Betty Jean Lee, who led the family business that brought Chinese takeout to Portland, dies at 88

Betty Jean Lee, heir to the family business that introduced Chinese takeout to Portland as a teenager and advocate for the development of Chinese history, culture and cuisine in Oregon, died December 19. rice field. She was 88 years old.

In 1979, the 45-year-old mother of three unexpectedly took full control of the family business when her husband of 25 years, Fred G. Lee, died. attack.

As one of the few women in food service sales, Lee proved that women can succeed in the industry, partnering with companies such as Sysco and Safeway, and winning the Oregon State University Family Small Business Award in 1993. Breaking down gender barriers.

“It was tough being a woman in a very male-oriented business,” said longtime friend Gloria Lee. “She had to deal with a lot of racism, but that didn’t stop her.”

Betty Jean Lee was born and raised in Portland as Betty Jean Chin to parents Leland Chin and Frances Coe Chin, founders of the popular Pagoda Restaurant in the Hollywood area. Frances Ko Ching was born in Dallas, Oregon, but Leland Ching came to the United States as a “paper son” from Guangdong province in southern China. The term refers to immigrant children who arrived in the United States during the Chinese Exclusion Act era and pretended to be people who were already in the United States.

Built in 1939 when Betty Jean was five years old, the pagoda was featured in The Oregonian magazine as the first pagoda in the state originally designed as a Chinese restaurant. When the business expanded to include Chin’s Kitchen, the Lee family made another first mark. In 1949, it became the first restaurant in Portland to serve food exclusively for home delivery. The pagoda is now a key bank, but after Mr. and Mrs. Ching sold the restaurant in the 1970s, Ching’s kitchen continues to exist under new owners.

Working for his parents as a child, Lee graduated from Grant High School in 1952, just nine years after the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was repealed. Percentage of the state’s population in 1870, according to U.S. Census figures.

At Grant, Lee was one of two of 2,000 non-white students, and her parents were shown a house on Northeast Schuyler Street, according to an oral history preserved by the Oregon Historical Society. I had to petition.

When her parents’ business grew from restaurants to include Ching’s Import Export, which sells Asian food, they encouraged Lee to go to college. This was a progressive stance at the time. She studied business at the University of Oregon, but she was denied admission to the sorority because of her race.

She married Fred Lee in 1954, whom she had met at a dance in the Chinese Young Women’s Club in Grant. A Benson High School graduate, seven years her senior, worked as a customer service representative for the United States Postal Service. She joined her parents’ company in 1965, and he came in nine years after her.

Her husband died in 1979, and Lee assumed full responsibility for the company and established a college scholarship for Chinese Portland students in her late husband’s name. The Oregonian estimates that there were 5,000 to her 6,000 Chinese Americans who called Portland her home at the time.

Friends said she was adept at business, family and community service. “She had to raise three kids for her. She knew she would either make it or not,” said her friend Gloria Lee. Told.

Her tenacity helped her find success and share it. She helped convince her Safeway grocery store in Oregon to sell ready-to-eat Chinese food, and also trained workers. Lee and dozens of Chinese American Citizens Alliance members also printed a Cantonese cookbook, Chinese Gourmet, which is in her eighth edition this year.

Her late husband was active in local chapters of the Chinese American Citizens Alliance, a national group that assists Chinese Americans through scholarships and programs. Although Lee was not involved during her lifetime, the group excluded women until 1977, although she later became a prominent member of the organization.

Li organized a fundraiser at a local Chinese restaurant to support a youth sports program and a scholarship named after her husband. As an avid basketball fan of hers, she also helped manage the Alliance’s basketball program.

She eventually became a regional executive for the organization, serving on the current Board of Directors of Lan Su Chinese Garden and a roundtable discussion with former Portland Mayor Vera Katz. She taught at the Chinese Museum in Portland, where she helped translate materials for Chinese-Americans to register to vote, guided them through the process, and informed them of issues.

“She was most proud of being able to use her voice to make things happen,” said Gloria Lee.

Betty Jean Lee lobbied for the inclusion of Oregon’s Chinese history in Oregon’s social studies curriculum as part of the Ethnic Studies Bill passed in 2017. The bill required her K-12 public schools in the state to teach the history of Oregon’s diverse groups.

Through the Chinese-American Citizens League, Lee also helped raise funds to install a plaque in Old Town to commemorate the contributions of Portland’s early Chinese settlers. She continued to serve as the organization’s Northwest Director until her final years.

Her youngest daughter, Leanne Bonnet, said her mother inspired others to pursue what’s important to them, trust their instincts, and never give up. It was her way of life,” said Bonet.

Bonet said her mother has won numerous awards for community service, including the March of Dimes White Rose Award. Bonnet said she had a talent for connecting people, befriending volunteers, and using her influence to inspire others.

Despite her recognition, her mother remained humble.

“I hope my daughters remember that,” she said. It’s about how it made an impact on her life, and she did.

Lee was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2000. Around 2018, her doctors discovered endometrial cancer, and only two years later she also developed leukemia. Even at her worst, she maintained her independent nature, navigating her Instacart to buy her own groceries, for example.

Lisa Watson, director of Portland’s Office of Equity and Human Rights, describes Lee as a determined leader whose compassionate nature helped shape Watson’s decision to pursue a career in social justice. The two worked together at Lan Su Garden while Lee was on the board.

“I think every woman who knew her was inspired by her ability to be strong and gentle at the same time,” Watson said. It was who she was and how she was respected.”

Lee is survived by Bonnet and two other children (Greg Lee and Keith Lee), seven grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, a sister and a nephew.

– Austin de Dios; addios@oregonian.com@austindedios; (503) 319-9744

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