Nguyen Thi Anh (Anh Pham) was a Vietnamese refugee who lived through wars in North and South Vietnam. She lost her father to a Communist party purge, and survived health scares that almost killed her as a child. After migrating south to Saigon with her mother and siblings, she learned English in night school and became the highest paid civilian at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). After fleeing Vietnam and immigrating to Philadelphia in 1975, she earned her Bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania the same year as her second son, Chuong. She then became a CPA and managed the accounting for the university’s considerable construction activities for over 20 years.
She was the quintessential extrovert, wanting nothing more than to spend time enjoying other people and feeding them. She could make a meal out of the most barren landscape -- fresh snails from tidal pools on a New Jersey beach -- and stare down food vendors who tried to sell her anything substandard. Her children ate so well that they became gourmands, refusing to eat food not at its best. She loved to garden too, casting rose and peony bushes around her houses.
Most of all, she loved her family. She mourned her late husband, Binh, every day after his death. She treasured her mother, Le Thi Canh, and brothers and sisters -- Son, Khue, Hai, Binh, Chinh Nguyen and their spouses. She loved her children and grandbabies and delighted in their every milestone and accomplishment. She died at home, peacefully, at 87 years of age. She leaves behind her children and children-in-law – An and Mai Pham, Chuong and Laurie Pham, Hoangmai Pham and David Roodman, and Tuan and Van Pham; eight grandchildren and their spouses – Hieu and Linda Pham, Thuan Pham and Paige Pfeffer, Nathaniel Pham, Camille Pham, Benjamin Roodman, Alexander Roodman, Kaitlyn Pham, and Sydney Pham; and four great-grandchildren – Oliver, Maia, Henry, and Lily Pham.
A visitation for Anh will be held Friday, August 30, 2024 from 9:00 AM to 9:30 AM at Hines-Rinaldi Funeral Home, 11800 New Hampshire Avenue, Silver Spring, Maryland 20904. A memorial service will occur Friday, August 30, 2024 from 9:30 AM to 11:00 AM, 11800 New Hampshire Avenue, Silver Spring, Maryland 20904. A committal service will occur Friday, August 30, 2024 from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM at Gate of Heaven Cemetery, 13801 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring, Maryland 20906.
