John and Yoko with the Hong family

A very sweet story about John and Yoko has came to light. It really is a beautiful story. It was written by Scott James.

In the 1970s, Barbara and Emily Hong of San Mateo dared only whisper about the man who visited the young sisters’ modest rented duplex on Second Avenue. “We referred to him as J. L. so people wouldn’t know who we were talking about,” said Barbara Hong, now 48.

J. L. was John Lennon.

At a time when Lennon’s life was a frenzy of rock music celebrity, he and his wife, Yoko Ono, took a detour from the limelight to San Mateo, forming an unlikely bond with the Hongs, a Chinese immigrant family, that lasted for years.

The Lennons also saved the family from destitution.

The story of this relationship has come to light on the eve of what would have been Lennon’s 70th birthday on Saturday, had he not been struck down by an assassin’s bullet in 1980. It is a previously unreported chapter in the biography of a public figure whose life has been dissected for decades.

The two families became acquainted around 1970, according to the Hong sisters, who were 8 and 9 years old at the time. The exact date is hazy, their memories viewed through the lens of childhood.

The families’ encounters are documented in a treasure trove of memorabilia and photographs. In the images, you can witness the evolution of Ms. Ono’s hairstyles from lengthy hippie strands to a short matronly bob. Lennon drew scribbles for the girls, images that elsewhere hang in galleries.

Yuan Bain Hong, the family’s Shanghai-born patriarch, was a practitioner of Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture for spiritual and physical cleansing and healing, a novel concept in the United States in the ’70s. Emily Hong believes that an editor at Rolling Stone magazine, which was based in San Francisco, became familiar with her father’s work and spread the word in the music community. Keith Moon, the drummer for The Who, came for treatments, and eventually so did Lennon and Ms. Ono.

Ms. Hong, now 49, said the family was poor and “had no TV and radio growing up,” so the sisters did not immediately recognize the couple. She is certain her parents — her mother, Betty, spoke little English — had never heard of Lennon.

“Without knowing who he was, he was treated as a normal person,” she said.

The Lennons stayed in the two-bedroom home for several days, possibly two weeks. “They never really went out,” Barbara Hong said. “My mom cooked meals for them.”

One day the couple ventured into the backyard for fresh air and stretched out on the bulkhead doors to the basement while a neighbor’s stereo blasted one of Lennon’s hits. “Oh, boy, if they knew he was the person singing it, they would have mobbed him,” Emily Hong said in retrospect.

Lennon liked to joke with the girls and play his harmonica, and one day he shared a new tune. “He played it on our piano,” Barbara Hong said. “He said, ‘This is a song I’m going to release soon.’ ”

It was “Imagine.”

There would be other visits — and what must have been surreal moments for a family of limited means and worldliness. They traveled as a group to Fisherman’s Wharf for a ferry tour of San Francisco Bay. Lennon remained gracious when he was swarmed by fans.

In 1972 Barbara Hong and her father were treated to a trip to New York to see Lennon perform at Madison Square Garden. Another time, Emily Hong accompanied her father to Beverly Hills, where a 24-foot limo escorted them around town and Ms. Hong devoured her “very first” banana split.

Then, in 1975, Mr. Hong, a preternaturally happy man who was a lifelong alcoholic and chain smoker and who rarely consumed solid food, died of kidney failure and malnutrition. The family was left with almost nothing.

The Lennons repeatedly offered financial help, which Emily Hong said the family first refused, but eventually accepted. The “support made a big difference in our lives,” Ms. Hong said. The checks, sometimes for thousands of dollars, were sent for years — until the girls reached adulthood.

“When Mr. Hong passed away, he left behind two young daughters to care for themselves,” Ms. Ono said in a written statement. “John and I decided to help them out — to make sure they survived, had a home and food to eat — and given opportunities like every child deserves.”

After Lennon’s murder, the families drifted apart, but the sisters have made the most of the breaks they received. Barbara Hong works in health care for a biotech company; Emily Hong is the founder of Furry Friends Rescue, a foster care service for pets.

Both sisters grew up to care for others. Imagine.