Ninh Thi Nguyen

Ninh Thi Nguyen passed away peacefully on December 23, 2025, at the age of 95. Born in Cà Mau, Vietnam to Nguyen Van Manh and Tran Thi Duyen, Ninh lived a life shaped by resilience, devotion and care for others. She survived the Vietnam War, endured displacement and hardship, and carried her family forward through unwavering courage and determination.

Ninh was the mother of twelve children and the heart of a family that spans generations and continents. Food was her love language. Whether cooking out of her family’s home restaurant in Vietnam, selling Vietnamese food to people in the Philippines, or feeding family and community in Canada, she always cooked as if feeding an army. No one ever left her presence hungry.

During the war, Ninh met the love of her life, her husband Joaquin Angeles, while he was working with the United Nations. Their love endured separation and migration, eventually bringing them together in Canada after years of travel through the Philippines and Hong Kong as part of the refugee journey. In 1979, Ninh arrived in Canada with her three youngest children and went straight to work, building a life through tireless labour, ingenuity, and countless side hustles to support her family.

In Canada, Ninh became known for her generosity, blunt humour, and quiet leadership. Her home was always open, her table always full. In her final years, Ninh remained deeply concerned with others and wanted, above all, to leave on her own terms. In the days before her passing, she packed a small bag, saying she was preparing to meet her husband at the airport. She passed peacefully, ready, assured that her legacy would care for one another as she did for them.

Ninh is survived by her children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, extended family, and all those whose lives she touched through food, care, and fierce love. Her legacy lives on in the values she embodied: perseverance, generosity, humour, and compassion in action.