WARREN — It was the spring of 1975 when Thuy Ai Nguyen arrived in Warren from Vietnam. Her arrival was made possible by the First United Methodist Church and local Warren families, including the McFarlands and Penmans.

Nguyen has many memories of her time in Warren, which was her start in the United States where she has lived for the past 50 years.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of her and family members’ arrival in Warren, a reunion took place at the Buckeye Club in Warren. The event was attended by 20 people.

Photo albums, newspaper clippings and the 1976 Harding yearbook were on display. Music from the 1970s played and a Vietnam flag hung by a mirror.

Nguyen said that in April 1975 the Vietnam War had come to an end.

“Members of my family came to the United States in 1975. Some people started coming even earlier,” she said.

Nguyen and others left Vietnam on April 24, 1975, before communists took over. The family stayed in Guam for one week and then came to Warren in May 1975.

Jim McFarland of Warren, who attended the reunion, said when Nguyen and others came here they needed sponsors. He said the McFarland family, which included his parents, David and Mary Beth, and the Cole and Penman families, along with First United Methodist Church, were sponsors.

McFarland said the families helped Nguyen and others with their education and finding jobs. Nguyen attended Harding Harding High School and then Mount Union College, where she studied chemistry. She later earned a master of business administration from Baldwin Wallace College.

“We were one of the first families they met when they came here,” McFarland said. “She was apologizing for her English, which I felt was very good. My mother was able to help Thuy in going to Mount Union College.”

Nguyen was able to get a full scholarship to the Alliance school. She worked as a chemist for several Fortune 500 companies.

Nguyen said the church sponsored her for six months and provided her family with an apartment as well as food and helped her brother-in-law find a job with Alcan Aluminum.

In addition to Nguyen, those who also came to Warren in 1975 were Xuan Long Doan (brother-in-law), Xuan Thruy Doan (Vang) and Amh “Hayden” Vu Doan (Wang).

Currently living in Warren are Sam Doan and John Doan, formerly of Uniontown.

Nguyen said she liked her time at Harding, but said the education system in Warren was much different than in Vietnam.

“Here it seemed a little more easygoing with students able to choose classes they want to take and study. There are more electives,” Nguyen said. “In Vietnam, you do not have a choice of what to take. I consider myself above average and feel my generation is excellent in mathematics.”

She said she took French and English as her foreign languages.

“In Vietnam, when you enter sixth grade you choose your first foreign language, and I chose French. When you enter ninth grade, then you choose a second foreign language, and I selected English because of the American influence during the war,” Nguyen said.

Nguyen now lives in Brecksville, a suburb of Cleveland.

McFarland said he did get to see Nguyen over the years when she visited his parents.

Chris Nguyen, of Cleveland, who attended the celebration, said his mother’s focus was always on succeeding and to become educated.

“She always said to me that no one can take your education away from you,” he said.

Chris Nguyen said his mother never forgot the help she received from the families in Warren.

“She never took any of that for granted and always had gratitude to others and what they did for her,” he said. “I grew up knowing her extended family. They meant the world to her, I grew up going on many of the pilgrimages to Warren to visit the families there.”

Nguyen said he remembers when his mother told him when she left Vietnam and did not have much. He said she never let that stop her from getting her education and succeeding.

He said he is proud of his mother and the sacrifices she made to get where she is today and making so much of herself in life.

Thuy Nguyen said she hopes the 50th reunion will help show younger generations about the local family history and also how much they appreciated what the members of First United Methodist Church did.

The church no longer exists.

Today, Nguyen is publishing a book of her poetry and essays. It will include writings in English and Vietnamese.