Nguyen Retiring from Plant and Soil Sciences Duties

Nguyen Retiring from Plant and Soil Sciences Duties

Khanh Nguyen retires this week with 26 years of service to the entire Plant and Soil Sciences Building research and teaching facility at Michigan State University

Born in 1966, Khanh lived with his family in a small village in South Vietnam, in the middle of the war, where his father worked at a military airport.

“When we heard bombs nearby we would hide in a small tunnel dug into the earth—not the distant bombs, only the closer ones,” he says.

After the fall of Saigon in 1975, Khanh and his family faced an uncertain future. In 1979, at age 13, Khanh and his brother Chuong (age 15) climbed aboard a tiny boat at high tide in the middle of the night and started a five day journey.

“We were too many people on a very small boat,” Khanh says, scrunching down to show how much space he had on the boat, “and the food and water ran out after three days.” Khanh says growing up in the village they had no information about the United States—not even images from television. But the family was certain that this was the best move.

The brothers landed in Malaysia, “with only a tee shirt and a pair of shorts,” and began the long refugee immigration process.

After about a year, the brothers were relocated to the U.S. and two years later, they were reunited with their parents and other siblings in Mason, Mich.

“We had a sponsor, connected to the church,” Khanh says.

The entire family lived in a small house near the main square in Mason. Khanh navigated the new language and culture and graduated Mason High School in 1986. He attended LCC, learning HVAC systems, and, with a little extra financial aid money, satisfied a lifelong desire to learn piano.

He then transferred to Ferris State, where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering Technology and Energy Management. After working in Holland for about a year, Khanh applied for the position at MSU.

“It was good to be back with my family,” says Khanh, who bought a house, married and started a family, and played organ with the church choir for many years. “But the first year at MSU was very tough,” Khanh says. “The work was very difficult. I wanted to quit. I was working alone—it’s not like in IPF—where everyone knows this stuff. Out here, in the Departments, there is usually only one person responsible for maintenance.”

In 26 years of reporting directly to both Horticulture and PSM departments, Khanh has weathered many changes and challenges.

“And now, when I leave here I feel happy and sad and excited—all together. I spent a lot of time on all these things [maintaining the research equipment in PSSB]. But it will be nice to have time to relax and play piano as much as I want.”

Khanh has two children who are both students at MSU. In his retirement, he looks forward to traveling back to Vietnam.

“I have only been back once—23 years ago,” he says, “I only have distant relatives there now, but I look forward to seeing them – and the country where I was born.”