Daw Thyra Po

to Victor San C Po and Daw Hnin Myaing. Her dad, an attorney by profession moved his

bustling practice to the city of Yangon and her mom likewise continued to work as a teacher.

She graduated high school at the famed Teachers Training College (TTC). TTC ranks as the

highest overall among the Burmese High Schools that tests for the Myanmar University

Entrance Examinations.

Desiring to follow in the footsteps of her grandfather, Sir San Cromby Po, she decided to

attend medical college and graduated in 1959. Her first post was at the Women’s General

Hospital in Yangon where she worked as an OB-GYN. She was then sent to India for further

studies and obtained a Diploma in Nutrition. She joined the Nutrition Department as part of the

Ministry of Health. On October 2, 1962 she married U San Tha Po who worked for the Burma

Airways Corporation (BAC) as an Aeronautical Engineer and later as Chief Inspector for the

country’s flag carrier. The couple had two children, Saw Kyaw Naing who became a merchant

mariner and Aye Thida who followed her mom’s footsteps as a physician.

In 1976 she pursued further studies at The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

Upon returning from England she stayed on at the Ministry of Health developing many projects

to be implemented throughout the country; to this end she was responsible to present the

country’s situation to the World Health Organization (WHO) and was awarded grants to pursue

and successfully put into effect the projects she had conceived improving the general health of

the affected population. She eventually retired in 1990 as the Deputy Director of Public Health.

Dr Thyra Po continued working as a short term consultant at the World Health Organization in

Nepal after her retirement.

In 1995 she fully retired from field of Public health, she and her husband

travelled all over the world and later joined her daughter and son in Houston where she found

joy in family, plants, books, scripture and travel. Her love for writing led her to be a contributor to

the Ministry of Health golden jubilee publication in 2013 on the Further Development of Medical

Research from 1987-2011. She also published a compilation of her grandfather’s diary titled “ A

Karen Pioneer” in 2008 that told the story of his humble beginnings in Kozu Village close to

Pathein, to being able to study Medicine in America at the Albany College of Medicine and later

working as a physician in Burma treating anyone and everyone who would come to him. Like

her grandfather who she modeled, she would see all her patients tirelessly. She worked closely

with leaders who tried to forge a better future for the country’s welfare.

On the 28th day of May 2025 in Houston, Texas Daw Thyra Po joyfully entered the Kingdom of

her Master and Savior our Lord Jesus Christ at age of 90 having faithfully served as a devoted

daughter, wife, mother, teacher, physician and public health advisor. To the community here she will always embody the verse in Matthew 25:23,“Well done, good and faithful servant”.

A funeral service for Daw will be held Tuesday, June 3, 2025 from 10:30 AM to 12:00 PM at Greater Houston Burmese Christian Fellowship, 15505 West Rd, Houston, TX 77095. Following the funeral service will be a committal service from 12:30 PM to 1:00 PM at Klein Memorial Park Cemetery, 14711 Cypress North Houston Rd, Texas, TX 77429. Following this, there will be a reception back at Greater Houston Burmese Christian Fellowship.