Thanh van Bui

Thanh van Bui, 87, a beloved and devoted husband, father, and grandfather, passed away on August 10, 2026. Born July 16, 1939, in Qui Lai village, Phú Vang, Thừa Thiên Huế, Vietnam, he carried through life a steady faith, a hard-working spirit, and a kind-hearted attentiveness that quietly strengthened everyone around him. Baptized Philip (Philiphê) Bùi Văn Thanh on July 26, 1939, he wrote and preserved his life’s legacy for his children, Bùi Anh Thy and Bùi Trương Mai Hiếu, offering them a testament of resilience, sacrifice, and enduring trust in God.

From his earliest years, Thanh van Bui learned perseverance through hardship. In 1942, he relocated to Da Lat with his grandfather Bùi Khuyên and newborn brother Bùi Văn Hóa to follow their railway-worker father, while eldest brother Bùi Văn Thiện remained in Huế. The family lived in poverty in a thatched-roof railway house. In 1945, fleeing WWII air raids, they endured a brutal evacuation by soot-covered cargo train through the Hải Vân pass back to Huế, eventually settling again in Qui Lai amid deep poverty. As his father fell into severe illness and depression, he and his brother Hòa labored as children—gleaning rice fields, fetching water by bicycle, and raising livestock—forming in him a selfless sense of duty that never left him.

In 1952, his life took a decisive turn when Sister Alexandre at the school of the Sisters of the Visitation recognized his promise. On August 16, 1952, at age 13, he entered the Redemptorist Minor Seminary in Huế. There, he faced intense homesickness and a rigorous French and mathematics curriculum, yet he endured with thoughtful discipline and the steady support of a village friend. He later advanced to the second stage of formation at the former Hotel de Beau Rivage in Nha Trang, where strict monastic routines continued despite the nearby presence of beach tourists. In those years, his faithful interior life deepened through spiritual trials, and he was guided with compassion by his Father Superior, who reminded him that natural desires are not sins unless acted upon.

In 1961, he moved to the Dalat Institute for four years of advanced Theological and Philosophical studies and volunteered for a rugged missionary assignment in Châu Ổ and Trà Bồng, staying with elders Ông Bà Chính. That same year, in late July, he became known for an extraordinary act of help: after reading artificial respiration techniques in Paris Match magazine, he saved an indigenous woman dying of accidental poisoning. The incident earned him a reputation as a holy healer (“Ông Thầy đạo”). Using western medicine supplied by a local Protestant minister, he also treated severe ailments in the community, including an elderly man’s chest pains—acts reflecting a life inclined toward service, careful thought, and practical compassion.

Also in 1961, after converting 32 locals in Châu Ổ, he realized he lacked a lifelong priestly calling and left the monastery. Though this caused a profound emotional crisis among family and superiors, his decision was made with sincerity and conscience. In time, it even helped inspire new seminary rules allowing men to exit after four years without the negative “defroqué” stigma—an enduring mark of how his life, even in difficult choices, could lead to constructive change.

In 1970, he moved to Minh Mạng Street, Saigon, living with Cô Tám. While visiting a neighbor friend’s house, he fell in love with the second daughter of the family, the 19-year-old Trương Thị Kim Hoa. Guided by his former Redemptorist superiors, he and Trương Thị Kim Hoa were married directly inside the Redemptorist Monastery (Dòng Chúa Cứu Thế Kỳ Đồng) on October 30, 1970—an uncommon honor. Their marriage became a lifelong witness to devotion and steadfast love.

Thanh van Bui served as a military Case Officer and interpreter under Major Chi, flying reconnaissance missions over the Bình Long base. He was later appointed Director of the Khiết Tâm School in Đà Nẵng, where he successfully secured expansion funding for three classrooms from doctors at the local German Hospital (Bệnh Viện Đức). In April 1975, as the Fall of Saigon brought chaos and retreat, he taught at the Lưu Thế School in Saigon. While his older brother Anh Thiện’s family escaped by sea, he and his pregnant wife were left behind.

In the years that followed, he endured surveillance and danger, classified as a “dangerous element.” To survive, he opened a legal stationery shop with his mother-in-law and operated a secret weekend photo studio. On May 17, 1977, his son, Bùi Anh Thy, was born and baptized by Sœur Elie, his sister-in-law. In a moment of narrow escape, security officers searched his home and missed an anti-communist document hidden under an upstairs birdcage.

On March 2, 1978, he was arrested on counter-revolutionary charges. During interrogations at Phan Đăng Lưu, he refused false confessions. Transferred to Room 40 of Chí Hòa Prison, he taught clandestine English classes to inmates who longed for freedom, a quiet act of generosity and courage under harsh conditions. After 9 months and 10 days, he was released on December 12, 1978, only because his wife promised a corrupt bribe of five ounces of gold to a police intermediary; by God’s providence, he discovered the corruption and was able to hold on to the gold.

In later years, he defied yet another set of hardships with patient resolve. At the University of Ho Chi Minh City, he taught and co-founded the Minh Khai Language Center at 135 Nguyễn Thị Minh Khai Street with Dr. Phạm Hữu Thiện. Leveraging those profits, he partnered with Thanh Mập and a military liaison named Minh to launch the Con Cáo (Fox Brand) Paint Company. Operating out of warehouses owned by his benefactor Bà Kim, the quick-drying formula monopolized state and naval contracts, culminating in a major $400,000 Russian defense trade deal in late 1995.

In 1996, just as the Russian paint distribution finished, corrupt state authorities abruptly canceled all contracts. Retail outlets defaulted, and his life savings were frozen or lost. At the same time, his wife survived a severe traffic intersection accident while pregnant, leading to the premature emergency delivery of a daughter at the Từ Dũ Maternity Hospital.

After decades of waiting, his name was verified on the 1975 evacuation priority immigration list. On February 12, 1996, Thanh van Bui, his wife, his son Bùi Anh Thy, and his daughter Bùi Trương Mai Hiếu boarded a one-way flight to Texas. They were welcomed at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport by his long-lost eldest brother Anh Thiện and family. The family later relocated to Abilene, Texas, financing a dilapidated house on Bickley Street for $200 per month. Stripped of academic credentials, the former university professor and corporate director accepted minimum-wage, part-time work mopping floors and washing dishes at an H-E-B grocery store—meeting the humiliation of class descent with quiet dignity and hard work.

Seeking a practical trade, he and his wife trained at the Abilene College of Beauty under the guidance of Cô Trinh. In May 1998, his wife opened Queen Nail at 2526 Buffalo Gap Road. The salon netted $1,650 per month, enabling them to purchase a home at 3249 White Wing Way by 1999. In 2001, he secured a full-time state career at the Abilene State School, caring for individuals with severe developmental disabilities—work he regarded as a spiritual continuation of his early formation, carried out with faithful tenderness and selfless consistency. On August 8, 2001, the entire family officially became United States Citizens, allowing him to file immigration petitions to sponsor family members from Vietnam, including Dì Hồng family (his in-laws) and his sibling, O Dung family, whose family decided not to leave Vietnam.

He took deep pride in the accomplishments of his children. Son Bùi Anh Thy graduated from McMurry University in May 2001 with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science. Daughter Mai Hiếu excelled in elementary school and later graduated from McMurry in May 2006 with a Bachelor of Science in Biology. After his daughter’s wedding, he and his wife moved to Grand Prairie, Texas, where he began 16 years of devoted care for his wife as her health declined and she acquired Myeloma. After her passing, he sold their house and moved in with his daughter’s family for the remainder of his life.

Thanh van Bui was preceded in death by Marta Bui Thi Kim Hoa (5/24/2018). Survived by children, Lina and Don Bui- adopted daughter of Arizona, Thy and Xuandung of McKinney, Texas, Maihieu and David Andrews Jr, DVM. of Conroe, Texas. Grandchildren, Dominic (Seminarian), Dorothy, OD., Damian, Austin, Alex, Aaron, Dawson, Devon, Dalton and Maelia.

In 2020, during the Covid log down, at the end of August, he underwent a seven-hour surgery to remove lumbar 4 due to chordoma cancer. After radiation treatment at the end of that year, he was cancer free. Two years later, he acquired septicemia from an infection in his back from the previous surgery. By the grace of God and the persevering care of his daughter and her family, he fully recovered. As his kidney function gradually declined.