I love you very much grandpa 
and we miss you so very much too. 
Thank you for all you've done for us. 

Love, 
Zhayden & Zhayvier Khiev

Father-In-Law 
I came into your family
Not knowing what I'd find. 
I was nervous and afraid
You gently eased my mind.

You made me feel right at home
From the first day that we met. 
You welcomed me with open arms, 
And that I won't forget.

You always have encouraged me
With kind words that you say.
I know I can depend on you
On any given day. 

You're a great father-in-law. 
You stand out above the rest. 
I thank God for blessing me
With you – the very best.

Sincerely, 
your daughter-in-law
Chantha Tann

Grandparents are put into our lives in order to help us make better sense of the world. And my Grandpa certainly shaped the world for me and the rest of the family. 
My grandpa, like a lot of us, was a very complex person.  He was someone many people would describe as funny, but also very serious.  My grandpa didn’t always know the best things to say, or how to say it, but his heart was always in the right place. Whether it had to do with our work, school, or finances. 
But today, I want to talk about the Grandpa that I knew, that I had gotten a slightly closer too, and wish was still here. 
My grandpa was always ready to go eat, didn’t really matter where. He always said I was “Mommy Amber” since I would baby sit my nephews. My grandpa always looked out for each of us and even if he didn’t say it in the nicest way, he wanted the best for all of us. 
One of our last conversations was about my tattoo that i had gotten for my grandma. He looked at it m, ask my what it meant, and as i told him he slide his fingers across the dates and teared up a little bit, unfortunately I will have to be adding more dates, lol. But let us all enjoy the celebration of his life, the wisdom he left us, and the strength he gave us all.

One time, 
I asked my grandpa how to say, “I love you” in Khmer (Cambodian language). He looked at me like I was crazy for a second, and proceeded to tell me, “In Cambodia they don’t say ‘I love you’ like there isn’t a word for it”. 
He then said, “If you love someone you show them.” 
And that is what my grandpa spent his entire life doing…
Showing his family how much he loves them. From escaping Cambodian Genocide… to the muah muah muahs on the beach, that led to the beginning go a whole family. My grandpa may not have said “I love you” often… or ever. But he showed us everyday.

But I wouldn’t give it up for the world. I wish we didn’t have to say farewell, because truly I’m still not ready for any of this. But I can’t be selfish, it’s simply the way of life. I will always carry with me the reminder’s in life gorilla taught me... work hard, give your all, and be good it will pay off. To the hardest working man I know, you did it… you can officially retire with your princess in the sky for all of eternity. YOU EARNED IT. Dont party too hard. I love you... See you later Gorilla.

It started with my oldest son, His great grandson Ray. Grandma used to always smash up banana and feed Raymen every morning because it was her favorite activity, food. As he learned to talk he would greet my grandpa by asking him if he had a banana. My grandpa would make it appoint to stop at the market before coming home from work to bring his baby Ray a gallon of milk and a banana. He started calling Raymen “monkey” because his diet usually consisted of banana daily. As that turned into a regular routine, Raymen as a toddler, one day greets grandpa, “Gorilla you have banana?” From then, everyone else held on to that name and my kids would call him gorilla, in turn his great grandson’s were all his monkeys. 
He always focused on working, my grandma, and church growing up. I used to think he didn't like having fun when I was very young, because he always looked so serious and was always working. Wake up on even days he didnt work, at 4am for coffee and breakfast, Leave for work 5am, call my grandma to check in on his break, come home around 3pm, take off his work shirt and start doing yard work at home, followed by shower, nap, and then dinner.. like clock work.. But as I grew older I learned he was the biggest kid I know, with an even bigger heart. He may look like a big serious gorilla, but he has the most gentle loving soul. He was so tender hearted it broke his heart anytime he has to tell his children/grandchildren no. He would dwell so hard on turning them down only because in his words, “I love them so much, I want to always give them everything in life, But they also have to learn.” As he would tear up after having a heart to heart conversation with me. 
No family is perfect, especially this one. Boy what a ride life has been so far. I have learned, We can be the craziest dysfunctional family. But I wouldn’t give it up for the world. I wish we didn’t have to say farewell, because truly I’m still not ready for any of this. 

Gorilla:
You know growing up with mixed culture has been an interesting life, I am the first and oldest grandchild for my grandparents so I was always with them everywhere they’d go. My mom had me at a very young age... and my grandparents rejoiced the news rather than discouraging it. They were always there for their children and grandchildren no matter the good or bad. Growing up as a child, I had what we would call a love/hate relationship with my grandfather. Due to thinking my grandpa was always grouchy and picked on me. He loved bringing out his inner child, from smacking me in back of the head, tugging at my hair, poking my side to make me yell because he surprised me, or him and my grandma sneaking up on me when I was taking a nap to grab me by my toes to pop them, and once I'm awake tickling my feet til I scream. But I would always get him back, in our house you know the classic “OIY!”. We always would as we can say “monkey’ed around”. I remember sitting at the kitchen table with my grandpa eating tangerines, avocado, sour mango, apples, and plums with salt at the kitchen table… all from the trees that he grew and tended to with my grandma in their backyard. He loved to play and make faces when things were too sour *smacks lips, oouyy!" or too spicy *breathes in and shakes head laughing, oohh pet!" when he’d eat with the chili salt. There was a time I had a phase of dying my hair all sorts of colors in school. Anyone remember that one? When I first died my hair, I remember sitting at the table with my grandpa to eat dinner and he says, "what happened to your hair?” I asked if he liked it, his response was, “yeah you’re just a lost Cambodian.” As he laughs… very subtle...
So some people who don't know our family wonder why I call my grandpa Gorilla. And they initially think it can be taken as rude.. but oddly enough, it's not because my grandpa had a tan, or prominent nose, how his stature was, his grunts or anything of that nature.

When my Dad was diagnosed with leukemia a few months ago, he planned to beat it and go back to work. That was his plan. He was strong and brave. He chose to do whatever the doctors wanted him to do to get better. He wanted to be there for us as long as he could. 

Although God's plans don't exactly line up with what our hearts want, I know my Dad is with my Mom now and they are reunited in heavenly bliss. I can feel them both say that things will be okay and they will always be there to watch over us for the rest of our lives until we meet again.


For years, he always had a supply because we all knew it was his favorite. 

Another scent my Dad wore all the time was Tabu. I remember when he would come home from work and shower before we had dinner. He would come out with his hair combed and his skin smelled fresh, like Old Spice and Tabu. That was my childhood memory of my Dad's scent. I remember when I was old enough to drive and shop, I knew he was out of Tabu so I was trying to find it in the Cologne section for men at the drugstore. Little did I know... It was actually a woman's fragrance. I didn't know what to think at the moment but I realized something about my Dad. It didn't matter to him if something was labeled for men or women. If he liked it that was all that mattered to him and it worked. 

I had the privilege of teaching English abroad in his homeland, Cambodia in a village. Although I didn't really know my Dad as well as I would have wanted, in the three months that I lived there, I got to know a lot about how he lived and the kind of childhood he had through the kids I taught. They got up early in the morning before sunrise. They helped their mother with chores.  They mostly ate rice and not much else. And they went to school and played soccer and games with their friends outside. It was a beautiful and simple life.

I wanted to find Tabu because the scent was the essence of my dad. I found it in one of the markets and wore it every day. Somehow, it made me feel connected to him although we were thousands of miles away. 

After my Mom passed away, something I noticed about my Dad was he wore my Mom's turtleneck sweaters quite often. When he got his citizenship, he wore her purple turtleneck sweater layered under his blue, collared dress shirt. I didn't notice it until I studied the picture recently. It felt like somehow, she was there too with us while he wore it and she could not be more proud of his accomplishments.


Japanese Cherry Blossom, Tabu, and Turtleneck Sweaters

My Dad was a quiet, hardworking man with a very dry sense of humor. I remember my Mom telling me how he would tease and make fun of her which of course, she didn't appreciate but I found it very sweet and that was his way of flirting with her. I remember when I was 6 or 7 years old, my Dad worked two jobs at the time. The only real window of time I saw him during the week was between three or four o'clock in the afternoon and he would leave again to his second job. My Mom would say, "Go give Daddy a hug." I would go and say hi and hug him. But there was one day for some reason I didn't want him to leave. So, on that day as I hugged him I said, "Please don't go, Daddy." Then, I remember it wasn't long after that when he stuck with one job and we would have dinner together as a family.

Along with his quality of being a hardworking man, he was also quite thrifty. He was not the type of person to spend money on things when we could get them for free. So, to my poor Mother's chagrin, we always ended up with secondhand furniture and appliances that never ever matched. Yet somehow, Mom always managed to make our house Into a cozy and loving home with tablecloths, doilies, flowers, and a lot of pictures of our family. 

My Dad was a mechanic and maintenance technician for a living so we were practically forbidden to call someone else to fix our cars or things around the house because he always wanted to do it himself.

As manly as he was in a very, stereotypical way....there are two things that will always make me laugh when I think about him. As a Christmas gift to my mother, I bought her a beautiful gift box from Bath and Body Works of Japanese Cherry Blossom shower gel and lotion. Well, the one who actually ended up using it was my Dad. He loved it! So, one of my errands for my Mama was to "pick up more Japanese Cherry Blossom for your father" whenever he was out of it. 

You know, It wasn't ever important for him to shine, he was a simple man that worked hard, always put countless hours in with the church. He Never was the one who wanted pat on the back or acknowledgment/ to be glorified you could say, for his actions he was a very humble man. He would work Saturdays and Sundays doing overtime and still find his way to go to church before even changing out of his work clothes. 

My uncle Lee is the one who actually got my father his job with WWL in which my dad stayed working for 30 years. My uncle played a large part in our our lives helping my father connect with my mother, stayed good friends through the years, and got my father his job at Distribution and Auto Services, which turned into WWL. For helping kickstart literally all our lives I thank my uncle Lee for being so good to my daddy.  
In the short time we had in the end with his sickness, the biggest thing I will miss is simply holding his hand walking in the parking lot, or during his appointments. During those times, I never would of thought this would ever be the last. Still to this moment I’m not ready to let go. 
Both my parents were the anchors in my life, they established my faith and always provided for us. At the sunset of all of this my dad leaves his legacy with his future monkeys, as My mother and father can now watch over them from above. 

You no longer have to be pricked and poked at the doctors, you are no longer in any pain, you now are at peace, but I feel you never should have gone. I love you daddy, I will forever miss you. 


My Father came from Cambodia, His parents were farmers. He was the oldest of 6 siblings… 4 brothers and 1 sister. He would tell me stories about how helped his mother a lot growing up. My dad joined airforce 1970, along his journey with the airforce, accompanied with my uncle Lee, he met my mother and was captured indefinitely, fell in love with her beauty. He stalked her … Their love story has an interesting take the way my parents described it. One day my father came across this beautiful angel doing her work, and would admire her from a distance. My uncle Lee tried playing the match maker, and would talk to my mother about how my father sang in her praises. My mother already had a husband and children in Thailand, as did my father (wife and children in Cambodia) but this was all during the war. My mother wasn’t interested in my father initially, in her words, He was this dark monkey boy that kept stalking her.” My father wanted to treat this woman like a princess she was, and give her the world. My mother eventually fell in love with my father and they ran away together to the US.
When they came to US, landed in Camp Pendleton, and ended up moving to Santa Barbara where their sponsors were in 1975 and got married. Then 1976 came along and the story my mom always told us was, “me and daddy  were on the beach and mmmm…mmmmm...mmmm…muah! And then you were born". Then 1977 we moved to Pasadena, next moved to a small trailer in Rosemead where my parents then had my younger brother Victor who was born in 1981. Then 1983, when my parents were pregnant with my younger sibling Judy, my dad bought our first home on Strang ave.

Dad was supposed to become a citizen in 1982, but because he was working so much trying to support his family. He didn’t become a full citizen until February 15,  2017, when he was able to take time off finally for himself. 



Dad: 
Good afternoon everyone.

First of all,  I want to thank the pastor for helping us with the services thank you for all you've done. 

My father was born January 27, 1946. 
            He was a well educated man who joined the air force as an airplane mechanic and married my mother in the states. His accomplishments were having three children, bought a home, and spent 30 plus years serving at WWL in Wilmington. What my father taught me, is to work hard everyday to provide for my family. What I learned from my dad was, not to forget  were you came from and enjoy life. Im so proud to carry on the last name Khiev. He leaves behind 6 grand children starting with the oldest Kristina, Damien, Amber, Reina, Zhayden and Zhayvier. 3 great grandson's Raymen, Ayden , Jake jr. and another one on the way. 

Also, I want to say thank you, to brother Sean Ma,  sister Sopha and  Sophy ,and the rest of Vegas family for being in our lives again. Luis, Carlos, and my fathers work  family from  Wilmington. John, Ld, and my work family from Lineage Logistics, Long Beach, who have been showing me love and support. My sister's Joy and Judy who have been checking on me to make sure I'm alright. I would like to of course thank my wife's side of the family and my wife Chantha. I love all you guys from the bottom of my heart. 

My father is now united with my uncle Lort and aunt Bun, Cousin Jam Seurising, uncle Lee Chea, and my mother Piyapan. We miss you but it's time to clock out and go home to the Lord in heaven. We love you, until we meet again. Goodbye dad, from your one and only son.

OBITUARY

Van Khiev

January 27, 1946 – June 27, 2019

Turner & Stevens Live Oak Mortuary & Memorial Park

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