Eileen Ben Frances Ly

Eileen Ben Frances Ly, 83, a former resident of Tamarac, Florida, passed away in Arizona, in the care of her daughter after a long illness, on the evening of March 18, 2023. She is survived by her daughter Monique Burchell-Polander, and sons Phuong Le, Dan Le and Vinh Forrester, and grandchildren Nicholas, Jenny and Josh Le, Justin and Jason Burchell, and Austin, Emma and Olivia Forrester.

Eileen was born Ly Thi Ben on April 9, 1939, in Rach Gia, Republic of Vietnam, to parents Ly Van Chau and Tran Thi Hay. She served as a personnel manager with the US Army in Vietnam from 1965 until the Fall of Saigon, April 29, 1975 and barely escaped with her parents and small children.

As refugees in the USA, Eileen found work at a bank in Lafayette, Louisiana to support them all, then moved to Shreveport, Louisiana for better work. In all these places, her language skills and knowledge she gained from working with the US military served, not just her family, but countless other refugees adapting to their new lives and was even the subject of an article in the Shreveport Times about her work and effort.

In 1983, the family moved to South Florida, where many other family members had located after being brought to America with Eileen’s assistance. In Florida, Eileen returned to government service with Broward County Human Resources, and later, coding and zoning, earning many awards and accolades, finally retiring on March 30, 2006, with the respect and appreciation of her coworkers and superiors.

In retirement, she traveled extensively to many cities where friends and coworkers were now living, and later returning to Vietnam with her daughter, Monique in 2011. Eileen also continued her love of cooking, preserving some of the great Vietnamese recipes she had learned, and occasionally feeding the whole clan at holidays and events.

In 2008, Eileen again felt the call of government service and applied for a position with the Small Business Administration (SBA) where she traveled to disaster areas and helped victims to obtain loans under FEMA. Staying in hotels in the midst of chaos was difficult, she said, but it was nothing new to her. In 2014, at 75, she was forced to retire under government age-restriction rules.

In June 2022, she suffered a catastrophic stroke that progressively debilitated her and robbed her of her speech, vision and mobility, but she refused to give up and endured another nine months until her passing this March. She fought to the end, but when that end came, she was finally at peace after a life of near-constant struggle and service. She was a rock that the floods of life could not wash away and her contributions to the lives of others still stand as a monument in those waters.

Memorial Service will be held:

Wednesday, April 12, 1:30 pm at Our Lady, Queen of Heaven Cemetery Chapel, 1500 SR-7 N, North Lauderdale, FL

If you would like to send flowers please send them to her sister, Theresa Trask, 9604 NW 72nd Street, Tamarac, Florida 33321.