My Uncle we called Cau Bach
I first met Cau when we landed in Texas airport in June 1981, feeling overwhelmed by all the unknowns of coming to new country. I remembered him as a tall and skinny person but soon I realized that he was the “Man” of the house because he took care of everything for us and made us feel at ease. We soon moved to California because my parents heard that there are more Vietnamese out there. Cau would call us often to make sure we were o.k. and visited us when he could. Every time he came, we would circle around him because he had so many stories to share. Every year, he would share with us that he went back to Vietnam and found another ancestry grave site and helped rebuilt it. I was always in awe by how he managed to find them, especially my grandmother’s site who passed away 90 years ago before he was born. He was so excited that he found it.
Last year, I was fortunate to travel with him to Vietnam to visit these grave sites because I knew that he would be the only person who knew where they are. Because I was traumatized by my first visit to Vietnam back in 1995, I was apprehensive and had anxiety about going back. However, Cau would tell me, “Don’t worry, I will arrive a couple days before you and pick you up at the airport. I will arrange everything for you.” Indeed, Cau had arranged everything like he did 37 years ago. All my relatives and friends were laughing at me for letting a 84 years old uncle to pick me up at the airport. When we visited the grave site, I realized that he had upgraded all of our ancestry rubble stones to nice granite tombstone. I am sure all our ancestry up there are greeting him with a pad on the back for a job well done.
During the trip, I learned about his life, how he struggled since he was young, taking care of his Mom and supporting his brother, and how he managed to get his family to America. As others shared more stories about his life, I found out that he had helped raised other kids and sponsored many 

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children:
Joanne Nguyen and husband, Viet
Loc Hoang and wife, Joanne


grandchildren:
Chris and wife Christina T., Christina N., Cody, Cynthia and Lauren


2 great grandchildren


and host of other relatives and friends.

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Bill Hoang

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OBITUARY

Bill Van Hoang

March 7, 1934 – November 3, 2019

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