Everyone loves a hazy, lazy summer day at the beach. Certainly, Jack Pong and his family did. At least until that one day in 1964.
As early as 1938, China-born Jack Pong ran a Chinese restaurant in Bradford. The first location was on Barrie Street. Later, with the assistance of his wife Chung Oy, he opened the larger Star Grill at 15 and 18 Holland Street E. The couple were successful restaurateurs and enjoyed a growing family that came to include nine children.
Tragedy very nearly shattered their idyll.
On July 10, 1964, the Pong family took a well-deserved break from the long restaurant hours by spending the day together on the beach at Stoney Point, Innisfil. It was a fun-filled day until suddenly it wasn’t.
Jackie and Billie Pong, aged 10 and seven, were floating on an inflated tire tube as so many did in those days. Neither boy could swim. Not a huge concern when the tube is in the shallows, but potentially disastrous if it floats into deeper water as it did that day. Before either boy knew it, they were more than 30 feet offshore in eight feet of water — well above their heads.
They either fell through the tube or fell off their tube. In either event, the boys plunged into the water and were in trouble. They splashed desperately for a few moments, then went under.
Older brother Gene saw what happened. Unfortunately, he couldn’t swim either so there was little he could do. He waded until the water was up to his chin but couldn’t reach his siblings.
Thankfully, his desperate cries alerted others.
Two local boys, Don West, 14, and Hal Cameron, 13, happened to be boating in the area when they heard the calls for help. Racing to the scene, they quickly found Billie Pong floating just below the surface, gradually sinking. They pulled him to shore where other beachgoers tended to him
Robert Nucky, 13, and Billy Newton, were spending the day at the beach when their frivolity was shattered by Gene Pong’s cries. They joined the desperate search for the missing Jackie Pong and found him at the bottom of the lake. Robert dove the eight feet and brought the motionless boy to the surface.
Jackie was in poor shape. Limbs were limp, lips were blue, completely unresponsive. He had been underwater for at least five minutes.
Linda Dempsey, 12, reacted decisively by providing CPR until police arrived. Officers administered oxygen for three quarters of an hour before Jackie was taken to the hospital. Linda and the officers saved his life.
Both boys made a full recovery.
“The rescue of the two Pong boys by youngsters of such tender years does credit to the latter’s courage, quick thinking and resourcefulness,” opined the Bradford Witness on July 15, 1964. “It was a rather wonderful performance for a group of children.”
A trip to the beach would thereafter never be the same for the Pong family.
