Celebrating the Life of Ha Van

4/2/223

On the one year anniversary of our Dad’s funeral service, we wanted to take a moment to make an update and express our gratitude for your generous contributions. Half the donations went to the nonprofit MDS Foundation to help fund research and work towards a cure for Myelodysplastic syndrome. The other half went to refugee resources through Operation Blessing, a nonprofit, humanitarian organization based in Virginia Beach. Losing our father has been an incredibly challenging experience and your kindness and support mean more to our family than words can express. Once again, we cannot thank you all enough for your thoughtfulness and sympathy.

Sincerely,

Van family

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Ha To Van passed away peacefully surrounded by his loving family on Thursday, March 17, 2022 in Richmond, Virginia at the age of 73.

 

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Ha’s honor to non-profit organizations that focus on treating myelodyplastic syndromes (MDS) blood cancer and providing refugee assistance. To facilitate this, we have established this GoFundMe.

 

Ha was born October 9, 1948 in Saigon, Vietnam where, he met his beautiful wife. They married in 1973. At age 17, Ha enlisted in the South Vietnamese Navy and served valiantly during the Vietnam War from 1968-1975. Through a daring plan after the fall of Saigon, he brought his family and a total of 34 people to freedom, escaping communist Vietnam in 1978. Through the sponsorship and volunteer help from Star of the Sea Catholic Church, the refugee family settled in Virginia Beach, Virginia in 1979.

 

Ha thrived as a machinist at Metro Machine shipyard in Norfolk where he spent his entire 34-year career in America. He was an avid gardener, especially with growing fruit trees, and enjoyed home improvement. Ha loved spending time with family and friends, and nothing brought him greater pleasure than helping out his loved ones.

 

Ha Van is survived by his wife, mother, four siblings, four children, two daughters- in -law and three grandchildren.

 

A visitation will be from 4-8pm on Friday, April 1, 2022 at Woodlawn Funeral Home in Norfolk, Virginia. A funeral service will be conducted at 1pm on Saturday, April 2, 2022 at the Woodlawn Funeral Home Chapel. Burial will immediately follow at Woodlawn Memorial Gardens.