The following story of two of our members is published on Greenville News on Tuesday, Feb. 2000.  It is very inspiring and we are proud of  them.

Thomas & Vivian Wong

Abe Hardesty
City People Writer
The work days were long and hard. The financial gains were minimal. Their first glimpse of America left Thomas and Vivian Wong too lonely to keep their dream in sight.

"I was so homesick, I had to go back to Hong Kong," Thomas Wong recalls. "After I was back there, I knew how good Greenville was. ... I really appreciated the opportunity that was around us here."

That appreciation is 37 years old and growing.

"I'm very grateful. I truly appreciate where I am," says Wong, 61, who made a quick, permanent return to Greenville in 1963. "I know that America is the greatest country in the world and Greenville is the best place to live, as far as I'm concerned.

"I try to appreciate every moment," Wong says. "This is my dream that came true."

The dream includes a collection of successful business ventures, among them the Dragon Den restaurant a vehicle that enabled the Wongs to outgrow the 15-hour work days and eventually reward the city that fostered the dream.

"Giving to charities now is a way of showing our gratitude and appreciation," says Wong.

The most visible gift involves the Cancer Survivors Park that is in the planning stage. It is the first project of Patients First, a non- profit organization devoted to recognizing the triumphs of cancer survivors, and the Wongs helped the cause by contributing prime real estate in the Patewood medical park.

Community Foundation of Greater Greenville President Bob Morris, whose organization has provided more than 400 grants to various charities in the Greenville area, counts "substantial contributions" for many years by the Wongs. "They've been very active in the foundation and very generous donors," Morris says.

Frances Ellison, chairperson of the Foundation's Board of Directors, says Mrs. Wong "has considerable business expertise, and she brings that to our finance committee.

"She's one smart lady and delightful to be around," Ellison says. "She's always positive, always pleasant, and the one most likely to leave a meeting by saying, 'If there's any thing I can help on, let me know.' "

The Wongs' philanthropy is also known at Greenville Tech, where the couple has contributed to the Tech Foundation and where Mrs. Wong is a member of the advisory board.

"She understands business and at the same time has a strong personal touch. Whatever they do is first-class, and we're thrilled to have her on our board, to have access to her knowledge and ideas," says Fred Payne, executive director for institutional advancement at Tech. "And they've made a very significant gift to the Foundation Board."

Junius Garrison, who has worked on several civic committees with Mrs. Wong, calls her "a darned good businesswoman who also does a lot for the community.

"She's always willing to participate in a good cause. I've never known her to turn down a volunteer job when she's been asked," Garrison says. "And when you take a worthwhile project to her, you'll see her get involved."

When the Wongs closed a 10-year-old silk flower business in 1998, they donated the entire inventory to the Salvation Army and Goodwill Industries of Upper South Carolina.

They are also willing givers of their life experiences.

"They're both astute business people who believe in sharing," says Valerie Miller, co-owner of Budget Car & Truck Rental of Greenville/Spartanburg. "They don't like the spotlight they just stay in the background and quietly go about doing good things.

"They've done a lot of things that most people in the community wouldn't know about. I know Vivian has bought cars for employees who didn't have transportation," says Miller. "The Wongs love people, and they're grateful for the success they've had. They love mentoring others."

Future benefactors of the Wongs' generosity will be their employees at the Dragon Den on Pleasantburg Drive. The family is presently working on a plan to give the restaurant to its workers.

"It's a great feeling to be able to give. My husband says I tend to spend too much time helping others," says Mrs. Wong, "but when I see a need, automatically I help. My inner self knows I really want to help, and it's a great feeling when I'm able to do something."

Mrs. Wong is eager to move from the restaurant work into the next phase of her career. "When we started the restaurant business, I told myself I'd stay in it for 30 years. It was 30 years last month," says Mrs. Wong, whose first Dragon Den opened on Augusta Street in the first month of 1970.

"The restaurant business is hard work, but I enjoy meeting people. A lot of my customers have become my friends. I learn a lot from them," says Mrs. Wong, who for much of her career has worked "out front" in the restaurant, mixing people skills with administrative skills. "But the real estate part is what I really enjoy doing. And I think I'm pretty good at it."

Last fall, Mrs. Wong was among 10 Upstate business leaders who were selected to the Tech Foundation's Entrepreneur Forum.

The real-estate endeavors include the ownership and management of two Hampton Inns in the Greenville area and another in Greensboro, N.C. It is a branch of hospitality that Mrs. Wong says has been "in the back of our minds all the time."

The Wongs were working in a Hong Kong hotel when the U.S. opportunity arose. It was Wong's lifelong ambition.

"I had wanted it since I was a boy. It was a dream and a goal," Wong says. As a youngster in overcrowded Hong Kong he vividly recalls watching American-made films depicting "big houses and big yards and friendly people from different cultures ... I knew this is the country I wanted to go to."

To get here, the Wongs learned the English language and landed jobs that might create contacts with Americans, who represented the vast majority of tourists.

Wong met the late Robert G. Wilson, a Greenville businessman who liked the eye-twinkling smiles
that come naturally to Thomas and Vivian.

He, no doubt, admired the strong work ethic that is just as natural. Wilson sponsored them to come to the United States; in return, they worked at his Barbecue King plant, which prepared rotisseries. It later became BK Industries.

It was not an easy decision for the Wongs, who left behind friends and family, including a 2-year-old child. They eventually reunited their families here.

"It was hard to start with," recalls Mrs. Wong. "But Thomas had made up his mind he had always wanted to come here. And I'm happy wherever he goes."

For the Wongs, who came to America with big dreams but little money, the unofficial apprenticeship was a seven-year sacrifice.

"All of Greenville was small, but we liked it. I liked it because it was so peaceful, and I liked the people here. Mr. and Mrs. Woo were the only other Asian family, and they were a big help," says Mrs. Wong, referring to Wong Lok-Kam and the late Arthur Woo, who operated New China Greenville's only Chinese restaurant at the time.

The dream, as they worked at the Barbecue King plant, was to someday own their own hotel business. But a restaurant required less investment and seemed a natural for their backgrounds.

"A friend told us the restaurant was a good business for Chinese people in America. What else could you do 30 years ago?" Mrs. Wong recalls.

Mrs. Wong had gone to business college in China, went to Furman for two years and followed that with several courses at Greenville Tech. Wong's education included two years of work at Chinese restaurants in Washington, D.C., coming home one weekend a month.

Later, he took courses at Greenville Tech not just courses in restaurant management, but subjects such as refrigeration, welding and blueprint reading. His goal was expertise in every facet of the business.

"At that time, a Chinese restaurant was a novelty in Greenville, much like Japanese or French is now. But at the same time, people knew good food and good service; you wouldn't get people back if you didn't have those," Wong says.

"We started at the right time and did the right things," Wong says, "and we were blessed."

The Wongs later added five Dragon Den restaurants but have since sold all except the 280-seat facility on Pleasantburg Drive, which opened in 1976. As they added restaurants, they sponsored family and friends from Hong Kong.

"I think I'm responsible for at least 200 people coming here," says Mrs. Wong, sounding surprised at the total. "They all worked for me at one time, but most are scattered everywhere now."

In bringing her mother and three sisters here, Mrs. Wong has been able to unite a family that was once divided by Asian politics. Separated as a child from her father, a school principal, during the Chinese civil war of the late 1940s, Mrs. Wong grew up in the home of her grandmother in British-controlled Hong Kong.

"She was a wonderful, wonderful woman," says Mrs. Wong of her grandmother. "She taught me to be nice to people."

The teachings later helped build a restaurant clientele.

"From the start, every day, I was out there," says Mrs. Wong, pointing to the restaurant dining room. "The business had to be built. We have a lot of people who come to lunch three or four times a week, and they still expect me to be here. A lot of people I know by the first name; they're friends as well as customers."

Wong usually "worked in the back," supervising in the kitchen and coordinating quality control. Even today, he prefers the background, leaving the limelight and social work to his wife.

"My husband encourages me to do a lot, in all the business, the Community Foundation and charities. He's supportive; I have a free hand," says Wong, who is also active with the advisory boards of Greenville Convention and Visitors Bureau, Christ Church Episcopal School and the Bank of America.

And like her husband, she is encouraged by the free-enterprise system.

"I've come a long way in business," she says, "but I never looked at it as an Asian woman doing it. It's a free country, and anybody can do it with integrity and honesty."