Luu Ba Nguyen

Luu Ba Nguyen, a devoted husband and father, civil engineer and former South Vietnamese Army officer, died peacefully in his home at age of 88 on December 17, 2020 due to complications from the COVID-19 virus.

Luu was born in Ninh Binh, North Vietnam on April 4, 1932. He immigrated to South Vietnam in 1954 under the Geneva Accords of the 17th parallel. He obtained a bachelor degree in civil engineering in South Vietnam and was selected to attend 2 study abroad tours in the United State. He bravely fought communism in the South Vietnamese army and earned the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He married Loan Thi Vu in 1959, and had a family of six. He strongly believed in education and co-founded an elementary through high school named Thanh Minh with the local Catholic church in Hoc Mon, Vietnam.

With the fall of Saigon in 1975, he started a new life in the United States. To support the large family, he initially took on many jobs including maintenance manager at Rodeway Inn in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. To rebuild his civil engineer career in the US, he attended Nashville Technical Institute in Tennessee under a work-study program. After graduation, Luu was hired at Bechtel Corporation in Houston Texas as a civil engineer and he relocated his family there in 1979.

Luu was a very prominent father figure who instilled in his children his strong work ethic and lifelong love of learning. He was also an entrepreneur and joined his wife to open the Golden Key Supermarket in 1982. Tragically, in 2000, he had a life altering stroke that forced him to retire. During his retirement, he continued to leverage his engineering knowledge and innovate many ideas to live efficiently and harmoniously off the land and the sea. He passed on these ideas to friends and families as much as he could. He always encouraged his children to give back to society with their time, money, and ideas to improve quality of life for all.

Luu is survived by his wife, Loan Thi Vu, and three remaining siblings: Do Nguyen Chuong, Nguyen Thi Mat, and Nguyen Quy Ban. He is survived by six children: Kim Phuong Pham, Kim Clinton and son-in-law Michael Clinton, Linh Ba Nguyen and daughter-in-law Thuy Nguyen, Long Ba Nguyen and daughter-in-law Ramona Nguyen, Thao Tran and son-in-law Hao Tran, and Pete Nguyen, and 12 grandchildren: Vinh, Anh Minh, & Duc Pham; Timothy, Michelle, & Brian Clinton; Megan, Mila, & Madison Nguyen; Jonathan, Jessica, & Alexander Nguyen; Kien, Linh & Luu Tran, and 7 great grandchildren: Mikaila Xuan & Addison Lola Anh Rogers; Henry Luu Clinton, Micah Eulogio Munoz; Legend, Emma, & Thomas Bergeron.

A religious ceremony will take place on Saturday January 9th, 2021 at the Our Lady of Lourdes Vietnamese Church in Houston, Texas. The visitation will take place on Friday January 8th at the Chapel of Eternal Peace at Forest Park. His final resting place will be at Earthman Resthaven cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, we ask that donations be made to the International Humane Missions www.ihumanemissions.org to provide access to clean water and schooling for the ethnic Vietnamese stuck at the border between Cambodia and Vietnam.