Nguyen Van Do

“Give me a problem and I’ll hand you a solution.” Those who knew Nguyen Van Do would agree that that motto accurately described him. Nguyen was a man of great drive and a very original, independent thinker. For Nguyen, no challenge was impossible, and just about any desired result was within his grasp. Nguyen placed great trust in his intuition. Since that intuition generally led him in the right direction, who was he to doubt it.

Nguyen was born on January 5, 1921 in Nam Dinh Province, Vietnam. He was the son of Do Van Thuan and Dinh Thi Luu. His childhood found him in Hai Phong City, Vietnam where he matured into the independent person he eventually became.

Nguyen grew up with seven siblings. His siblings are: Van, Hac, Ban, Hao, Huu, Pham, Lai, and Trieu. Nguyen could be seen as being stubborn by his siblings. It was important to him that he was perceived as “right” when it came to his part in those typical family spats. However, this quality did not over power his caring for his family. This ability to balance his family, with his need to be seen as right, helped him to develop into a young adult while enjoying many good times with his family.

During his grade school years, Nguyen was a very focused and serious student who actually enjoyed the challenge of many classroom problems. He was determined to succeed, and he drew upon his gifts of trust and perseverance to provide him with a competitive edge. While his first love might have been academics, Nguyen took part in table tennis and soccer. He was a scout. Nguyen delighted in projects that required planning, critical thinking and resolution.

During high school, Nguyen was relentless in his pursuit of learning, especially in those subject areas that really grabbed hold of his interests. It wasn't that he didn't put forth his best efforts in all classes, but if a subject really interested him, he would eagerly put forth extra effort to learn all he could. Nguyen graduated from Truong Buoi High School in North Vietnam in 1945.

Nguyen was loyal to his friends. He found that he was most in tune with people who had similar interests and thought about things much the way that he did. Nguyen sometimes had a tendency to be critical in his friendships but he was more interested in finding out what was right in a situation rather than in being mean toward others. He never intentionally set out to hurt any of his friends. Nguyen was a person who challenged others to fend for themselves and to be original in their thinking and evaluation of the outside world. While growing up, his best friend was Thuy Nguyen.

On September 1, 1947, Nguyen exchanged wedding vows with Dang Thi Tran in Hai Phong, Vietnam. Dang's sensitivity to Nguyen's needs proved to be a wonderful influence on this man, who preferred to live in his “gut.” Dang's influence brought Nguyen to a new emotional level, one that eventually enhanced all of his other gifts and abilities. Dang was able to help Nguyen appreciate the fact that others made contributions and Nguyen became better at interacting with those around him. Because of this, Nguyen grew as a person.

Nguyen often neglected his own feelings in order to give to others. This was very true when it came to how he dealt with his children. He was able to hand on to each child a number of strong values. He taught them to appreciate their abilities, gave them a desire to persevere despite obstacles and set within them a drive to succeed. He had seven children, Tran, Chau, Chuong, Tuan, Khoa, Oanh, and Quan. He also had five grandchildren, James, John, Terry, Angelica, and Sabrinas. They were always aware of how much Nguyen loved them.

During Nguyen's professional working years, he was at his best when working independently. It became the hallmark of his performance. Nguyen was generally able to refocus his drive and determination and readily work toward finding a way to get things done that was beneficial to himself and his co-workers. His primary occupation was business manager of Chinh Luan Newspaper.

Nguyen saw action for Vietnam War.

For Nguyen, his outside interests and hobbies became another exercise in learning and mastering areas that interested him. He greatly enjoyed unraveling the "hows" and "whys" that lay behind his hobbies. Nguyen was always pushing himself to learn more and to stretch his knowledge base even further. He firmly believed that the more things that he knew the more control he would have over things. His favorite pursuit was music.

Watching his favorite sporting events by himself was never a problem for Nguyen. It allowed him to indulge in his own individual interpretation of the event. It was not uncommon for Nguyen to know what the right play or move “should have been,” and he would vocally address these feelings even if there was no one around to hear them. And if there were others around, he would still state his feelings and gladly debate anyone on their opposing views. In high school, Nguyen played soccer and tennis. He enjoyed following his favorite sporting events. Top on his list was soccer.

Due to Nguyen's loyalty and passion for following things through to their conclusion, he found that he was a definite asset to many organizations. Once he was firmly behind a common goal, Nguyen's skills became an integral part of the planning process and the success of any project. In high school, Nguyen was a member of the soccer and tennis club. Throughout his later years, Nguyen was head of the Vietnamese San Jose King Hung Oversea Association. Nguyen's contributions were valued as being the “structure” person of each individual organization.

When Nguyen's retirement finally came in 1986, he was ready. He worked out many of the details in advance so that he could enjoy the time and not have to worry. His new life involved relocating to Saigon, Vietnam. In retirement, he found new pleasure in being an active member of Vietnamese San Jose King Hung Oversea Association.

Nguyen Van Do passed away on March 26, 2012 at Regional Medical Hopistal in San Jose, CA. Nguyen fought a brave battle against liver cancer. He is survived by Tram, Chau, Chuong, Tuan, Khoa, Oanh, and Quan. Nguyen was laid to rest in Oak Hill Memorial Park in San Jose, CA.

Nguyen Van Do was always drawn to what was measurable, practical and factual. He was a very competent person who expected competence from others. He could be headstrong and certain about the way things were supposed to be. He was determined in every aspect of his life and certain that he was usually right about things. He trusted his intuition over all else, even if it opposed the popular belief, and he had faith in his inner vision and speculations. He wanted to be acknowledged by others as having made a contribution to whatever he was working on. His family and friends will miss his fierce determination, relentless innovations and analytic mind. He leaves with all those who knew him many wonderful memories.