4/17/85
Bay Family
Dr. and Mrs. Bay Ngoc Nguyen have sent a check for $500 to the Wood River Community Centennial Foundation to be used for a scholarship for a student in the Senior Class at Wood River Rural High School. The Nguyens offer this scholarship now, and in the coming years, as a means of thanking the people of Wood River.
To quote the letter from Bay and his wife, Nhung concerning the scholarship: "Enclosed here is a check in the amount of $500 that we wish to use as a scholarship for one of the Wood River High School students. That is Dzung’s will too, because he’s always thinking about the good time he got from WR Rural High. The scholarship will be renewable every year; that means each year a member of WR High School graduating class would be selected as a recipient.
"With this scholarship we would like the people of Wood River to understand that we appreciate their help and their kindness."
In 1975 Wood River was one of a number of Nebraska communities who sponsored doctors escaping from war-torn Vietnam. The town provided housing and support for the family which included Dr. Bay his wife Nhung, and sons Anh, Dzung and Coung. The doctor went to Omaha for medical up-date and English studies, and the family followed in 1976.
When a Nebraska medical license was denied him, Dr. Bay and Nhung moved to Kansas where he worked for the State Hospital for several years before going on to Oklahoma City where he set up practice.
Anh and Cuong had remained in Omaha to study and received degrees from Creighton University. In the meantime, their sister, Huyen, had come to Omaha from Japan where she had been studying, and married and settled in that city also.
A few years ago Bay and Nhung visited friends in Salt Lake City and discovered a large Vietnamese population there with a need for a doctor. His license was good in Utah so they made the move and set up an office on the south side of the city. Last year they opened another office on the north side of town to help the community of Vietnamese who live in that area and do not have transportation. Bay works a half day in each office, and Nhung takes care of the office work.
Anh still lives in Omaha and is the engineering manager at Control Data Co. Huyen and her husband Chung and their two little daughters also remain in Omaha where she teaches at Dundee School and he is director of software ant HDR. Cuong now lives in Salt Lake City and is employed at National Semiconductor in Utah.
Dzung, who gave guitar lessons while in Wood River, has traveled world-wide to present concerts mainly to Vietnamese communities where he sings, self-accompanied on his guitar, many of the songs which he has composed himself. In between he studied music and chemistry at the University of Houston Texas, and made recordings in Vietnamese. His music is blend of his homeland folk music and American country music for which he credits Verlen Larsen of Wood River, who introduced him to country western.
Nhung wrote, "Dzung is very successful with his printing shop in Houston and just makes his first album in English after the three recent one in Vietnamese. We are very proud of him because he is the first and the very one Vietnamese who made a tape in English to express our feeling to the American people. He ask me to send you the tape and his love to the people of Wood River."
(Anyone interested in listening to the tape may contact Sunny Welch.)
Her letter continues, "If sometime, on the way to California, anybody from WR pass by Salt Lake City, they are always welcome to stay with us, and don’t hesitate to call us at anytime. My office phone numbers are: (801)964-2172.
"By your letter I know that Joe Jack is still in WR; please say hello to Joe and Nancy and all others friends there. Even I didn’t write to them, they are always in my heart."