Grandma Lê Thị Thuận
Excerpt from a Memoir titled “Talking to my children”
by Mr. Tăng thiên Thại, about his Grandma.
My Grandma Lê thị Thuận, your great Grandma, was a shining example of a
woman’s virtuous life. Being a widow at a young age, she didn’t try to
re-marry, but spent her life working tirelessly to provide for her children,
especially for the education of her four sons. All of them achieved their
goals and became well known personalities in their area.
1. Mr. Tăng Huyến, graduated with a Hán baccalaureate degree, and opted to stay home to take care of his mother.
2. Mr. Tăng Huynh, an inspector in the Đànẵng Custom Service of Central Việt Nam.
3. Mr. Tăng Ngưng, graduated with a degree from the Indochina Superior Law School in Hanoi, and became the assistant of the French Mayor of Hội An.
4. Mr. Tăng Dục, a graduate of Hànội Superior School of Education, was a professor at the Huế National School.
Hội An was in a lowland area, and yearly flooding was a fact of life. When the city was covered with water, poor families had to take refuge on high ground, and couldn’t do any work to provide for their families. Since they usually lived on their income on a day-to-day basis, their situation became really desperate. Being a woman with a great heart, Grandma used to take a little sampan and, all by herself, paddled it around to bring rice to the families in dire need of help.
At her old age, the King rewarded her with a Citation naming her a “Great woman of outstanding virtues.” (Tiết Hạnh Khả Phong)
During her life, close relationships between local people were highly appreciated. The honor the King bestowed on her was not for her family only, but was also a thrill for all the people in the city and her village. The Citation was ceremoniously escorted by local people into the Tăng family Temple, where she resided. At that time I was about seven or eight years old, but I still remember vividly the joy and excitement of that special day. On both sides of the road from “Chùa Cầu” to the Tăng Temple, hundred of multicolored flags with long tails were flying in the wind, while more and more people from around the city kept coming up. In front of the temple, there were well-colored parasols and more flags, with tambours and cymbals making coordinated and vigorous sounds.
Inside the temple, Grandma was seated on an armed chair. Her four sons wore imposing royal ceremonial robes with the required accessories like boots and belts. They stood by pairs on her sides and one by one, each son knelt before her to thank her for all the sacrifices she had made to raise all of them.
In the afternoon, she was put on an armchair, carried by four villagers and accompanied by four young girls dressed in beautiful national dresses, to the “ Miếu Tiền Hiền” (Ancestors Temple) to be honored in a party attended by the city French Mayor. The party ended at night, punctuated with a show of well-appreciated fireworks.
She was victim of a home invasion by armed robbers during the time she labored on her business. One night, a good-sized band of robbers debarked from the Hội An river, broke down the Tăng temple gate, and invaded the temple, leaving one of them to guard the entrance. Grandma quickly hid all the money under the pillow, and obediently handed them the cabinet keys. The robbers searched for money and jewelry, and gathered anything of value around the house. The village self defense unit responded to the invasion in good number, with torches lighting the scene on the outside, but did not dare to come in. Mr. Cửu Can, my uncle who lived next door, grasped his two-barrel shotgun and climbed on the roof of the temple. He first fired one shot in the air and the leader of the robbers quickly tried to calm his band by saying that it was only a firecracker, and there was nothing to fear. The second shot then hit the guard at the entrance at his foot who fell to the ground and yelled: “I was hit, save me…” The robbers then fled the scene in panic, carrying the wounded man with them, and leaving behind all of the things they had collected. The self defense unit ran after the robbers, but at a safe distance. The next morning, a province soldier unit was ordered to look for the robbers. Following the bank of the river, the unit found traces of blood leading to a hatched hut where the wounded robber was captured. Information obtained from him led to the capture of that entire band of dangerous robbers.
Grandma had lived a virtuous life with a tremendously generous heart, so when she passed away, her entire big family mourned her with great memories of love, shared deeply by her friends and neighbors and all the people in the area as well. She was buried beside her husband in the Tăng family cemetery in Hội An. Their plot covered a large area with a well designed structure fronted by two big lions guarding the entrance. I used to climb on those two lions when I visited the cemetery during my childhood.
Through decades of bloody war, their tomb is still in a well preserved shape of conservation as of this time.
June 2004
By Tăng thiên Thại
Inside Great parents’ tomb