Dao Tran, age 79, of Dorchester, passed away peacefully in her sleep Wednesday February 5, 2020. She was the mother of Lucia Tran and Thanh Tran and his wife Katrina Lam, grandmother of Kim Tran and her husband Charles Dobrowski and Benjamin Tran, and great grandmother of Brian Dobrowski.
Dao immigrated to the United States with her son, Thanh Tran, as part of the Vietnamese refugees in 1975. Like every Vietnamese refugee she has two lives: the life before April 30, 1975 and the life after that. The life before April 30, 1975, she was a successful business woman in Nha Trang, Vietnam. The life after April 30, 1975 was at times working 3 to 4 jobs, 7 days a week to save money for her son to go to college and to help her sister and daughter who were still in Vietnam. Her sister and her daughter were able to escape Vietnam and the family successfully reunited in 1981. She was naturalized and became a US citizen in 1989 at the age of 49 despite her very limited English. When asked why she wanted to become a US citizen at the age of 49, her answer was “I love this country”.
Dao was an active member of the Vietnamese Catholic community in Dorchester at Saint Ambrose and enjoyed spending time with her family, especially her grandchildren and great-grandchild.
Visiting Hours will be held in the Conley Funeral Home, 138 Belmont Street (Rte 123) Brockton, Friday, February 7, from 6-9pm. The funeral procession will gather at the funeral home Saturday at 8:45am for a Funeral Mass in St. Bernadette Church, Randolph, at 10am. Dao’s burial will be held at a later date in St. Mary’s Cemetery, Randolph.