Missing Person Project Update: Finding Thu Thi Vo

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February 13, 2014Missing Person Project Update: Finding Thu Thi Vo

The outpouring of ideas and reactions to the story about Thu Thi Vo (Covey) was tremendous. There were comments on VWK as well as email messages that people sent. We mounted a virtual group effort to help Thu Thi’s brother reunite with her, and I wanted to update you on what has been going on.

Wendy did some research and located a Karen Covey via Facebook. The woman looked like she could be of partial Asian descent but a little young for someone who may have been born in the late 1960s. I reached out to Karen in late January and never heard back. 

Then I received a message from Justin. His wife, a reader of VWK, prompted him to look into the matter. Justin found a Social Security Death Index record of a person named “Thu Thi Vo” who passed away in 2007. She was 81 years old. She last lived in San Bernardino, which is east of Los Angeles (not far from San Diego).

Her brother Minh Hung Vo thought that his sister would be in her 70s by now so this woman may not have been her. That said, sometimes people alter their age when they enter the US so this woman could have been her. Justin and I hoped not as no one wants to be the bearer of bad news.

I have forwarded the information to my contact in Vietnam to convey to Minh and await a response.  It’s hard to determine whether or not the brother could match the information – aside from the birthday – with his missing sister. A number of you had found a Thu Thi Vo with an address in San Bernardino. That is the person that Justin likely found via the Social Security Death Index. (Can I pause here to tell you incredibly awesome and smart you all are?)

I had no idea about the SSDI and found a portal via Ancestry.com. I’ve never looked up death information before as my family’s ancestral line in America runs rather short; we all got here in 1975 or so.

1960s/70s photos from Thu Thi Vo Covey, 2014 photo of her brother Minh Hung Vo

Giovanna and Tuyet took up finding “Thu Thi Covey”.  Giovanna reported that initially it was easy to find someone by that name on PeopleFinder.com. However when she went back to pay for the full search, the name didn’t turn up as many leads. Strange. (I regretted not getting more information from the brother when I met him in Vietnam.)

A resident of San Diego, Tuyet volunteered to do the groundwork. Tuyet went all out and followed every lead possible, looking up addresses, visiting the San Diego office of records, etc. She tried the surname of Carman too. She turned up no related records. Giovanna, Tuyet and I huddled on this for a good week and unfortunately, there were only dead ends.

As a ray of hope, Hector related his personal experience via a comment on the original post:

this story really hits home with me and my family. my mother came to the US and when the north took over, my grandmother burned all information she had in regards to my mother and my aunt who also came to the US. in 1987 a woman who had immigrated to New Mexico went back to Vietnam, and my grandmother approached her and asked her if she could help find my mom. the woman agreed to ask anyone she knew, but was not very hopeful. my grandmother sent a picture with her of my mom, and the woman went back to New Mexico. This woman's husband was a US vet. at this time my mom,s childhood friend had planned to come to Arizona to visit my mom, her husband decided to visit one of his old army buddies on the way. his buddy lived in New Mexico. when the two ladies met, the woman from new mexico told my mom's friend about my grandmother's story, and figured she would show her the picture. my mother's friend took one look at the picture and told the woman that she knew the girl in the picture and was in fact on her way to visit her. my mom's friend came to Arizona, and told my mom the whole story, and was able to get back in touch with my grandmother. this connection was done before the internet, before cell phones, and all the tech that we have today. it makes me happy to see everyone trying to help out.

So at this juncture, all we can say is that Thu Thi Vo likely changed her name a few times, and perhaps may have passed away. People who have been separated by war and upheaval have found ways to reconnect with one another. Over the years, my parents have reunited with relatives and friends that they thought they’d lost contact with.

It is sad that Minh Hung hasn’t been able to find his sister. We’ve tried the best that we can, and I greatly appreciate your collective thoughtfulness in this project. If there’s a sudden development in the future, I will definitely let you know.

Thanks again.

Posted in Vietnamese Family Stories | Permalink

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Comments Missing Person Project Update: Finding Thu Thi Vo

The outpouring of ideas and reactions to the story about Thu Thi Vo (Covey) was tremendous. There were comments on VWK as well as email messages that people sent. We mounted a virtual group effort to help Thu Thi’s brother reunite with her, and I wanted to update you on what has been going on.

Wendy did some research and located a Karen Covey via Facebook. The woman looked like she could be of partial Asian descent but a little young for someone who may have been born in the late 1960s. I reached out to Karen in late January and never heard back. 

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Finding Asian Herbs and Vegetables for Your Garden

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June 05, 2013Finding Asian Herbs and Vegetables for Your Garden

My father loves to garden and my mother loves to cook. I enjoyboth as they pretty much go hand in hand. However, I have to admit that Ipretty much neglected my garden for most of last year. We hired a nice mannamed Ricardo to help us keep things tidy but his construction skills wereunderutilized by the simple tasks that we asked of him: weeding, trimming, andspreading mulch. He went on vacation, promising to check in with us when hereturned. Alas, he never called. We got the message. Ricardo let us go asclients.

That said, my husband and I realized that we needed toreclaim our yard ourselves, like we used to back in ... 2011! We spent a coupleof weekends filling our greencycle bin and then I attacked my little vegetablegarden. It’s nothing fancy, just about 4 feet by 8 feet wide and constructed asa raised bed when we redid our backyard. Every year I plant Asian herbs and afew summer vegetables. After preparing the bed, I went shopping for plants. Isn’tshopping the reward for lots of hard work?

Finding starters for Vietnamese herbs and other Asianaromatics is not as difficult as it used to be. Over the years, I developed alist of places that I hit to source plants. This time of year, you never knowwhat you’ll find at:

Local nurseries andhome improvement centers – I’ve found the darnest plants at ourindependent, local nurseries as well as places like Home Depot and Lowes. Withthe large big box stores, it helps to shop at one located in an area with a sizeableAsian community. I bought a Thai Kaffir (Makrut) lime tree at Home Depot twelveyears ago. The Chinese garlic chives purchased 8 years before continues to be astalwart, volunteering in various places.

People who garden love to tinker and try new plants and thisyear, I was rewarded by lots of chile plants. They seem to be hot these days. (Ha.)I basically shop by name – like Thai Dragon and Super Chile, then I read thefine print to see whether or not they’re actually hot. Some, despite theirAsian provenance, lack spicy heat. This year, I planted 5 kinds of chiles justto see what would happen. We lack consistent hot temps in coastal NorthernCalifornia so my back up is buying chiles from the Hmong farmers and freezingthem for the long haul.

Note that common herbs such as mint and even sorrel are employedin Asian cooking. Those seedlings may be available at mainstream nurseries andgarden supply shops.

Farmers’ markets –Small nurseries sell starter plants at our farmers’ markets, and I mine theirstalls for interesting plants. In Santa Cruz, for example, Upstarts Organic Seedlingsalways has new varieties to explore.

Last weekend, I chat with Sarah, theowner, about growing Southeast Asian long chiles and she suggested trying Joe’sLong Cayenne. She also had starters for rau ram (Vietnamese coriander), Thaipurple basil (rau hung que) and Mrs. Burns basil, which she said seems to beeasier to grow in our climate than Thai lime basil. I’ve had problems with Thailime basil so I’m switching to Mrs. Burns. I’ll keep checking back with Sarahbecause later on this season, she’ll have Thai holy basil.

Asian Markets –One of my favorite places to source Vietnamese herbs is a tiny market in SanJose called Thien Thanh. The man who tends to the makeshift nursery speakslittle but his plants are always healthy.

My Vietnamese balm (rau kinh gioi) didn’t reseed this yearso I started with a new plant. I always need a new purple perilla (rau tia to,an earthier kin of Japanese shiso). He promised me that the black chile plantwas spicy hot so I bought one. The fourth plant I purchased from him was a ricepaddy herb (rau om), that I have to keepin a plastic bag where things will sweat to mimic super humid growingconditions. Prices are not marked but I was charged about $4 or $5 for each. Whata deal. What a steal!

Indian grocery stores are also a great source of plants.Five years ago, I bought a curry leaf plant for [gulp] $35 from Bharat Bazaar, asomewhat sad Indian market in Santa Clara that happened to sell the plant. TheIndian customers asked me why I was buying it because the market sold theleaves by the bags for about $2. I was curious, I said, and want a super freshsupply at my home. The $35 investment was a baby, no taller than 12 inches, butlook at it now – a bona fide little tree on my patio.

Berkeley’s Tokyo FishMarket is an excellent source for Japanese seedlings, as well as seafoodand groceries. The market displays the plants right outside the doorway.Eggplant, shishito peppers, various kinds of shiso, are among the seedlings I’veseen there. They often sell Asian seed packets too.

You don’t need much space to cultivate a few herbs toenhance your cooking. Yes, you can buy the stuff but growing even a tiny bit ofyour own food is immensely rewarding and tasty to boot.

Related information:

If you can’t source Asian herbs and seedlings in person, tryone of these onlineseed sources.Need a refresher or introduction to Vietnamese herbs? Checkout the VietnameseHerb Primer. Posted in Asian Ingredients, Gardening | Permalink

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Comments Finding Asian Herbs and Vegetables for Your Garden

My father loves to garden and my mother loves to cook. I enjoyboth as they pretty much go hand in hand. However, I have to admit that Ipretty much neglected my garden for most of last year. We hired a nice mannamed Ricardo to help us keep things tidy but his construction skills wereunderutilized by the simple tasks that we asked of him: weeding, trimming, andspreading mulch. He went on vacation, promising to check in with us when hereturned. Alas, he never called. We got the message. Ricardo let us go asclients.

That said, my husband and I realized that we needed toreclaim our yard ourselves, like we used to back in ... 2011! We spent a coupleof weekends filling our greencycle bin and then I attacked my little vegetablegarden. It’s nothing fancy, just about 4 feet by 8 feet wide and constructed asa raised bed when we redid our backyard. Every year I plant Asian herbs and afew summer vegetables. After preparing the bed, I went shopping for plants. Isn’tshopping the reward for lots of hard work?

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