Tran Vinh
Daughter
Eulogy from April 3rd, 2022 Service
Thank you all for coming today to share parts of my father's life to allow us all to reconstruct him together as a whole. We are blessed and grateful to have so many friends and family here.
When planning this event, I broke down many times especially with all the decisions that we needed to make. So I asked my cousin Chi for advice, and she said, "What would your father want?" I answered quickly, “Everything!" ... When I planned my son’s birthday parties in Virginia, he wanted me to invite EVERYBODY and order EVERYTHING on the menu. When coordinating my wedding, we had not 1 not 2 but 3 parties in 3 different states so that everyone could attend.
Naturally we are now in my fathers biggest party. On this day, he would have wanted us all here to celebrate, enjoy good memories, laugh and feel joy. Thanks to zoom, those who cannot attend here physically are present as well...
But Dad will still be mad at me. I couldn’t offer you any Pho (aka beef noodle soup) since we are in a funeral home but, if i could, you would be sitting here in round tables enjoying it with a lot of drinks and red wine.
My dad gave everything of himself to everybody. He was selfless. Here are some of his traits that resonate for me:
humility :
Before my father’s passing, I admit that I did not know about the extent of my father’s full history until my mother wrote his obituary. He was so humble that he never talked about himself, even when I asked.
humor:
He had an infectious laughter that could roar the entire dinner table to their knees.
When I was a kid, I remember going to witness him perform an operation. To my horror, in the operating room with nurses and residents alongside and while doing major surgery, he was cracking jokes; there was plenty of laughing and giggling in the room. And when he finished, you realized that he had just saved another person‘s life.
When my father first arrived to the States, he would introduce himself to all of his patients as, "Hi, I am Dr. Dai," which is pronounced "Dr. Die" in English. You can imagine the reaction of his patients :) It was customary for Vietnamese people to introduce themself by their first name as their last name. It took him years to get used to introducing himself by his last name through encouragement by my mom.
generosity:
He would make sure that you never paid the bill and, that all that he wanted in return, was for you to have a good time.
He had this ability to stand next to anyone and strike up an amazing heartfelt conversation. I witnessed it over and over growing up.
During childhood I think my parents knew early on that I was not going to be a doctor. They kept continually drawing simple diagrams illustrating where my stomach and heart were (and reminded me that, "Yes dear, the heart is on the left side").
I didn’t get history either. Once, he gave up, and just bought me a thick book essentially of “history for dummies.”
I learned history less by reading it, but through example, most importantly, his example - from all his struggles and perseverance in the face of our immigrant family facing discrimination as minorities... to my dad’s achievements, driven by his purpose, resilience, love and compassion for all.
He showed me how important it is to be proud of where we came from and to acknowledge the suffering that we experienced as refugees ... and to be grateful for the opportunities afforded to us to allow us get to where we are today. We are especially thankful for families like Dr. Patrick's, who sponsored our family in the United States.
Now, I see my father in my son. I hope that, at least, I get this diagram right (where the brain is).
It is my purpose now to share our history and pass forward my dad’s legacy to Lucien and our generations to come ... so that they can feel proud of their heritage and make the most of their future.
Given the world we currently live in, I hope we can be more compassionate and generous toward those less fortunate, specifically refugees, and provide them opportunities to thrive.
My dad served as an eternal example of what a true giant is, with a very humble life. In Vietnamese, the word "Dai" means "Big" or "Giant." You can see from this room how many are here and how we all have been profoundly impacted by him.
Thank you dad, for all of your sacrifices and those that my mother made to ensure that I have had the best life and opportunities possible.
I am so grateful to have you as my father.
Eulogy from April 4th, 2022 Service
My father had an impact on all of us. He did that from how he made us feel.
He had a gentle smile, a big laugh and was larger than life.
He had a infinite heart, resilience of a soldier and humility of a saint.
The phrase, work hard play hard, epitomizes the way he lived his life.
He lived with passion, generosity and love for everyone.
We all came today because of how Dr. Vinh made us feel - feel loved, joyful, entertained and full of life. He accomplished many things but, at the end of the day, it is how he contributed back and made us all feel that will continue his legacy.
What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us.
What we have done for others and the world
remains and is immortal.
- Albert Pike
*** I kindly ask all of us to be compassionate towards refugees. Please welcome and support them with open hearts and generosity. Do not discriminate and understand that they come from different cultures coming into a new country. Be loving and understanding. Please teach your children to do the same. 🙏 ***
