James Wu's Obituary
James Alan Wu was born on April 22, 1929 in China. He moved to Vietnam at the age of 19 to give himself more opportunities. He established a store in Vietnam; and got married to Houng Lien at the age of 22 years old and had 11 children. Unfortunately, he had to face the loss of two of his children; Hao Hai Ngo and Chihn Ai Ngo. Though his life was slightly difficult living in Vietnam, due to the tension between Chinese and the Vietnamese people, he managed to carve a wonderful life for his family. During the Vietnam War, the resentment between the Vietnamese people and the Chinese people grew even greater. James managed to keep his family safe during the war. After the war, the country was in lock down. Everything he managed to establish was taken from him. The future opportunities for himself and his family seemed bleak.
He created a plan for his whole family to escape from Vietnam. He allowed two of his sons to escape first. His oldest son managed to escape with his family to America and his other son, Peter Wu, was captured. Peter was held in a Vietnam prison for more than 3 years. During that time, James was torn between the love for his son that was captured and the safety of the rest of his remaining family. He stayed as long as possible, but he had to make the difficult decision of leaving his one son behind and escaped with the rest of his family. He managed to get the family onto a wooden boat in the middle of the night. During the time on the wooden boat, few members of the passengers and the captain of the boat were killed by pirates. The boat was boarded by pirates nine times throughout the journey. James again managed to keep his family safe through the violence of pirates, lack of food and water. What was left of the crew and the remaining passengers, the boat managed to land on one of the Malaysian islands. There James and his family waited for paperwork to be approved to allow them to enter the United States. On 20 February 1980,
James and his family arrived in America and settled down in Washington State, in the Lakewood area. James had to re-establish himself and again provided for his family. With the lack of job opportunities for an immigrant who spoke English with a strong accent, James got a job working as a janitor for the Lakewood mall area. At that time, James also found Christianity. A friend of his had introduced him to a church called Evangelical Chinese Church where he eventually volunteered to translate the pastor's sermons. James also sang in the choir even though he wasn't as talented as some of the other members. To further himself in Christianity, he began translating the bible in journals for his own edification.
James loved spending time fishing with his sons and grandchildren. James loved spending time with his grandchildren and even helped to raise many of them. Grandpa was a very important part of the Wu family. On any given day that the sun was out, he could often be found digging in the dirt and pulling weeds. He loved growing things in his garden for everyone to enjoy.James was loved, lived a full life and was pre-deceased by his three children, Hao Hai Ngo, Chihn Ai Ngo, and Paul Wu and his wife Houng Lien of 63 years. He is survived by his children Trieu Hai Ngo, Tran Kim, Dao Hai Ngo, Peter Wu, Frank Allen Ngo, Serena Ring, Phillip Ngo and Benjamin Wu, 23 grandchildren and 4 great grand children.
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