Dr. Boi Ngoc Thi Hoang

1935 - 2021

May 18, 1935 - September 30, 2021
With heartfelt profound sadness, our family announces the peaceful passing of Dr. Boi Ngoc Thi Hoang, dedicated & loving wife of 48 years to the late Dr. Hang Viet Dinh, paternal granddaughter of social activist & playwright Hoang Tang Bi & Cao Thi Thuyen, maternal granddaughter of Nguyen Thi Oa & Dr. Nguyen Nghia (personal physician (y si or Medecin Indochine) to Emperors Khai Dinh & Bao Dai in childhood) , daughter of Hoang Dung Huyen & Nguyen Thi Nhu, and niece of Dr. Nguyen Than (her "second father").
Mom lost her father at age 3.5 years & was raised by her maternal grandparents & mother in Hue, Vietnam. Despite many potential distractions to veer her off her path, she never wavered in focus to become a physician which was inspired after witnessing, at age 5 years, her grandfather drain an ill boy's abscess & he became immediately better afterwards. This inspiration was later supplemented by her deep sense of spirituality through her Mahayana Buddhist teachings.
She graduated top of her medical school class at the University of Saigon in 1963 where she'd met dad during her surgical thesis defence & oral exams. Mom was only 1 of 2 women to complete the mostly male-comprised (at that time) General Surgery residency program at Saigon's Cho Ray Hospital.
After immigrating to Windsor, ON in 1969 during a physician shortage, she had to restart as an intern at Windsor's Metropolitan Hospital and completed her Canadian Obstetrics & Gynaecology residency training at Hamilton's McMaster University program in 1977.
There was hardly ever a quick visit at her 53 Augusta St. office in Hamilton, as administrative assistants Shirley, Moira, Hong & those in the waiting room can attest. She'd calmly take the time to listen to more than 1 problem per person. All patients received her full attention & best effort to provide detailed compassionate care, instructions, & discussions about concerns. Mom's sense of joy & purpose - what she called her Mission - was to bring life into the world via birth deliveries or tubal ligation reversals (with dad assisting) and to relieve suffering through her Gynaecology care, on top of being a loving devoted wife, mother, sister, and aunt.
In her later years, she never stopped trying to learn & attended both Thien Tanh Khong Ontario Meditation seminars whenever possible & McMaster's Obstetrics & Gynaecology grand rounds and several medical continuing education conferences, while also maintaining her gynaecology practice.
Her medical service to our diverse community spanned 57 years (on some occasions caring for 2-3 generations of the same family at 1 office visit), including safely providing in-person office gynaecology care through the pandemic until mid-October 2020.
Mom's sense of life balanced groundedness & lighthearted humour was nurtured by maintaining her meaningful longterm loyal friendships with fellow Dong Khanh high school classmates from Hue. These were 75 year connections which she cherished, never took for granted, & was re-invigorated by at many reunions & get togethers.
With our deepest, warmest loving hug & a kiss to the forehead, we send you now to the Other Shore. Your Mission of altruistic spacious kindness here is now complete and a new journey begins.
Gate, gate, paragate, parasamgate, bodhi svaha. (Gone, gone, gone all the way over, everyone gone to the Other Shore. Enlightenment !)
Ngoc, or Pearl as some would call her, is survived by her son Tuan Trong Dinh, sister-in-law Hien Thi Pham Hoang, and niece Tracy Thuc Hien Hoang and predeceased by her younger brother Dr. Ham Hai Hoang.
Our family would like to express our utmost gratitude for the kind compassionate care that mom received to Dr. John Neary (notably), Dr. Madeleine Verhovsek, Dr. Daniel "Gene Kelly" Brandt Vegas, Dr. Anne Boyle and the Internal Medicine Team C doctors and the nurses, RPN's, PSW's, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, pharmacist, nutrition services staff, and cleaning staff of CTU North at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton.
A Celebration of Life will be held on mom's birthday May 18, 2022: Its location to be announced in the first week of April, both on the Turner Family Funeral Home website and in the Hamilton Spectator newspaper.
In lieu of flowers, mom wished that donations please be sent to Huong Dam Buddhist Temple on Brucedale Ave. in Hamilton, Mission Services of Hamilton, Salvation Army Food Bank in Dundas or your local food bank to aid single parent families like her's, those families in need, and the homeless.