Maria Elizabeth Diep Levan née Nguyễn Thị Hồng Diệp

Diep Levan (née Nguyễn Thị Hồng Diệp), age 82, passed away in Houston on November 25, 2016. Born in Hanoi, Vietnam in 1934, Diep was the eldest daughter of Nguyễn Thúc Lãng and Đào Thị Quỳ, a poetess and author who upon widowhood relocated her family to the south to start a new life in 1951. After graduating from the Saint Paul catholic school, Diep had taught in the prestigious all-girl high school Trưng Vương before earning her law degree and was admitted to the bar association in 1970.

Three years after the fall of Saigon, her family was among the wave of boat people refugees who fled Vietnam in search of freedom and they arrived in the US in 1979. After several years in Illinois and Oklahoma, Diep has resided in Houston, TX since 1985 and was active in the Vietnamese-American cultural and catholic communities. Beloved as an educator by her students and colleagues in the Trưng Vương overseas family, she also served as director of the Vietnamese language school of Our Lady of Lavang parish. Diep was the founding editor of the monthly review Mái Ấm Gia Đình and hosted a related talk show for Vietnamese Community TV in Houston during the late 1990s. Subsequently she has worked as a syndicated columnist for many Vietnamese-American newspapers, and has authored four books of non-fiction.

Diep was married to the late Lê Văn Nhân who predeceased her by four years. She is survived by her daughter Christine Lê Nguyễn Thu Hương (married to Hoàng Đình Thắng) of Houston, TX; and son Stephen Lê Nguyễn Hoàng [Wayne Levan] (married to Madeleine Lê Thu Hằng) of Dallas, TX; five grandchidren Teddy Hoàng (married to Cory Webster), Timmy Hoàng, Michelle Hoàng, Jacob Bảo-Huy Levan, Claire Bảo-Hân Levan, and one great-grandson Teddy Hoàng Jr. She is also survived by her sister Nguyễn Thị Hồng Phấn (married to Karl Johnson) of Houston, TX; and brothers Nguyễn Quốc Hùng (married to Quan Tú Châu) of New York City, NY; and Nguyễn Quốc Cường (married to Nguyễn Thị Thanh Duyên) of Houston, TX.