Stay informed with the LNN Daily Newsletter

Dan’s Green Houses founder Dan Ng passes away Thanksgiving weekend

Oct 10, 2017 | 12:03 PM

LETHBRIDGE – He began selling vegetables to grocery stores that he’d grown in his greenhouse in 1957. He later expanded that into a retail operation that’s still in business 60 years later.
 
Dan Ng  who founded “Dan’s Greenhouse” on 43 St. South, died Monday morning at his home, surrounded by his family at the age of 82.
 
He is survived by his wife Shandy and four children. His daughter-in-law Connie Ng, describes how her father-in-law came from China alone, at the age of 17.
 
“His dad lived here. He lived in Lethbridge and he was running a restaurant, so my dad immigrated to Canada in 1952 and just come here and live with his dad. He’d never seen him before.
 
“He was just a teenager. He didn’t know anything, not even ‘A,B,C,D,E,F,G.’ So he went to learn English as a second language (ESL). When he came in 1952 he was helping his dad in his restaurant in Chinatown in Lethbridge. But in 1957 he found a greenhouse and a piece of land here, so that’s how he started.”
 
Ng describes how her father-in-law began by growing and selling cabbage and tomatoes, driving his truck all over southern Alberta to make a living.
 
“In the last 40 years then, they became retail, growing lots of flowers.”
 
Ng’s and his wife married in 1964 and she came from Hong Kong to join him in Lethbridge.
 
“They were always in the greenhouse. We all learn how to work hard because dad is a very hard worker. He liked to travel, he liked flowers, he liked gardening, he liked going to the casino.”
 
Connie says her father-in-law retired about 10 years ago, but would still help out from time to time. She and her husband now run the family business.
 
Her father-in-law had one final Thanksgiving weekend with his family the night before he passed away. She says he will be missed by everyone.
 
“He had a good life, anyway. He taught all the kids about life skills. Work hard. Earn your own money. And being a kind person. He was very, very kind. He had a very loving heart, too. He was a wonderful man.”
 
There will be a celebration of life for Dan Ng October 14 after a family gathering in the morning. It will take place from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Galt Museum. The public is welcome to attend.