Hoa Hong Thi Nguyen

Hoa Hong Thi Nguyen was born in Nha Trang, Vietnam, on July 5th, 1941, to Pastor Nguyen Luong Thien and Mrs. Hoang Thi Giau. She was the granddaughter of Pastor Hoang Trong Thua, the first President of the Vietnamese Christian Alliance, and passed away at age 82 in Portland, Oregon, on March 25th, 2024.

Hoa Hong had a beautiful voice and loved to sing at her church and her parents’ mission Sevices. During her youth she also sang for the Christian program at the local radio station.

She married Vo Van Khoi, in Nha Trang city in 1962.

During the war in Vietnam, her husband was a captain in the army, and she was the principal of an elementary school in Da Nang city. She had four children: one son and three daughters:

• Vo Van Khanh

• Vo Thi Hong Hoa

• Vo Thi Hong-Hanh luot

• Vo Hong Anh-Thu

In 1975, when the North Vietnamese Communists took over the South Vietnamese Republic, Hoa Hong’s husband was forced into a Communist Concentration Camp in the North of Vietnam. She was scared, lonely, and lost many things including her freedom; so she and her children moved to Nha Trang to live with her parents.

During the first ten years of living in the communist society, Hoa Hong, her family, and many other families went through the unbearable tragedy of losing their freedom. She worked many different laborious jobs while her husband was in the concentration camp to provide food for her family and to raise her children. Trusting in the Lord, she and her family not only survived, but they grew stronger in their faith.

After her husband was released from the communist prison, he escaped from Vietnam to the United States in 1993, and sponsored Hoa Hong to join him in 1996. Now living in the country of freedom, she felt relieved and blessed, but missed her children who still lived in the communist society. She took multiple buses each day to work at a designer eyeglass company to support her children in Vietnam.

Her dream was to have her children reunited with her and her husband in the United States. Her husband was unexpectedly diagnosed with cancer and suddenly passed away in 2002.

Hoa Hong was very lonely. Her youngest daughter, Anh-Thu Vo, was accepted to live with her and care for her in the United States. With her strong faith to pray for the reunification of all her children and with some help from her siblings, her children’s families were sponsored and gradually one by one joined her in this country of freedom.

She was deeply grateful for God’s blessings and incredibly generous to those in need.

She retired from her job and lived with her youngest daughter’s family for more than 20 years.

During the time she lived in Portland, Oregon, she worshiped the Lord and actively participated in the activities at Grace Baptist Church and also spent 17 years at Faith Baptist Church where her brother, Pastor Nguyen Hoang Thai was serving.

Hoa Hong had a passion to support and encourage people to be faithful, to do good for the Lord, and she prayed for many people in the United States and Vietnam. When she received monetary gifts from her children, she saved them to give to Christian missionaries and indigenous students at the Christian Bible School in Vietnam.

After COVID-19, Pastor Thai retired, and Hoa Hong and her children’s families then worshiped the Lord at Vietnamese Community Church and Living God Church.

She was calm, caring and kind to her children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and all her relatives and friends. Those who knew her respected and loved her.

During the last couple years of her life, Hoa Hong's oldest daughter took great care of her.

Over the past year, she wished to have a final trip to Nha Trang, Vietnam, in April 2024 to visit her hometown, her old church, and her relatives and friends, and to participate in her granddaughter’s wedding. But she passed away peacefully on March 25th, 2024, and is in God's hands now.

“Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.”

Hoa Hong, widow to Vo Van Khoi, had been faithful to God all her life, and will be remembered as a wonderful mother, grandmother, great grandmother, a peacemaker, a generous and kind person, and God’s servant. She often encouraged her children and grandchildren to be faithful and serve the Lord.