Obituary of Jean Yvonne Chong

Jean Yvonne Chong, affectionately known to family members as Miss Rose, was the only child born to Edna Millette Nation (Dellimore) and Joslyn Smalling on May 19th, 1944. She was born and raised in Port Morant, in the parish of Saint Thomas in Jamaica, West Indies. Jean migrated to New York at the age of 14 and lived in Brooklyn, New York where she attended George W. Wingate High School. Jean met the love of her life, Winston Chong, in Jamaica at the age of 11 when she would tag along with her two older cousins (more like sisters), Willow and Alveta, who were his close friends. They were married in 1964 and two children, Michelle Nadeen and Dane Barrington were born from their union. They started out on Carroll Street in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, and then settled in their new home in Queens Village, New York. Winston departed this life in July, 1974 leaving Jean a widow with an 8 year old daughter and an oh so mischievous 2 year old son. Jean began her career as a stenographer and secretary on Wall Street with the Sullivan & Cromwell law firm and, after many years, obtained her real estate agent license. Jean was passionate about traveling the world and was fortunate to experience the culture of five continents, countless number of countries, most of her beloved Caribbean and dozens of cruises. Her love for travel inspired her to take pilot lessons, flying four-seater Cessna airplanes out of Republic Airport in Farmingdale, New York. Jean then fulfilled her ultimate dream when she became the Owner and President of Dynasty Travel Service in 1983, a fitting name for a Chong. Jean was a believer in Christ and almost never missed a Sunday watching Dr. Fred Price of Crenshaw Christian Center on television. It is through Dr. Price’s ministry that she was led to become a faithful member of Christian Cultural Center (then Christian Life Center) in 1995. Jean was an inaugural member of the International Christian Sisterhood, served on the homeless ministry and served as an usher at the special services including Easter Sundays at Nassau Coliseum. In 1999, after 20 weeks of hands-on training of camera equipment, lighting, editing, dubbing and taping equipment, Jean took her Christian ministry to another level. She mastered the art of television production and became the Producer of Lifting Him Higher, a Christian-based series of programs that were engineered at her beloved QPTV, Queens’ public access cable network and also aired on Montgomery Community Media in Montgomery County, Maryland. Jean was quoted in Newsday in 2003 saying that her participation with QPTV was a divine calling and went on to say, “I have a great opportunity to spread the Gospel through music and dance. It would have been easy just to say I’m too old, I’m Black, I’m a woman, I have an accent. But I was fascinated by the camera and have heard a saying, ‘When the student is ready, the teacher appears.’ I can’t sing or dance, but I can produce a television show.” Jean and her son in Christ, Michael Harley, were honored to receive the 2004 Hometown Video Festival Award and a QPTV award for their work. Jean retired from the travel agency in 2003 and moved to Silver Spring, Maryland, in February 2004 after being diagnosed with stage four metastatic lung cancer. Her doctors at Johns Hopkins gave her six months to live. By the Grace of God, Jean miraculously beat the odds and, by November of that year, was told she was cancer free. The medical review board at Hopkins deemed it divine intervention. They were right. The Lord was not ready for her yet as she had more work to do. After making a full recovery, Jean dedicated her time volunteering at Immanuel’s Church for many years in several capacities and even earned the coveted Volunteer of the Year parking space right in front of the church. She was privileged to become a part of yet another family of Christians who were her faithful sisters and brothers in Christ over the years. Jean was consistently picked up for ladies’ lunch, visited weekly in her home and during her hospital and nursing home stays, and received countless cards and phone calls which all kept her spirits up until her final days. Jean is survived by her daughter Michelle Chong Rush, son Dane Barrington Chong, step-daughter Maxine Dawn Chong, grandchildren Demetri Chong Jenkins, Myles Isaiah Rush and Melia Grace Rush, brothers Mark Smalling and Ossie Smalling, aunts Sybil Nation and Sylvia Smalling, cousins Willowmay Chisholm, Alveta Peters, Carol Wilson, Marjorie Scarlett, Phyllis Burke, Sheigla Smalling, Darlene Burke and Kathy Burke Lucas, nephew Herman Young, their families and a host of lifelong friends.