Uyen Jackson

Uyen Thi Ha Jackson, 90, of Westminster, California, passed away peacefully at her home on Saturday, August 5, 2023. Born in northern VietNam on May 29, 1933, she was the daughter of the late Can Ha Duong and Bat Thi Nguyen. She was the wife of Dinh Vu Gia who passed away in Saigon in 1963. She later married Edward A. Jackson in 1970, who adopted her two sons, and they immigrated to Compton, California that same year. He passed away three years later, in 1973.

Uyen always cherished her childhood life in the countryside of northern VietNam with her family, despite experiencing the loss of her father to illness early on and the family diaspora during the French-VietNam War. Eventually in 1954, with the country divided between North and South VietNam, Uyen migrated to Saigon, South VietNam with her husband, where she became a young mother to two sons. In Saigon, Uyen served for fifteen years at Trưng Vương High School as a beloved and cherished teacher who had high expectations of her students. When she came to California in 1970, she showed her brilliance, resilience, and strength by mastering English, learning how to drive, and working at Bank of America for 25 years while still managing to raise two sons as a single parent. With incredible foresight, Uyen sponsored and got several of her siblings and their families over to America right before the total collapse of South VietNam in April 1975. She provided important support during their transition to life in the States. On her own time, she made clothes for family, and the difficult-to-make “áo dài” for friends and family to wear, and every year they would always anticipate her delicious “bánh chưng”. Despite living on a shoestring budget, she found the time and resources to learn skiing with her sons. She often surprised people with her lively wit and the ease with which she picked up nearly boundless talents whether in music, language, or any other intellectual field. What she loved most was to travel the world and to walk beaches, mountainsides, city streets—revisiting the familiar and discovering the new.

Uyen is survived by her two children, Duc Jackson Vugia, husband of Holly Danforth Vugia, of Orinda, CA, and Tri Vugia, husband of Hoang-Oanh Thi Nguyen, of Fountain Valley, CA; four grandchildren, Mai-Lan Danforth Vugia, Tai Danforth Vugia, Hoang-Truc Vugia, and Ky-Thuyen Vugia; two sisters, Duyen Le of Quebec, Canada, and Quyen Thi Ha Duong, wife of Toan Quy Do, of Fountain Valley; as well as numerous cousins, nieces, and nephews. She was preceded in death by her sibling, Oanh Thi Ha and Hoan Ha Duong.

Funeral Services will be held on August 25, 2023 at Westminster Memorial Park Mortuary, 14801 Beach Blvd, Westminster, CA 92683. Guests are invited to a visitation between 10:00am and 2:00pm, followed by a graveside farewell.