My Brother Tỉnh (1940-2015)

Dear Thunhan Friends,

Thank you for your condolences expressed through mail and phone .  All the rites and rituals on Friday evening August 14 at the Peek Funeral Home and the Requiem Mass the next morning at the Blessed Sacrament Church were very moving and dignified.  In IMG_1730 the widow (Elena Phan) was paying homage and respect to her husband, while standing nearby were grandson Daniel and daughter Winnie Tran.

Below is a free translation of my Vietnamese handwritten note, shown in IMG_1746, delivered toward the end of the funeral Mass as my tribute and orison. 

Dear Family and Friends,

Permit me to say a few words to my youngest Brother.

Forever Silenced in This Terrestrial World,

You’re Now Singing Hosanna in God’s Paradise.

My Dear Brother Tỉnh,

Though more than twelve years younger, you left me stranded in this valley of tears.  Sadly, alas.

I remember when you were about four or five, during a summer vacation from my boarding school, we netted dragonflies in daytime and caught fireflies at nighttime.  That was more than 70 years ago.

You were a humane and gentle person; yet, ironically, you had to spend more than 13 years as a reserve officer in the South Vietnam’s Armed Forces and, after April 1975 another 13-plus years as a hard-labor prisoner in communist concentration camps in northern and southern Vietnam.  Released at age 48, you had to wait another eight years before reaching the free shore of the United States with wife and two children.

Since then your family has settled permanently in Orange County, California, toiling in physical drudgery, but at least, enjoying peace of mind.  Now your son Tâm and your daughter Uye^n have married well.  The only regret is that you did not linger long enough to see your grandchildren Danny, Tina and Ethan graduate from college.

Dear Brother, rest in peace and enjoy your new Edenic life.

O my Lord, I commend my brother’s spirit into your hands.

O my Lord, have mercy on the soul of Vincent Tran van Tinh?.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

Joy and peace to all my friends,

Peter Tranlong