{"id":101344,"date":"2025-12-26T14:24:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T14:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/101344\/"},"modified":"2025-12-26T14:24:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T14:24:13","slug":"how-a-garland-matriarch-fled-war-in-vietnam-to-fight-for-representation-in-north-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/101344\/","title":{"rendered":"How a Garland matriarch fled war in Vietnam to fight for representation in North Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"

On a blustery December Saturday morning by a strip mall in Garland, families, seniors, local leaders and veterans packed into an event hall belonging to a Vietnamese American<\/a> community center to honor the Yellow Flag, a symbol of democracy and freedom for many and the Republic of Vietnam\u2019s symbol during the Vietnam War. <\/p>\n

In the front row, Jennifer Nguyen, 76, and her husband, Tom Nguyen, 83, sat stoically, listening to the American and Vietnamese anthems and remarks from other Vietnamese Americans<\/a> honoring their past and celebrating their culture. <\/p>\n

The community center used to be \u2014 informally \u2014 around the Nguyen family\u2019s dining room table in their Garland home, where Vietnamese immigrants and refugees<\/a> gathered, shared experiences and learned from one another. <\/p>\n

Then Tom Nguyen came home from work one day in 1999 to his wife and four kids and said he\u2019d signed paperwork for a $240,000 loan to buy a building on Belt Line Road. It remains open today, serving as a home for community events. <\/p>\n

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\"Jennifer<\/p>\n

Jennifer Nguyen holds a newspaper clipping with a family photo taken after their arrival in Arizona from Vietnam in the 1970s at her home, Monday, Nov. 24, 2025, in Garland.<\/p>\n

El\u00edas Valverde II \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thriving Vietnamese community<\/a> in Garland would not be where it is now if it weren\u2019t for them,\u201d said Denise Johnson, co-founder of the Dallas Asian American Historical Society. Johnson helped archive the Nguyen family\u2019s story. <\/p>\n

Since the couple arrived in Garland, they have fostered a community for the rapidly growing Vietnamese American population in North Texas \u2014 helping establish Garland\u2019s Asian American Heritage Festival<\/a>, the Garland community center and the DFW Asian American Soccer Tournament, among other involvements. <\/p>\n

Dallas-Fort Worth led the country in the growth of the Asian American population from 2022 to 2023, with Collin County anchoring that increase<\/a>, according to a report by Austin-based nonprofit Asian Texans for Justice. The report found the second-largest subgroup of Asian American residents in Dallas-Fort Worth was Vietnamese, at about 98,500 residents.<\/p>\n

After surviving a harrowing journey from Vietnam just days before the fall of Saigon, raising four children in the U.S. and serving as a leader for the local Vietnamese American community<\/a>, Jennifer hopes her story shows women that they can do anything. <\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"Shoppers<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of female Asian Americans<\/a> \u2026 don\u2019t believe in themselves, because that\u2019s our culture. They were born and raised to be a mother, a wife and grandmother,\u201d she said. \u201cI believe strongly that [we] women need to stand up and start to give [ourselves] a pat on the back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Path to America<\/p>\n

Jennifer was born in 1949 in Vietnam, one of six children in a wealthy family. In her senior year of high school, war broke out, and after graduating, she went to work at a U.S. post office on a Vietnamese air base. <\/p>\n

In the late 1960s, she saw a man drive through the base on a moped wearing Levi\u2019s and a short-sleeve checkered shirt. She even remembers his license plate \u2014 EC4732, she said. He had graduated from fighter pilot training in Arizona and arrived in Vietnam to serve the Republic of Vietnam\u2019s military. <\/p>\n

\"Jennifer<\/p>\n

Jennifer Nguyen shows a collection of her and her husband\u2019s ID cards from their time in Vietnam at her home, Monday, Nov. 24, 2025, in Garland.<\/p>\n

El\u00edas Valverde II \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

Tom was gentle and soft, a quiet listener to her talkative self. Just seven days after meeting her, he proposed over a bowl of wonton noodle soup, she said. They\u2019ve been married 59 years. <\/p>\n

The couple had four children, three girls and a baby boy, while living at the air base. In 1975, a rocket hit the base daily, Jennifer recalls, and on one occasion, a piece of metal fell from a rocket on the playground of the base\u2019s day care where her daughter stayed. The family soon moved to Saigon<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cI just tried to keep in mind my survival,\u201d Jennifer said. \u201cDon\u2019t look back on your past. It\u2019s already gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

On April 23, 1975, she was told to pack her bag \u2014 one small Samsonite briefcase for herself and children, her baby boy still in diapers. She was told she\u2019d be sent to Thailand \u2014 without Tom, but with dozens of other wives of fighter pilots. <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The lone suitcase Jennifer Nguyen brought with her and her four children when they fled Vietnam in the 1970s pictured at her home, Monday, Nov. 24, 2025, in Garland.<\/p>\n

El\u00edas Valverde II \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

Saigon fell to the Viet Cong seven days later, and she ended up in Guam with her children, unsure if she\u2019d see her husband again. Against all odds, on May 1, Tom arrived by plane. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s my life,\u201d Jennifer said. \u201cHe\u2019s my hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

They eventually found a family to sponsor their stay in Arizona. Jennifer set out to start life \u201call over again,\u201d she said, ready to learn the \u201cAmerican way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not about abandoning anything. It\u2019s not giving away my past, my culture,\u201d Jennifer said. \u201cWe feel blessed that instead of one culture, one country, one parent, now we have two of everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Life in Garland<\/p>\n

Life in America was not easy. Jennifer got a job making just over minimum wage<\/a> and her mental health took a sharp decline as she sought to raise her four children in a new country. Eventually, Tom took a job offer in Garland after attending Arizona State University. The family moved on Aug. 1, 1985, Jennifer recalls. <\/p>\n

When they first picked the lot in Garland for their future home, the neighborhood was surrounded by fields and cows. The area has changed dramatically<\/a>, now a growing suburb in a booming metro \u2014 Garland went from about 138,800 residents in 1980 to 246,000 in 2020, according to U.S. Census data<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\"Jennifer<\/p>\n

Jennifer Nguyen looks through a family photo album at her home, Monday, Nov. 24, 2025, in Garland.<\/p>\n

El\u00edas Valverde II \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

The couple still lives in the house built for them 40 years ago. Jennifer worked for an insurance company before retiring in 2009. She has cancer, but is still actively involved in the community. In Texas, she volunteered for hospitals, churches, temples and to help refugees in the area just as she had been helped decades ago. <\/p>\n

She has become a leader in the Vietnamese American community<\/a>, bringing people together over food, connecting immigrants with resources in a new country, fighting for visibility and sharing her culture with others. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat really stood out to me with their entire story is \u2026 the passion that they have [for] building a community,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cIt was \u2026 their dedication to their culture and community that all of this just blossomed out of.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jennifer started Garland\u2019s Asian American Heritage Festival to shine a light on the contributions and beauty of her community and highlight its diversity. She also helped establish a children\u2019s fall festival in Garland and is an advisor to VN United, a nonprofit organization and soccer club<\/a> that hosts the DFW Asian American Soccer Tournament. <\/p>\n

\"Jennifer<\/p>\n

Jennifer Nguyen holds a photo from when her family first arrived in Arizona after fleeing Vietnam in the 1970s at her home, Monday, Nov. 24, 2025, in Garland.<\/p>\n

El\u00edas Valverde II \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of work that she\u2019s done, like organizing the cultural festival, brings a lot of families together,\u201d said Jimmy Tran, past president of VN United. \u201cI believe that what she\u2019s done has encouraged more young generations like myself to follow her steps so that we can have more Vietnamese, Asian Americans be represented in our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jennifer acts as a bridge to the Garland city government,<\/a> he said, and encouraged Tran to run for City Council. She herself has been involved in Garland\u2019s local government \u2014 including the city\u2019s Community Multicultural Commission. She\u2019s fought for representation and visibility, Tran said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the story to share when we are still alive, so our children will not ever forget their heritage and how hard it was for us to start our life at middle age,\u201d Jennifer said. \u201cSo they learn a lesson, don\u2019t take anything for granted, and don\u2019t ever forget their culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

Email tips on all things Collin County to lilly.kersh@dallasnews.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On a blustery December Saturday morning by a strip mall in Garland, families, seniors, local leaders and veterans…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":101345,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[41612,291,1282,1724,10449,160,162,161],"class_list":["post-101344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-plano","tag-aapi-dfw","tag-equity","tag-garland","tag-immigration","tag-inspired","tag-plano","tag-plano-headlines","tag-plano-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101344\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}