In September 1929, the body of Tuey Chung Fook was disinterred from the cemetery in Gold Beach, Ore., because of the Chinese desire that their dead be buried next to their ancestors.
Tuey was an employee of the local salmon cannery when he sickened and died. His remains occupied a place in the Gold Beach burial ground for nine years until Wong Joe, foreman of the cannery’s Chinese workers, initiated plans to remove them. Wong Joe was acting on behalf of relatives through the Chinese Association in Portland.
When the grave was uncovered, the usual Chinese articles were found, among them a rice bowl, jug, liquor flask, and a small cloth bearing Chinese writings. Tuey’s remains and possessions were encased in a metal receptacle, sealed inside and out, and delivered to Wong Joe, who shipped them to China for permanent burial near his ancestors.
The cemetery’s 1921 grave location map shows several plots where Chinese were buried but marked on the map with the notation of “vacated.”
Tuey’s was the last Chinese body returned from Gold Beach to the Flowery Kingdom.
Sources: "Chinaman Sent To Rest Among Own Kin." Curry County Reporter, 9 Sept. 1929.
