Suong Le Roe

Suong Le Roe passed away peacefully on January 6, 2026, at the University of Iowa Hospital in Iowa City, Iowa. She was 79 years old and was surrounded by love.

Suong lived her life guided by one quiet, unwavering intention: to make sure her children were cared for. Not just safe, but successful in life, in whatever way that came to mean for each of them.

Born in Cà Mau, Vietnam, on August 10, 1946, Suong was orphaned at an early age and raised by her grandmother before being taken into the Catholic Church, where she lived as a nun for a time. She grew up subsistence farming, learning how to live off the land and rely on herself. Loss, poverty, and war shaped her early years, but they made her resilient, thoughtful, and deeply capable.

That instinct for self-sufficiency stayed with her. Even while working full-time and raising three children, Suong always kept a vegetable and herb garden, growing herbs until the end of her life. At one point, her suburban backyard became a small farm, complete with pigeons, chickens, goats, guinea fowl, and even a donkey. She also loved fishing, a skill learned in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta and continued in the United States, often filling coolers with fish that she would clean, portion, and freeze to feed her family for months.

Preparation was one of the ways Suong showed love. Her purse always held tissues and napkins, needle and thread, pen and paper, and extra money—just in case. There was always extra bottled water in her home and car, always.

The greatest way Suong expressed love, though, was through food. Her first question was always, “Have you eaten yet?” Meals—especially with her Vietnamese family and friends who shared the experience of rebuilding life in the United States—became long, joyful gatherings. Many of her children’s American friends were introduced to Vietnamese food at her table, and all were welcome.

Suong was stubborn, generous, funny, and soft-spoken. She was endlessly curious, always keeping English-to-Vietnamese and Vietnamese-to-English dictionaries close, writing new words wherever she could. Her faith, learned early through the Church, remained deeply important to her. She knew it well and welcomed thoughtful conversation. Her Bible was always nearby, and her rosary hung from the headboard of her bed.

During the Vietnam War, Suong met her husband, Roger, and later worked as a switchboard operator for the U.S. Army. She had three children—Trinh, Roger Jr., and David—and eventually made her home in the United States after time in Germany.

Suong is survived by her three children, five grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. Her legacy lives on in the care she showed, the strength she carried, the steady love she gave, and the bellies she filled.

She lived through hardship but never let it define her. She will be missed deeply and remembered always—in the gardens we tend, the meals we share, and the quiet ways we look out for one another.