Family bids tearful farewell to mom, two kids
Cause of the blaze is still under investigation, according to firefighters
SAN JOSE >> In poignant and tearful ceremonies, a large far-flung family bid farewell to a beloved mother and her two children who perished last month in a fastmoving fire that destroyed their small apartment near downtown.
Throughout the day and evening Sunday, hundreds came to pay respects and extend condolences to the family of Linh My Thi Nguyen, 48, her son Thuong Xuan Le, 21, and Yvonne Mai Le, 14. All three died in the threealarm Nov. 18 fire.
Husband Khoa Dang Le remained in an induced coma, with serious lung damage, in the burn unit at Valley Medical Center. It’s not certain if he knows he has lost his wife and children, cousin Frank Tran said.
”We are striving hard to help Mr. Le recover from his burns and the great loss of his beloved family,” Sister Donna Maria Moses, chaplain at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, said.
The couple immigrated to the
United States 15 years ago, joining family in San Jose. A language barrier limited their job opportunities. Nguyen, a preschool teacher in Vietnam, worked on an electronics assembly line and at Pizza Hut on the weekends. Le, who comes from a family of rice farmers in south-central Vietnam, worked long hours as a busboy at Danh’s Garden restaurant.
But limited means didn’t constrain their generous spirits, relatives and friends said. Nguyen helped support family in Vietnam. When she realized that her brother-in-law, who worked at the plant that she did, was eating instant noodles every day, she would pack an extra lunch for him from home.
She was a dutiful and loving daughter-in-law — an important role as the wife the eldest son in the Le family, Tran said. She was hardworking and frugal, clipping coupons, enabling the family to get by in pricey San Jose.
“Even though life was hard,” Tran said in his eulogy, addressing the casket of his cousin-in-law at Darling & Fischer Garden Chapel, “you set a good example.”
Son Thuong, a junior in mechanical engineering at San Jose State University, was set to become the first in his family to graduate from a four-year college. He had been accepted at multiple universities, Tran said, but chose the closest one to live at home and save his family money.
Yvonne, a sophomore at Gunderson High, was praised by her teachers.
“She’s kind, generous, hard-working, striving to be excellent and generally a wonderful person,” said Evette Allen, Yvonne’s history teacher at John Muir Middle School. “The news of this has been really hard on our school.”
When she was younger, Yvonne would stay after school to help her fifthgrade teacher, Sabrina Koshiyama, arrange the classroom at Lowell Elementary School. She recalled how
Truong or one of his parents would pick up Yvonne afterward, and always greeted her with a big hug. “It was clear this small family unit adored each other,” Koshiyama said. “This is devastating.”
Besides her husband, Nguyen is survived by her parents, Phuoc Nguyen and Su Thi Dinh, two sisters and a brother, all in Vietnam. Also surviving are Khoa Le’s parents, Ba Van Le and Kieu Thi Tran of San Jose; his four brothers, Tung Le and Thang Le of Vietnam, and Thuan Le and Phong Le of San Jose, and sister Tina Mai-Tram Le of San Jose.
San Jose fire Capt. Daniel Vega said the severity of fire damage to the apartment may prevent investigators from knowing precisely how the fire started in the kitchen, but they believe it was accidental in nature. “There’s too much damage,” Vega said. “But we definitely do not suspect arson.” Vega said there did not appear to be any working smoke detectors in the apartment that burned. Firefighters found mounting rings for detectors, but no remnants of the actual devices “As of now, fire investigators did not find any, and neighbors
and first responders did not hear any,” he said. “It’s most likely they were taken down at some point.” The apartment building did pass inspection in June, and showed no violations, Vega said. But he acknowledged that fire inspectors might not have examined every individual unit if the building was generally up to code. “We don’t typically go inside of a building unless there were a bunch of red flags,” he said. “If they’re otherwise hitting all the check boxes, a (missing) smoke detector may not be something that would be
caught.”
Tran thanked a multitude of people who have come to their aid since the fire, including San Jose city officials and firefighters, monks and nuns, medical staffers and others.
The family has set up a fundraising page to pay for funeral and medical expenses. Although they have raised $34,000, Tran said, Khoa Le faces more hurdles and costs. Information is available at https://www. gofundme.com/Le-FuneralServices.