Minh Truong was born February 1958 in Saigon Vietnam. He was a happy, mischievous child - whose curiosity always found new ways to get him into trouble. He was also a relentless tease. From an early age, Minh wanted to be a doctor. When his oldest brother went into hospital, Minh always volunteered to be the support person to go with him. His dream was dashed April 30, 1975 when Saigon fell. No more education, instead involuntary work in a tractor factory, followed by time in a VC re-education camp, then living on the streets, and making several attempts to escape by boat. The last escape the family went in two groups. Only the group with Minh, brothers Tuan and Hue, and sister Phuong survived. The four spent time on Pulau Bidong Island, Malaysia, which at the time was one of the most ill-equipped Vietnamese retention camps anywhere, no sanitation, no fresh water. When they got to the island, they found out the cut off for refugees immigrating to the United States, where they had relatives, was the boat before theirs. They were eventually sponsored by the Catholic Church in Smithers, BC. As they flew into Smithers from Edmonton, they saw a small town with one main street, surrounded by snow-covered mountains. All Minh could think about was never seeing rice or fish-sauce again.
Vietnam is a foodie country. Minh lived for food. He and his wife Susan were long-time regulars at the farmers’ market, turning shopping into a social event. Consequently, many of Minh’s long-time friends are market vendors. Once he tried their quality produce, meat, fish, seafood, or grew their vegetable starts, there was no going back. After he started raising vegetables at home, Minh gained enormous respect for how hard farmers work. As his health and mobility diminished, he missed making weekly social visits to the market where he was surrounded by good food and good people.
Minh did not become a doctor, but his career was in the medical field as a radiology and MRI technologist. He worked at VGH, UBC, St. Paul’s, Surrey, and Burnaby hospitals. His favourite position was weekend supervisor for the radiology technologists at St. Paul’s, He loved when he could help other techs develop confidence and see their potential come to life.
Minh was fearlessly protective of his staff and supportive of his colleagues. He was always ready to fight against unfair treatment. But he was also intolerant of unsafe patient care, and ready to take his case to anyone with the authority to do something.
He was also fearless in his determination to at least sample his childhood dream of working in a hospital in Vietnam. On his second trip to Vietnam, Minh walked unannounced into the radiology department of the big, heart hospital in Hue. He asked to speak to the boss, explained who he was, his credentials, and his desire to experience what he had dreamed of before 1975. With the help of the head of radiology at St. Paul’s, he secured a one-week placement at Hue Central hospital. He was invited there specifically to help orient staff to the kind of MRI machine used at St. Paul’s, but he also took note of small, but meaningful, improvements to patient care, comfort, and safety. On his last day, a talk to the medical staff and doctors was well received with apparent interest and lots of laughs.
From 2008 - 2011, Minh and Susan traveled extensively. They went to Vietnam three times, made a side-trip to Cambodia once, traveled via Amsterdam to Italy, visited Paris and then drove across the south of France. The trips to Vietnam were particularly important for Minh. Susan felt a frozen piece of his heart melt as he experienced the friendliness and generosity of people in his homeland. He reconnected with his cousins and made a number of lasting friendships while traveling. The first trip, he was a tourist. After that he was a visitor, greeted by family and old friends.
Minh had his dark, withdrawn moments, but he was generally friendly, funny, fun-loving and eccentric. He didn’t worry what others thought, such as wearing shorts and snow boots to shovel the sidewalk. He also insisted on wearing a Speedo swimsuit, even though it grossed out his nephews and more than one or two others. “Minh” means brightness in Vietnamese, and Minh strove to live up to his name. He was a memorable character, but most so for his smiling eyes, infectious giggle and eccentric ways. He was egalitarian in thoughts and deeds, with genuine respect for others’ beliefs, backgrounds and life-styles. That is, unless they were subjugating others or working to take away human rights. He didn’t understand why we couldn’t all accept each other for who we are.
Minh loved his family, especially Susan, close family, and his cats. Minh pursued Susan relentlessly, and Susan s glad he did. Unlike most men she knew in the 1980’s, Minh was a breath of fresh air with not a chauvinist bone in his body. They were an odd couple, but very much suited to each other. Minh greatly admired his father-in-law and spent a lot of time with Hiram, working on the cabin at Keats Island and on the post-war era tear-down Minh and Susan bought in East Vancouver. The cabin was a labor of love for Hiram and a special place for family and friends to gather. Minh was blessed that Hiram was a retired construction engineer with the time, inclination and experience to resurrect the East Van home. Minh was proud of what he learned working with Hiram and felt his loss greatly. After Hiram died, Minh took over the work of maintaining and repairing the aging cabin, but not without the help of his good friend, Mo, who works in restoration and has a unique ability to do the impossible.
Minh was seriously ill for several years. He only ever complained about one thing: the way chemo affected his taste buds. That was a tragedy; everything else was addressed with “it could always be worse.” He focussed on the positive and counted his blessings. Minh was grateful knowing that he could count on his sister-in-law Ann to look out for and help Susan. He was also grateful for his good times with colleagues and for his wonderful neighbors, who he knew were there to support Susan if she needed help. He was also grateful for his sister Phuong, who brought him food and had long phone conversations about food with him. He was also grateful that a niece lived nearby and he could see his grand niece, Rita Linh, growing up. His wish for everyone, including himself, was to be calm, good, kind and mindful.
Minh would not want us to be sad, but to remember the good times and his fun loving craziness. He would want us to celebrate his life by remembering him with reminiscences, with smiles, or maybe even by laughing out loud. Good-bye Minh. You were one of a kind and we’ll miss you. May your spirit soar.
Susan, the family and a few friends will be remembering Minh privately.
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared below for Susan and the family. Arrangements entrusted to the care of Glenhaven Memorial Chapel, 1835 East Hastings Street, Vancouver, British Columbia. Phone 604-255-5444.
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