreen Cemetery. We placed more flowers at the Cameron family site, which included the final resting place of Tien Fu Wu, Donaldina’s longtime assistant at Cameron House.  After we “adjourned”, we re-gathered and enjoyed a nice lunch at the legendary Liliana’s in nearby East L.A. [whew]