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The Holy Trinity Lutheran Church-Binh Nguyen family connection began in 1975. Binh was a Vietnamese graduate student at The Ohio State University pursuing a master's degree in Agricultural Economics, set to graduate in December of 1975. He had a scholarship funded by The US Agency for International Development. In the midst of war, many South Vietnamese families were fleeing Vietnam fearing for their safety should the North Vietnamese win the war. Holy Trinity Lutheran Church was one of many churches in the Columbus area that volunteered to host a Vietnamese refugee family. The church connection was logical, because I worked as a faculty member advising Binh, and Karen Larson and I were members of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church.

As a host church and with the able direction of Pastor and Sara Neikirk, Holy Trinity agreed to provide housing, food, clothing, and employment for the family. When Binh was 20 days away from finishing his coursework at OSU in 1975, he returned to Vietnam to share the hardship with his family or possibly rescue his extended family which turned out to be 10 people. Binh, his wife Thuy, and two boys (Davis two years old and Shawn, an infant) plus his father, Hội Nguyễn, his 2 brothers, Điền Nguyễn and Cường Nguyễn, his sister, Liên Nguyễn, his niece, Kim Thanh Nguyen and his nephew, Tuan Hoang. The extended family members escaped Saigon for Guam in 1975. They were the last flight out of Saigon just before the North Vietnamese bombed the airport runway. They arrived in Columbus in May 1975.

Binh and extended family stayed in the basement of Holy Trinity for several weeks. They cooked, ate and slept in the area once known as “The Drop In”. The Neikirks took them to their home for showers and provided transport to doctor’s appointments. Church members were able to find winter clothing for them, brought in food to feed the families, and Pat Ross, who owned some Burger Chef restaurants, found temporary jobs for them in the fast food business. Binh continued to receive financial assistance from OSU. After a few weeks, the Nguyen family found apartments in Buckeye Village where they could live, and Binh could continue his education to complete his M.S. degree at OSU. Finding good professional jobs proved difficult for refugees at that time in Columbus as well as later following a move to California. In addition, the family found winter weather in Columbus difficult, and Binh’s father had even more trouble adjusting to the weather. Binh went first to San Francisco for a job interview with Bank of America and then to San Diego in 1976 where he found work as a welder trainee. He sent word back to the family in Columbus, so they all moved via Greyhound bus to San Diego where they settled.

Unfortunately, Binh was laid off as a welder trainee after 6 months of employment with a shipbuilding company in San Diego. He decided to get a student loan to study at San Diego State University for another MS degree in computer science.  In mid-1978, when he had almost completed his Master’s, National Cash Register (NCR), came to the campus for job interviews. Binh was selected for a position as a programmer systems analyst to join a design team in developing a banking system for Bank of America that had a contract with NCR. During this time, his wife Thuy, a pharmacist in Viet Nam, passed the state exam for Medical Scientist (or Medical Technologist). She found a job at Martin Luther King Hospital in Los Angeles so the entire Binh family moved immediately to L.A. to accommodate Thuy’s new job. Binh left NCR in San Diego and passed a test for a senior systems analyst position for the L.A. County Office of Education. Later, Thuy took several additional courses at three universities to qualify and pass the state pharmacist exam. She worked for a V.A. Hospital and a few more private pharmacy groups.

Binh and Thuy have now retired from their jobs. Their children all have excellent undergraduate degrees from UCLA plus medical school or law school degrees from other universities. The sons are MDs. Davis practices plastic surgery in Beverly Hills, and Shawn, the second son, works as an anesthesiologist in Dallas. Binh and Thuy’s daughter (Bang Tam) is an attorney working in Glendale (L.A. area). Binh and Thuy have ten grandchildren.

Karen and I visited the Binh family in San Diego in 1976. Fast-forward about 50 years, and I received an email from their son, Davis, who wrote he would be in Columbus for a medical conference and would like to see me. We arranged to meet Sunday, June 1, at La Chatelaine on Lane Avenue to chat. Karen and I met with Davis, his two boys (Brady and Cole) and his father-in-law. They had already been in Cleveland to visit Davis’s wife’s family. After that they traveled to Columbus to see us, the church, OSU, Ohio Stadium, and the Muirfield Village Memorial Golf Tournament. We had a wonderful visit, and they expressed gratitude and felt blessed to have had the opportunity to come to America. Binh and family believe they are living the American dream. Refugees arrive in America with only the clothing on their backs. Today the family is highly educated and lives a comfortable life in the USA. Below is what Davis wrote leading to our get-together:

“Dear Dr. Larson,

I am truly humbled by your response. My father was extremely touched by your response. I believe he has since sent you an email. My father is our ultimate hero.  The sacrifice and courage he exhibited in coming back to find us are immeasurable. As our plane was taking off, the runway was bombed.  Had that one day happened differently, I would probably be dead. Instead, I have lived the ultimate American dream, educated at some of the best universities in America, as my father was also blessed to be educated at Ohio State with you.  I continue to teach my children to be humble and never take for granted the life that we have here in America.”

I am honored to be able to meet with you this coming Sunday. Let's plan for 1 pm at La Chatelaine. I look forward to it.

With best regards,

Davis B. Nguyen, M.D.
Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery