Loananh "Mimi" Phạm

Cousin Robert, Vinh Dai, was like a brother to me.   I addressed him as anh Be.

My mom, my husband and I are from Michigan, we came here to say farewell to anh Be and to express our condolences to chi TuyetHoa and HuyenTran.  Anh Be’s father was my mom’ s oldest brother.   My mom used to take anh Be to school daily when he was a little boy.  Mom said that anh Be was very cute, and a very good boy.

Anh Be and his mom stayed at our house for a short period of time in 1971.  Anh Be used to help my sister and me doing our math homework.   He used to ký đầu and said “ngu như con bò”, but my sister and I knew that was his funny and silly way of showing affection to us.  Anh Be read lots of books, I remember seeing many of his thick medical books at our house.  He used to listen to music while studying, and I couldn’t figure out how he could stay focused while studying like that.  Being near anh Be, my sister and I were drawn to music.   We copycat anh Be by listening to 1 specific channel on the radio every afternoon.  

When anh Be met chi TuyetHoa, he was deeply in love.   We used to listen to his love story, how he wooed her by passing a chocolate bar to her desk.  Anh Be was very handsome, and chi TuyetHoa was very pretty.  They were a beautiful couple.  The famous singer, Elvis Phuơng, sang at their wedding reception.  Elvis Phuơng was anh Be’s High School classmate.  It was very nice of Elvis Phuơng to entertain at his friend’s wedding and made it an extra special event for the guests and for the newlyweds.

Anh Be, chi Hoa and HuyenTran fled Saigon, Vietnam on the same day as us.  The military plane took off right at midnight Friday, April 25th, 1975.  It was one of the significant days of our lives.  We were together during that challenging time.  We escaped from communists.  We are grateful to this country, and we are glad to be able to give back, to contribute to this great nation.

When we were refugees in Fort Chaffee, Arkansas, I remember 1 incident when HuyenTran’s teddy bear was torn.  She was quite upset because the cotton was exposed.   Being a good father, Anh Be comforted his daughter by sewing the bear stomach with thread and needle in front of us.  He did it as if he were in an operating room.   I knew that he was a surgeon, but I did not know that his stitches were perfect until that day.  The repair of HuyenTran’s teddy bear was seamless, I was impressed, and that was his skill 47 years ago!

Did you know that when anh Be was young, he wanted to become a pilot? That was his plan A.  But my aunt told him that “son, it’s better off to study to become a doctor instead”, and that was his plan B.  And guess what?  Anh Be was somewhat able to accomplish both of his plans A and B.   He joined the United States Airforce, not as a pilot but as a general surgeon in Andrews Air force base in MD.  

I just shared some of the fond memories that I had with anh Be.  I will miss you anh Be.  Rest in peace.

- Loananh Pham (Mimi)