At age 60, Ngeth Touch fled Cambodia with her family, then taught them to prosper in Minnesota.
Kevin GilesStar Tribune (Minneapolis-St Paul, Minnesota, USA)
When she was 60, Ngeth Touch fled Cambodia with her children, evading land mines, robbers and guerrillas in the treacherous jungles between Cambodia and Thailand. Many people had tried and perished, but she had an iron will, and she led her family to safety at the Khao I Dang refugee camp.
Touch immigrated to Minnesota a year later. Until last Sunday, when she died at 86, she was the matriarch of a large family that includes 19 grandchildren. Her family was her life's work. Her husband, Chhe Te, died when their youngest child was 3 months old.
"She had to force herself to be the leader of the family," said Ching Ing of Eden Prairie, the oldest of 10 children.
Touch worked tirelessly to feed and clothe her children. When Pol Pot's regime took over Cambodia in April 1975, she took the children to her hometown of Takeo, Cambodia, where she kept them until the regime fell in 1979. Food was scarce, and a daughter died of malnutrition. Because of Touch's engaging character and personality, people brought her food to save the rest of her family, Ing said.
Touch moved her family back to Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital, briefly before the dangerous trek to Thailand in 1980. She rebuffed her family's attempts to discourage her, determined to find a better life elsewhere. "She believed that she could make it, and she did," Ing said Friday, recalling that trip.
Touch stressed the value of a good education, though she didn't have one herself. All of her children and grandchildren went to college, an achievement all the more remarkable considering that Touch couldn't read or write.
She encouraged her grandchildren to rank first in their classes and never missed a graduation, Ing said.
Ing and her brother, Bouy Te, who works for the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, D.C., said their mother cooked up a storm, believing nutritious traditional Cambodian meals would help them learn. Their family's educational success meant that their mother had succeeded also, they said.
Survivors include her children, Ching Ing, Pheng Te, Leakhena Chan, Tong Te, May Martin, Steven (Sothira) Te and Emily (Sithya) Khieu, all of Eden Prairie; Sim Handt of Chaska, and Bouy Te of Woodbridge, Va.; 19 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Services have been held.
Kevin Giles • 612-673-7707
Touch immigrated to Minnesota a year later. Until last Sunday, when she died at 86, she was the matriarch of a large family that includes 19 grandchildren. Her family was her life's work. Her husband, Chhe Te, died when their youngest child was 3 months old.
"She had to force herself to be the leader of the family," said Ching Ing of Eden Prairie, the oldest of 10 children.
Touch worked tirelessly to feed and clothe her children. When Pol Pot's regime took over Cambodia in April 1975, she took the children to her hometown of Takeo, Cambodia, where she kept them until the regime fell in 1979. Food was scarce, and a daughter died of malnutrition. Because of Touch's engaging character and personality, people brought her food to save the rest of her family, Ing said.
Touch moved her family back to Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital, briefly before the dangerous trek to Thailand in 1980. She rebuffed her family's attempts to discourage her, determined to find a better life elsewhere. "She believed that she could make it, and she did," Ing said Friday, recalling that trip.
Touch stressed the value of a good education, though she didn't have one herself. All of her children and grandchildren went to college, an achievement all the more remarkable considering that Touch couldn't read or write.
She encouraged her grandchildren to rank first in their classes and never missed a graduation, Ing said.
Ing and her brother, Bouy Te, who works for the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, D.C., said their mother cooked up a storm, believing nutritious traditional Cambodian meals would help them learn. Their family's educational success meant that their mother had succeeded also, they said.
Survivors include her children, Ching Ing, Pheng Te, Leakhena Chan, Tong Te, May Martin, Steven (Sothira) Te and Emily (Sithya) Khieu, all of Eden Prairie; Sim Handt of Chaska, and Bouy Te of Woodbridge, Va.; 19 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Services have been held.
Kevin Giles • 612-673-7707
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