Thieu Nguyen

Piedmont Eastside Medical Center. He is survived by his wife Quy Le; five daughters Nhu

Nguyen, To Quyen, Cat Thao, Cat Thuan, and Cat Thach; seven grandchildren Keirara, Emani,

Michael, Noah, Oliver, Lara, and Jade; three sons-in-law Oliviu Copindean, John Darden, and

Vincent Vigliotti; and two sisters Nguyen Thi Xoa and Nguyen Thi Nhoc Chuy and one brother

Nguyen De in Vietnam. It would stump his heavenly ascent and worry him to no end to know

how much tears his family has been shedding in the agony of losing him.

On May 01, 1942, Bi Thi Sum Em and Nguyen Thuat welcomed a beautiful, gentle baby boy

into the world in Quang Tri, Vietnam. As the son of its mayor, Thieu enjoyed the privileges his

father’s position afforded him but acquired none of the abominable traits that typically followed.

His youth abruptly ended by the political rumblings of a country on the verge of war. He gave

nine years of his life to the cause, serving in the South Vietnamese military from 1964-1975.

After the war, he endured with quiet dignity another seven years of brutal labor in a reeducation

camp. These years of suffering paved the way for the family’s passage to a better life in America

in 1994. Thieu adapted quite quickly to the little pleasures of life in America. He introduced his

young daughters to the delight of having an endless amount of expired sweets he probably was

tasked with taking home from his first job in America at Harry’s Farmers Market bakery. His

tenure as a custodian at Avondale High School eased his family’s fear that they would ever run

out of toilet paper. There, he had developed a reputation among the students as the perpetually

smiling custodian who would give you change for snack or lunch if you’d only ask – never mind

that he was making only barely above minimum wage with three daughters to support. At home,

he showed only patience and selfless love to his demanding young daughters, even if one of their

demands was dressing him up and parading him around the living room in their mom’s clothes

and makeup for laughs. In his quiet times, he could always be found sitting unobtrusively in a

corner of the sofa ardently reading one of his many books. It is said you can find the essence of a

person in the little things by which you remember them.

The countless beautiful memories Thieu has created for his daughters and grandchildren have

made it so difficult for them to let him go, but they have also inspired them to honor him through

how they live their lives. Everyone who has ever met him was touched by his sweet quietness,

gentleness, kindness, and nondiscriminatory ways. Though he is gone, his love lives on in the

hearts of those he leaves behind. And if there is any truth to the idea that a life well-lived is

measured by the love one gives and receives, then Thieu Nguyen’s life was truly extraordinary.