Bành Lệ Khuynh ~ Pháp Danh: Diệu Hiền

Khuynh Le Banh was born on March 23, 1955 in Bac Lieu, Vietnam. She was the first grandchild of the large Banh extended family that originated in Chaozhou, China. In 1978, she fled in the late hours with her family aboard a boat that took 10 days to reach Malaysia, where they spent one year in a refugee camp.

The family arrived in Georgia in 1979, eventually settling in Savannah. Khuynh studied English as a Second Language and cosmetology to become a hairdresser to help support the family. She went on to open her own salon with a business partner. In 1989, the family moved to Oakland, CA. While in Georgia and California, she was also a caretaker for her four much younger siblings, acting as a second mother.

In 1990, family friends introduced her to Hien, who lived in Houston. After a year-long courtship of phone calls, love letters, and frequent flier miles, Khuynh and Hien married in 1991 and started their family in Houston. Together, they raised two sons and traveled often, enjoying life as a tight-knit family, including several cruises, a grand European vacation, a trek across Asia including her childhood home in Bac Lieu, and a great big, road trip around the south that took them to Graceland, the Great Smoky Mountains, and more.

Khuynh was a strong woman who always knew what she wanted. She owned and operated several small business ventures with her family. She was short but powerful. She was social and friendly. She commanded a room with her presence. Everyone definitely knew who was boss.

During the pandemic, she enjoyed gardening even more and enhanced the decor of her home to reflect her favorite color - purple. In Purpleland, she cherished the lake full of catfish and turtles surrounded by birds, deer, squirrels, and a great big Texas sky.

Khuynh passed on February 3, 2022 and joined her father, Gian Banh, and mother, Kim Chu Tran. Her final days were spent with her family at home.

Khuynh will be fondly remembered by her loving husband of 31 years, Hien Tran; sons Victor and Vincent Tran; siblings Khang, Hoang, Thu, and Khai Banh; nephew and niece Kento and Aika Hiramoto Banh; and numerous cousins around the world.