Khoat Dang

Khoat Xuan Dang of Westminster, California passed away on October 6, 2014. A visitation will be held on Thursday October 16, 2014 from 11am-8pm, Friday October 17, 2014 from 10am-3pm. A Catholic Funeral Mass will be held on Saturday, October 18, 2014 at 8am at Our Lady of LaVang Catholic Church in Santa Ana, Ca with a Graveside to follow at Good Shepherd Cemetery in Huntington Beach, CA.

“When we long for life without difficulties, remind us that oaks grow strong in contrary winds and diamonds are made under pressure.” - Peter Marshall!

Our beloved father, Khoat Xuan Dang, 84, died surrounded by his family on October 6th, 2014 in Orange, CA. Those whose lives he touched know that his generosity and compassion do not end in his home but extend to everyone he knows. These generous traits emerged at a young age of 15 when he was an orphan who struggled to provide for his siblings. He was born June 18th, 1930, in Hai Hung, Viet Nam to Han Xuan Dang and Do Thi Dang. Our grandparents were wealthy landowners in the village but lost all of their fortune when our father was around 10 years old. They, later, died when our father was 15 years old, leaving our father and his siblings penniless against the backdrop of famine in northern Viet Nam.

Our father was the middle child but took it upon himself to find work in the rice fields to provide for his younger sister, and keeping them from starvation. After many seasons of laboring under the scorching sun, harvesting grains in the rice fields while caring for his younger sister, our maternal grandmother took notice of our father. She recognized his diligence, perseverance, and strong sense of duty and commitment towards his family and was certain that he would make a protective, devoted husband. She arranged the marriage between our father and our mother, Chan Thi Do. They were married in 1949 when our father was 19 and our mother 16. Little did our parents knew, this was the blossoming of a love that would result in 10 surviving children and more than 50 grandchildren and great- grandchildren in the next half century.

Between 1950 and 1992, our parents were forced to uproot from their homes multiple times due to wars that ravaged Viet Nam and the instability that followed. With each re-location, familiarity, security and belongings were lost. Despite the struggle to make ends meet, our parents knew that they had each other and the children that they were blessed with. Due to the fateful gift of his family and kindness that our grandmother had bestowed upon him many years before, our father never hesitated to offer his generosity and hospitality to those in need.

In 1980, our father had become disillusioned by the communist regime in Viet Nam. As a result, he allowed his 2nd and 5th daughter, along with his grandchildren, to journey on boats and find relatives who had found refuge in another country. Our father would continue to experience painful separations from his children when he, once again, allowed his 2 sons to join their sisters in the United States in 1984 for fear of their fate should they join the military in Viet Nam. Our parents drowned in their feelings of guilt and helplessness after sending their defenseless children into the midst of the perilous ocean, making them vulnerable to pirates, starvation, diseases, and storms. The worst of it all was not knowing whether their children would survive the voyage. At the same time, they were torn between going with their older children to protect them and staying behind to provide for the younger ones. It was a very distressing time for them. Finally, in 1992, our family was finally reunited when the rest of the family immigrated to the United States.

Our father would not want us to mourn his death but to celebrate his life. It was a life of hardship that was overcome by perseverance, intense labor, benevolence and tenacity for family values. He believed that every struggle in life is an opportunity to gain knowledge, build character, and emerge as a stronger person. Although he is gone, he will live in his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren as we carry on these very beliefs and values.