Tamvan Thi Nguyen

Tamvan Thi Nguyen, a long time resident of the Atlanta area, passed away on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2011, at Emory University Hospital from complications related to a stroke.

Tamvan was born on April 1, 1952, in Saigon, Vietnam, the second of two daughters of the late Tran Van Thinh and Trinh Thi Tut.

She attended Gia Long High School, an all-girl public school in Saigon where she excelled in mathematics and science. After graduation she attended the National College of Public Administration. While in college she married Vu Nguyen and began raising a family.  After the fall of Saigon to North Vietnam, her husband was detained by the communists and later sent to a concentration camp where he was a held for four years.  As a young mother, Tamvan raised three small children with strength and courage.

In 1981, Tamvan and Vu escaped Vietnam by boat with their children on the South China Sea.  After living in Malaysian and Filipino refugee camps the family immigrated to America where they began a new life in College Park. Tamvan earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Georgia State University and obtained employment as an accountant for the FDIC.  The last 16 years of her life she worked as a family resource specialist with the DeKalb County Schools to help children of parents in underserved communities successfully enter kindergarten.

Tamvan and Vu had three children, Nguyenvu, Minh-Vu, Xuan-Vu and an adopted son Danh Nguyen.  She took great pride in seeing her children pursue higher education.  Tamvan had a strong work ethic and call to service and instilled these values in her children.  Her eldest son, Nguyenvu, is a pediatric cardiologist at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago.  Her younger son Minh-Vu serves in the outdoor ministry in Virginia where he influences the lives of young children and youth through service and leadership.  Her daughter Xuan-Vu is an English and ESOL teacher to teens and adults in San Francisco schools.

Tamvan is survived by her husband of more than 40 years, the Rev. Vu Nguyen, pastor of the First Vietnamese Baptist Church of Dalton; her son Nguyenvu, her son and daughter-in-law Minh-Vu and Katherine Nguyen, and her daughter and son-in-law Xuan-Vu Nguyen and Todd Braman; and special loved one Mark Barrett. She is also survived by two grandchildren, Caleb Nguyen and Miles Braman, a sister in Vietnam, a sister in France, and many other relatives in the Atlanta area, across the United States and Vietnam.

Tamvan had a great appreciation for the essentials of life, higher education, justice and service.   She had a wide circle of friends and was known for her warmth, integrity and generosity. Tamvan was active in the Vietnamese Baptist Church communities in Atlanta and throughout Georgia.  She and her husband established the First Vietnamese Baptist Church of Dalton.  She was devoted to the growth of the church where she served as teacher and pianist.  Prior to her death she was pursuing a masters degree in biblical counseling from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Tamvan was remembered on Friday, Sept. 3, at a large gathering of family and friends at Lee’s Funeral Home, in Decatur.  At her family’s request, memorials, in lieu of flowers, may be sent in her name to Memorial Garden at the First Vietnamese Baptist Church of Dalton, 709 Peelman Drive SE, Dalton, GA 30721.