Nham Thi Nguyen

Nham was born on January 15, 1940 in Ha Dong, Vietnam. Her birth parents were Cong Dinh Tran and Tam Thi Pham. Her adopted parents were Mau Van Tran and Muc Thi Pham. She grew up in Hanoi but later moved to Saigon where she worked as a registered nurse. She met and married a South Vietnam Navy Officer, Lan Nguyen, on March 16, 1968. The couple resided in Saigon, Vietnam. On August 18, 1969, Nham gave birth to their first son, Dung Nguyen. Nham gave birth to their second son, Anh-Vu Nguyen, on January 1, 1971. Nham and her family left Vietnam on April 29, 1975. They left one day before the fall of Saigon. They emigrated along with thousands of other Vietnamese aboard a Vietnamese Navy Ship. After a temporary stop in Guam, Nham and her family flew to Indian Town Gap, Pennsylvania to stay in a refugee camp. Nham’s family was sponsored by a family in York, Pennsylvania and they moved there in 1975. Nham’s nursing degree from Vietnam was not honored in the U.S. As a result, she attended and graduated from the York Hospital School of Nursing. She was a graduate in the Class of 1979.

Nham worked as a registered nurse at York Hospital until 1983 when the family moved to Tampa, Florida. Nham started a job as a registered nurse on the orthopedic floor at St. Joseph’s Hospital in 1983. She continued to work at St. Joseph’s Hospital until her retirement in 2002. She spent every day of her nursing career with a passion for helping people feel better and dressed in an all-white uniform along with a white nursing hat and white shoes. She was the epitome of what a person’s image of a nurse was during her career. Nham’s medical experiences inspired both of her boys to enter the medical field. Dung and AnhVu both graduated from the University of South Florida College of Medicine and are both currently practicing physicians in Florida. Nham’s hobbies include reading Vietnamese novels, watching TV game shows and shows from the 1980s, and spending time with her children and grand-children. She was a loving wife for 54 years, a dedicated mother for 53 years, a caring daughter-in-law for 51 years, and a proud grandmother for 15 years. Nham is survived by her husband, Lan; two sons, Dung and Anh-Vu; a granddaughter, Peyton; and three grandsons, Kyan, Paxtyn, and Cavyn. Her love and inspiration will always be remembered.