Nhan Thi Do

Nhan Thi Do, 84, of Chapin, died Saturday, February 18, 2017.A gathering of friends and family will be held Friday, February 24, 2017 from 10 a.m. - 12 noon at Temples Halloran Funeral Home, 5400 Bush River Road, Columbia, SC 29212. Inurnment will be private at a later date. Nhan Do was born in Cambodia, in 1932.In her teens, she witnessed and lived through the occupation of the Japanese during WWII and then in her 30s she was in the middle of the Vietnam war with children.Most normal people would have stumbled or failed, but Nhan made it through.She was not perfect; I do not think any of us are.Her greatest strength and also one of her weaknesses was her single minded focus on anything that she wanted, she could not be deterred.When Vietnam fell, it became her goal to get herself and her children to America, where they could have a chance at a better life.It was that focus and determination that drove her to provide for her children in a racially divided South Carolina, upon their arrival. Even after most of the children left Columbia, Nhan continued to live here and work as a seamstress.She loved making clothes for Kathy and Oleva and gardening during her spare time.She had lots of plants.She would spend hours watching wrestling and Chinese dramas that she had on VCR tape.Kathy even took her to a Wrestling event downtown once.She also loved to cook her traditional food for her family.As she got older she came to live with her youngest daughter Kathy, her son-in-law and grand-daughter.She seemed to love living with us, but she was still very independent. Her world changed when Kathy and John gave her a grand-son, Joshua.Nhan took care of Joshua during the day for the first 4 years of his life, and she became a changed woman.Things that use to bother her, no longer mattered.She could spend hours, literally hand rocking Joshua.Joshua could play with her precious figurines and she could care less.She would patiently feed him rice and fish for what seems like hours as he would run out to play and then come back to take a bite.She loved all her grandchildren. Nhan kept pictures of them all with her in her special box.I still find pictures of the grandchildren hidden throughout the house. It was a very sad day for Kathy and myself when we had to place her in assisted living, but she was happy.She feared she would be a burden to us and she was always happy when we visited.She never once wanted to leave and when Kathy asked her one day about leaving, she turned Kathy down.She told Kathy that she was where she needed to be.Everyone loved her at the nursing home because she was always so sweet and happy.She had nurses coming from all of the different floors just to come see her during her last week, because they loved and cared for her so much.Many of them came to her bedside after their shift just so they could pray with her during that last week.The day she died, it rained, I believe that even the angels were crying at her passing, but today is a beautiful day because God is happy to have her in Heaven.She will forever be in our hearts and our memories.