Tuoc Thi Tu

In addition to her native Vietnamese, she learned how to read and write Chinese characters from her paternal grandfather in her youth. Her love of poetry and literature inspired her to write many poems and essays throughout her life. Her love of learning and traveling gave her the courage to seek a better life in unfamiliar places.

She moved to Hà Nội in 1950 and married Từ Duy Hoạt two years later on November 26, 1952. The new couple moved to southern Việt Nam in 1953 and had two sons, Từ Duy Khiết (1954) and Từ Duy Thuần (1955), in Đà Lạt. Later in 1955, they moved to Sài Gòn and had four more children: Từ Thị Diệm Trân (1957, daughter), Từ Quang Hiệp (1958, son), Từ Thị Diệm Mai (1960, daughter), and Từ Thanh Tùng (1962, son).

Bà Lê Kim Tước opened a bookstore in Sài Gòn in 1963 and ran it successfully until she and her family emigrated to the USA in 1975 as refugees of the Vietnam War. When the family first arrived, they stayed in Fort Chaffee, AR for a short while. They moved and settled in Illinois, first living in an apartment in Park Forest South and subsequently buying a house in Hazel Crest. She took English and bookkeeping classes at Prairie State and Thornton Community colleges, and used her newfound knowledge to secure jobs at a publishing company and then at a doctor’s office.

Upon retiring from Intermed Oncology Associates in 1989, she moved with her husband to Virginia. Her final move in 2023 was to Austin where she lived in a four-generation household with her daughter Diệm-Trân, her son-in-law Thomas, her granddaughter Lan-Thạch, her grandson-in-law George, and her two great grandchildren Drakeson and Milli.

Bà Lê Kim Tước died peacefully at her home in Austin on October 6, 2026.

She is preceded in death by her son Từ Duy Khiết (1964), her husband Từ Duy Họat (2006), and her brother Lê Giáp Đệ (2009). She is survived by her five children Từ Duy Thuần, Từ Thị Diệm Trân, Từ Quang Hiệp, Từ Thị Diệm Mai, and Từ Thanh Tùng, as well as nine grandchildren and four great grandchildren.

She will be missed. She was the force that held her family together and brought them safely from the chaos of Sài Gòn to the USA in 1975.

A Funeral Service will be held at Weed-Corley-Fish Funeral Homes and Cremation Services, 5416 Parkcrest Drive, Austin, Texas 78731 on October 28, 2026, from 10:00 am to 11:00 am.