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Draft:Tim Tran

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  • Comment: I am about a third of the way through checking the links and have given up because they don't even mention him. Please fix and re-submit. Curb Safe Charmer (talk) 19:01, 2 May 2025 (UTC)
  • Comment: Sources verify that the linked institutions exist, but need replaced with citations that mention Tim Tran.--Auric talk 12:20, 4 May 2025 (UTC)


Tim Tran is a Vietnamese-American businessman.

Early life and education

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Tran Manh Khiem, was born in a small costal village in Northern Vietnam in 1950 to parents, Tran Duy Tinh and Nguyen Thi Noi. In 1954 they left their village on a boat headed for Saigon, but disembarked in Nha Trang. They lived in a refugee camp in Nha Trang for one year before they rented a house. They lived there for two years, 1954 through 1956, with Khiem's little sister, Than Binh, being born in 1955. Then, Duy Tinh, Khiem's dad, got a job in Tây Ninh, so the family relocated there. There they lived in an apartment and Khiem gained a second little sister, Xuan Thao. During the years there Khiem was tutored by his father and started elementary school.[1]. In 1958, the family moved to Saigon after Duy Tinh got a job with the Joint General Staff of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, which was the South Vietnamese army.[2] In the big city, Khie attended Truong Minh Giang Elementary School. During his time at elementary school, he gained three more siblings, brothers Khoi and Khoa in 1958 and 1959 respectively, and sister Mai in 1961[1]

After going to elementary school, Khiem scored very high on the high school entrance exam and got into one of the best high schools in Saigon, Chu Văn An High School. While there, he also received a number of scholarships, the South Vietnamese Ministry of Education National Scholarship, in his sophomore year and a scholarship from Vietnamese students studying in Christchurch, New Zealand, in his senior year.[1]

While in high school Khiem became fascinated with the United States and the English language through his teachings and time at the library. After doing so well in high school, Khiem got a scholarship with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to attend college in America. His first stop was the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in Honolulu, Hawaii. He spent a week there before leaving on March 22, 1970 to Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. to study English more in depth.[1]

In May of 1970, it was determined that Khiem's English was proficient enough for him to start studying at university. He began his studies in chemical engineering at Pacific University where he learned about American culture, made friends, and joined the fraternity Gamma Sigma. By his sophmore year, due to banking needs in Vietnam, he changed his major to business and economics[1].

During the summer after his sophmore year, he became a math teacher for Upward Bound, a role that he would return to every summer for the rest of his college years. After that, looking for more of an academic challenge, he transferred to University of California, Berkeley and studied business administration. Once he finished up his studies and graduated with honors, he returned back to Saigon.[1]

Marriage

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Khiem met his wife, Thuy Trinh when they both got the USAID scholarship to study in the United States. They were two of the five students sent to Georgetown to study English and then the only two students sent to Pacific University. There they both joined Fraternities and sororities, Khiem with the Gamma Sigmas and Thuy with the Theta Nu Alphas.[3] During their studies they began a romantic relationship. When Khiem transferred to the University of California, Berkeley, Thuy went to Oregon State University to study finance. After they graduated they both returned to Saigon to work. While there, they married in the late spring/ early summer of 1975[1]. During this time Saigon was under Communist control.[4]

Career

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After returning to Vietnam, Kheim and Thuy got jobs working for USAID. Specifically, Khiem was teaching accounting to the Vietnamese employees of the Vietnam American Association. Khiem and Thuy both left these jobs when they got better paying job opportunities. Khiem began working a demanding job for Shell as an auditor in the finance department in October, 1974. Thuy then began working for Esso Standard Oil[1]. Less than a year later, on April 29th, 1975, Saigon fell to Communist control as the Americans took back their support to the city.[5] This meant that Khiem and Thuy were now living under Communism. They attempted to escape Saigon, but failed many times.[1]

During this time, Khiem was fired from his job and began a new job with Storage Tank Company. His sister, Thao, and brother, Khoa, escaped, but his father was murdered while attempting to flee. On March 18th, 1979, Tim began his successful escape with his wife, Thuy, and siblings Khoi and Mai. They traveled to Rạch Giá to await boarding a boat to escape. They boarded a boat on May 12th, 1979 and began heading to Malaysia. Along the way their boat was taken over by Thai pirates. To escape the pirates they landed on Palau Bidong Island[1]. This was an island that became a refugee camp for many people escaping the Vietnam War.[6] There they were met by members of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Khiem began acting as an interpreter between the refugees and the aid workers. After a few months, on September 10th, 1979, Khiem and his family began their journey to America. After a couple weeks of travel, on September 30th, 1979, Khiem and his family landed in Portland, Oregon[1]

Back in America they changed their names to Tim and Cathy Tran to help them secure jobs. Tim secured a job as a staff accountant for Johnstone Supply in 1980. After getting his Master of Business Administration at Portland State University he was promoted to vice president of finance for Johnstone Supply in 1985. Tim retired from Johnstone Supply in 2002 after experiencing health problems[1]. After he retired he donated money to the Pacific University Library, which was then subsequently named after him and he published an autobiography on his life.[7]

Legacy

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In 2017 he created an endowment to support the Pacific University Library, which was dedicated as the Tim and Cathy Tran Library.[3]

In 2020 he published an autobiography on his life titled, "American Dreamer: How I Escaped Communist Vietnam and Built a Successful Life in America[8]."

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Tran, Tim (2020). American Dreamer How I Escaped Communist Vietnam and Built a Successful Life in America. Forest Grove, Oregon, United States of America: Pacific Univeristy Press. pp. 3–4.
  2. ^ Thayer, Carlyle (2018). "Force Modernization: Vietnam". Southeast Asian Affairs: 430–444. JSTOR 26492790 – via JSTOR.
  3. ^ a b "A Journey Home | Pacific University". www.pacificu.edu. Retrieved 2025-04-30.
  4. ^ Herring, George C. (1991). "America and Vietnam: The Unending War". Foreign Affairs. 70 (5): 10–11. doi:10.2307/20045006. JSTOR 20045006 – via JSTOR.
  5. ^ "Saigon Postmortem". Asian Affairs. 3 (3): 212–213. 1976. doi:10.1080/00927678.1976.10554182. JSTOR 30171898 – via JSTOR.
  6. ^ Vu, Quynh-Giao N. (2007). "Journey of the Abandoned: Endless Refugee Camp and Incurable Traumas". Signs. 32 (3): 580–584. doi:10.1086/510157. JSTOR 10.1086/510157 – via JSTOR.
  7. ^ "First, Tim and Cathy Tran Survived. Then, in America, They Thrived | Pacific University". www.pacificu.edu. Retrieved 2025-05-02.
  8. ^ "American Dreamer: How I Escaped Communist Vietnam and Built a Successful Life in America - Pacific University Libraries". 2020-06-07. Retrieved 2025-04-30.

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