Narrated by David Reichard

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When the new church was designed and built, it was intended to offer the narthex space for community events, dinners, and art displays. This painting, titled “Lovely” by Ngo Thai-An, was included in an exhibition of her artwork on display at the church in May 1977. Thai-An came to the United States at the close of the Vietnam War and arrived in Melrose in 1975. She and her brother had their own art studio in central Vietnam – she was predominantly a painter and her brother a sculptor.  Following her May ‘77 exhibit, the painting was purchased by Nam Tran and his family and was given to the church in appreciation for hosting him and his family as part of the Vietnamese refugee resettlement following the fall of Saigon.  

Who is Nam Tran?

In June 1975, the congregation voted at a special meeting to sponsor a refugee family from Vietnam.  Nam Tran and his five children arrived in Melrose in the summer of 1975.  They lived on Larrabee Street while they resettled in the United States – three of his children attending the Hoover Elementary School, and his two older children attending English classes at Hanscom Air Force Base in Bedford, MA.  In Vietnam, Tran was a television and radio announcer, an experienced operator of motion picture and audio equipment, and Vietnam’s only TV News Anchor (and therefore very noticeable to other Vietnamese refugees who recalled seeing him on television).  When Tran came to the US, he could already speak and write English fluently.  Among his early jobs upon his arrival in Melrose, Tran was a part-time custodian at the Coolidge School and was the full-time sexton at our church.  Following a few years in Melrose, Tran and his family relocated to California, where there were more career opportunities and a larger Vietnamese population for support. 

Every year, Nam Tran writes a Christmas card to our church thanking us for our hospitality during their exodus from Vietnam to the United States.  He currently resides in California.