Page Under Construction: If you have information to contribute to Jimmy's biography, please email Jennifer Solano at: [email protected] .
James Kam Kong Chung
Born: 02/12/1918, Honolulu, OA, Hawaii Died: 06/01/2012, Honolulu, OA, Hawaii Cause of Death: Complications from lung cancer James "Jimmy" Kam Kong Chung was the 10th and last born child to See Hin Chung and Kam Lan Tom. He graduated in 1936 from McKinley High School. The 1940 US Census lists him as living with his mother and employed as a storekeeper for a retail grocery store. However, his WWII Draft Registration card states that he was "unemployed" this same year. It appears that in 1942 Jimmy enlisted in the army for WWII. His World War II Army Enlistment Record states, "Enlistment for the duration of the War or other emergency, plus six months, subject to the discretion of the President or otherwise according to law." This same record also states that Jimmy finished two years of college. I am guessing, but I assume that Jimmy went to college at the University of Hawaii. However, I have no idea what he studied while there. I believe that most of Jimmy's working years were spent as a carpenter. He is listed as working in his brother's (Kam Lum) shop from 1949 - 1955. Starting in 1958, Jimmy is listed as the Secretary-Treasurer of Chung's Carpenter Shop. In his later years, Jimmy owned a boat and would fish a lot. I remember during one of my visits to Hawaii, he took me, at the crack of dawn, to the fish markets in Honolulu. Every kind of stinky, fresh fish imaginable was laid out, row-after-row in the warehouses. Jimmy passed on his love of fishing to one of his grand-nephews, Jeffrey Tom. Jimmy did not marry until later in life. Sometime between 1965 and 1969, he married Theda Makamua Werner. Jimmy and Theda never had children together. He was, however, step-father to Lowell and Robert Ka'anehe and Verne Kane. Jimmy and Theda remained married until Jimmy's death in 2012. |