XUAN DANG Obituary

XUAN THU DANG Xuan "Thu" Dang passed away after breakfast with friends on April 29, 2023 at the age of 80. She is survived by her husband Eugene Tsuji of Honolulu; a brother Hiep Vo of Houston, Texas; sons Liem and Xan of Vietnam; a daughter Linda Lee of Honolulu; a daughter Anna Gagliardi of Sand Diego, CA; and granddaughters Mina and Gina. Thu was born in Vinh Long, Vietnam and grew up in Saigon. Her life was greatly influenced by her auntie who was very active in both business and civic matters. From this tutelage, she was involved as a woman entrepreneur from an early age. She was a part owner in a well-known French restaurant in downtown Saigon. Thu came to Honolulu in 1975 and was the first Vietnamese to own a business in Waikiki. Over the years she had many businesses in the Waikiki area including a spaghetti restaurant (L&T Spaghetti). Thu was a self-taught writer (pseudonym: Thu Thao) of fiction and many of her stories were selected for inclusion in the Vietnamese newspaper (Viet Bao) published in Garden Grove, CA. The newspaper presented her with an award as a token of her writing contribution. Thu wrote Vietnamese poetry for Vietnamese ceremonial occasions as well as for Sunday services at the Vietnamese Christian Church in Kaimuki. Thu had a loving heart and lived her life practicing compassion for others irrespective of race, color, or creed. One of her wishes was to have her ashes spread on the ocean. Her urn has a prominent place in the Truc Lam Bao Son Pagoda in Toc Tien (Ba-Ria Vung Tau Province). No memorial service will be held in Hawaii.