Anh Pham

On behalf of the Ho-Dac and Doan's families, gathered here today, to pay the last tribute to our mother, grand-mother and great grand-mother, I extend my welcome to all of you, distinguished guests, friends and relatives. I am Ho-Dac Tai, and have been offered the opportunity to speak for a few minutes about my mother whose life we are celebrating here today together. It is an honor and a privilege to speak on behalf of my siblings that I will try to represent the shared feelings of love, devotion and admiration we all felt towards our mother. It is impossible to quantify the love she had for all of us, a mother who only lived with her sole goal in life were her children. In her heart, her love for us was deeper than the deepest of all oceans and higher than the highest of all mountains. It was an absolute love and I could feel when I was young secured under her wings and throughout my childhood. I could talk for hours and provide numerous examples demonstrating her remarkable courage, tenacity and vision in life to guide her family to safe grounds. Her decision to build her own house for us was in my eyes gigantic task taking all the possible roles of an architect, a builder, and a carpenter. She smoothed out the tree trunk of bark, poured sand and gravels, and hammered nails. She had a well built layered with charcoal and sand and she raised her own livestock of chicken and pigs. This is not a kibbutz but the house for her kids. I admired her tenacity and I'm still mesmerized by her many skills with so little education that she had. Was that for her enjoyment at the time of pure adrenaline or something deep in her heart unseen from our young minds? I recall the first day at kindergarten with her. Well dressed up in her white traditional dress, her bag under her arm, she held my hand and led me to school. She walked in to the Principal office, smiled at the Principal and pointed at me saying in her broken French, "Aller a l'ecole". The Principal nodded and said "Demain matin" and I was enrolled then. I started school the next day. The different stages our mother's life are vivid flashbacks of a long exodus throughout Vietnam with all the ups and downs throughout the historical events of times: From the role of a spouse of a great mandarin to the frugal image of a mother all she had in her heart were her motherly instincts to raise, educate and feed her children. That was simple enough for us. But, in reality she was the architect of our lives, a family of six. Her severity towards our education was un-contestable even up to now I can feel her voice echoing in my head. On the other hand, her meals were meticulously prepared in a sense that I was addicted to her cooking that lasted longer in my life. Well into my adulthood, I had a hard time to adjust to any cooking after I left home. Her generosity with her family and her sibling's families were exemplary. She had a nickname of "Mother-aunt". She looked after her siblings with devotion, from getting married to helping them their children at birth. Finally, and perhaps the most intriguing part of her life that I could not comprehend was her belief in life. It was so strong she could help others with just prayers and a little of water. I saw her helping this lady close to blindness with salt and water. The lady in her mid-twenty could not open her eyes as pus was rushing out of her eye lids. A few months later the lady came back to thank my mother with a perfect vision. My mother really walks on water.

Funeral Home:
Kettering Routsong Funeral Home
2100 E. Stroop Rd.
Kettering, OH
US 45429

Service:
2100 E. Stroop Rd.
Kettering, OH
US 45429
Saturday, October 12, 2013
No Services