Phouangkham Ginger Hanlotxomphou

Life Story of PhouangKham Ginger  Hanlotxomphou 

Mrs. PhouangKham was born on July 10, 1951 to Mr. Thongthame and Mrs. Thongtip Hanlotxomphou in Vientiane, Laos. At 18 years old she married Thongvanh Syhapanya and were together for 36 years until his passing in 2005. Thongvanh was captured and placed in a Vietnamese underground camp during the communist war. Soon after the capture a communist agent approached Phouangkam and told her that if she did not go to Vietnam, her husband would be executed in 6 months' time. This forced Phoukham to make the difficult decision to leave her oldest son behind with her mother.  So, he can be saved from the captivity.  PhouangKham did not hesitate. She packed up her children and headed to Vietnam to rescue her husband. While her husband was fighting in the war, she took care of her four children (Raina, Lavina, Thea and Lena). After Four years of captivity life in a camp, she managed to escape with her four children. A year after she and her children escaped; they were reunited with Thongvanh.  In that same night, the whole  family escaped to a refugee camp in Thailand. The next destination for the family was the United States of America.  Phoukham wanted her children to enjoy the freedoms and opportunities that living in America can provide compared to a communist country.    

Our family arrived in Indiana in 1983; during that time, she and her husband could not read or speak English.  PouangKham and Thongvanh had to work two jobs just to provide for the family of six. All her children did accomplish her vision of higher education, and better life but not forgetting our language and traditions.   

Visitation for family and friends will be held at Fuller Funeral Home, 1625 Pine Ridge Road on Wednesday, February 24, 2021 from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. A funeral service will take place at 1:00 p.m.

 We will never forget the sacrifices this strong mother and wife she was to everyone.