Mao Ourk Sou

May 5, 1947 - November 23, 2020

Mao Ourk Sou

May 5, 1947 – November 23, 2020

 

 

Mao Ourk Sou was born on May 5, 1947 to Nhean Nhet (her mother) and Dahk Ourk (her father). Mao grew up in the province of Takeo, Cambodia and lived in Kiri Vong district. She has a younger sister by the name of Horn Ourk.

 

Both of her parents died at a young age and had to go live with her aunt from her father side. In 1959 she went to work at a coffee factory in the Province of Pailin, Cambodia and that is where she met her husband, Khan Sou. In 1962, Khan Sou and Mao Ourk got married in Battambang.

 

They lived in Battambang Province from 1962 to 1979. When the genicide ended in 1979, they walked for 10 days from Battambang Province to the boarder of Thailand trying to seek refuge. By December of 1979, they lived in a refugee camp in Thailand. On November 16, 1984, the family arrived in Portland, OR.

 

Mao raised her family in Oregon. She gave birth to 7 children, raised 9 children and is a grandmother to 5 grandkids. She was an amazing person that sacraficed so much for everyone else. Her joy comes from seeing all of her family members happy and healthy. That is all she wanted and hoped for. She will be deeply missed, but her spirit will live on through the lessons and kindess she has shown to her love ones. One of her last wishes is that her ashes be spread in the ocean with her son that passed away in 2002 and to donate to an orphanage in Cambodia.