Marvel Hum was born in 1910 in Minneapolis, Minnesota to Irish-Canadian mother Sarah Cassidy and Chinese father Bing Hum. She graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1931. In 1941, Marvel married Stanley V. Chong. For twenty months during World War II, she worked as a laboratory technician in the Metallurgical Control Laboratory for the Twin Cities Ordnance Plant. Marvel and Stanley's daughter Siu-Linn was born in 1946. After World War II, Marvel taught Cantonese cooking classes and was a business partner in various Chong enterprises with her husband. Marvel died in 2003.

Stanley V. Chong was born February 14, 1912 in Yakima, Washington. He graduated from the University of Oregon in 1933. In 1934, Stanley moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota. During World War II, Stanley was drafted into the military and later worked as a civilian on production of the atomic bomb for E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. With Marvel, he owned and operated Marvel Foods Inc. (a Chinese frozen foods production company), the Chongs Cooking Schools, and the International House of Foods (a wholesale and retail business in Asian and Middle Eastern foods). Both of the Chongs were actively involved in Chinese community organizations in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area and Stanley became the first president of the Chinese American Association of Minnesota (1967-1968). Stanley died October 24, 2006.