WAH DUCK YOUNG / LEGENDARY CITIZEN

Memorial tomorrow
for Young, 86

OBITUARIES

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By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Star-Bulletin

Wah Duck Young, "a legend" in the local Chinese community, will be remembered in services tomorrow at Nuuanu Memorial Park Mortuary.

The Palama-born Young, 86, died April 14 of cancer.

Honolulu food enthusiasts will remember Young as the proprietor of King's Garden Restaurant, the Waialae Avenue restaurant known for its innovative dishes.

Local Chinese historian George Young recalled how orange-peel duck soup and steamed chicken were among the dishes that were first found in the Kaimuki eatery that opened in 1962.

George Young said islanders of all walks of life felt at home at King's Garden because of the hospitality of Wah Duck Young and his wife, Grace.

"They would cater to everyone, from the poor man's dinner to the big society parties," George Young said.

While known to islanders of all cultures for King's Garden, Wah Duck Young was "a legend" to the local Chinese community, George Young said.

"He devoted everything to the community -- time, effort and money," said Danny Young, Wah Duck's nephew.

Wah Duck Young was so well regarded as an educator and philanthropist that the United Chinese Society, in 1998, made him its first-ever Chinese Citizen of the Year.

He is also credited with helping bring the United Chinese Society and the Buck Toy Club into the modern age by leading fund-raising efforts that helped establish clubhouses for both organizations in the 1950s, said Danny Young, now the president of both organizations.

Wah Duck and Grace had a son who died as a youth. He is survived by Grace, brothers Wah Chock and Wah Kwock, sister Winnie, and nieces and nephews.

Visitation begins at 9 a.m. A service starts at 10:30. Aloha attire is requested. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that contributions be made to the Wah Duck Young Memorial Scholarship Fund.