Trung Ho's Obituary
Born on January 4, 1927 into the Hồ family, he was given the name Trung, an ambitious name that also belongs to the vast central Vietnam (Bắc/North, Trung/Central, Nam/South are the three geographical regions within Vietnam). As ambitious names tend to come with great responsibilities, he was the oldest of eight children raised in a small village of South Central Vietnam (Quảng Nam), given the duty to support a typical poor household. He was an idealistic youth who worked hard in farming, road building, and carpentry to earn enough money to start a business. Later on he became a small salesman, during which time he met his wife, Trần Thị Điểm, and they married in 1950. Their life together was an epic story portraying the rise and fall, and then rebirth of a 'Quảng Nam' family. They fled from war zones during the 1950s communist attack on Indochina (chạy giặc), evacuated to other regions of poverty (di tản), and then went south toiling away for a living (kiếm sống). Words like 'chạy giặc', 'di tản', and 'kiếm sống' were a common vocabulary for many Vietnamese at the time, especially for villagers. Eventually, they came to Saigon and found work in the textile industry. Within fifteen years, they capitalized on the business and made it their own enterprise. As their business was flourishing and gaining popular attention in and outside Saigon, and as the textile industry boomed in South Vietnam, they brought extended families and fellow villagers to their factory and gave them jobs. Mirroring their success in profession, they were successful in raising a family of ten children.
Trung was a visionary. He knew how to adapt to the ever changing world around him. He was an intelligent and at the same time a kind-hearted man who was highly respected by workers, friends, and important economic and political leaders at the time.
When Saigon fell to communism in 1975, he lost his business empire, his fortune, his home. Four years later, he took his wife and children and they escaped from Vietnam as boat people (vượt biên). They became refugees in Malaysia (tị nạn) and then they were sponsored to the United States as immigrants in 1980. He started life anew to support his family. In Salt Lake City, Utah he worked for many years on an assembly line making circuit boards at Rockwell International. He took on the name Don Ho when he was given U.S. citizenship. In 1985, he and his children suffered a great loss of a wife and mother due to cancer. Yet he persevered to be a place of refuge for his children; through the years he watched them and their children succeed in life as they raised families and aspired in individual careers in business, finance, engineering, medicine, dentistry, and pharmacy among others.
Trung’s chaotic life was counter balanced by a calmness that embraced him through his love for Chinese chess and cooking. Playing chess with friends was his social outlet and cooking with family kept the strong bond and love among children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. He had much pride in making bánh xèo, mì quảng, chả giò, and chả ram.
Trung lived a long, hard, yet adventurous life where the remainder of his time was spent with family in Dallas, Texas. Born in the year of the dragon, he died in comfort on February 29, 2024, shortly after the dragon returned in a repeating twelve-year cycle. He is survived by his second wife in Salt Lake City, a brother and a sister in Vietnam, ten children and their spouses, and twenty-eight grandchildren and great grandchildren.
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