Phuc Nguyen

Mr. Nguyen Văn Phuc came from a middle class family with 5 brothers and 3 sisters. His parents, my grandparents, were peasants. However, they put their children, especially their sons, education as top priority.

All their sons were sent to Ha Noi for higher education upon graduating from elementary school at Thuong Coc village. By then, it was very costly to support schooling in Ha Noi just for one.Imagine how expensive it was for having all their sons there.

At the age of 18, our father was a freshman at Ha Noi University School of Law. However, for some reasons, he decided not to pursue a law career. He came back to Thuong Coc and married our mother when she just turned 18. They settled in Hong Duc village, our maternal native village, and lived there comfortably as a landlord.

In 1946, at the age of 24, our father left his family with 3 children and joined Viet Minh Front, a national coalition to seek independence from the French Empire. He was then assigned to Hai Duong Province as Chief Provincial Judge.

In 1950, he left Viet Minh, returned to Hai Duong and joined The National coalition against Communism. He held different positions as teacher of French language and of Literature at Thanh Dong High School, then Chief of Thanh Mien District in the Hai Duong province, and finally deputy chief of police in the city of Hai Phong.

In 1954, when the Communists took over North Viet Nam, our father and family moved the South and resettled in Saigon. He had worked as Custom officer in the South Vietnamese government and held his last civil position as Head of Custom Inspection Department.

After the fall of South Vietnam in April 1975, our father and family migrated to USA and restarted their new life in Houston. He worked at HISD as teacher aide for few years then retired.

He passed away on May 23, 2019, at the age of 98.