“Sandy Thao Ruland” Nguyen Thi Ne

On December 6, 2024, Nguyen Thi Ne (“Sandy Thao Ruland”), 85, of Portland, Oregon, was admitted to Oregon Health and Science University to receive treatment for a brain bleed incurred because of a fall.  She showed improvement for a couple of weeks, but then reversed and declined until she peacefully transitioned, in comfort and under medical supervision while at the hospital, on January 7, 2025.

Thao was born in the Vietnamese countryside village of My Tho to mother Nhon Thi Le and father Dau Van Nguyen.  Her childhood and young-adulthood were crystalized in the pressure-cooker of violent times that led up to and during the “Vietnam War” (or as it is known to the Vietnamese, “The American War”).  It was in Vietnam where Thao met her husband and long-time partner, Michael Jon Ruland, a Vietnam War veteran who served with the Air Force.  With his help, she and their daughter Bao Chau Ruland immigrated to America in 1973.  Her Vietnamese family – three sisters and one brother, and their children; and her four children from her first marriage – subsequently immigrated as well.  Through immigration, Thao was able to escape the violence of war and lived peacefully in America for the latter two-thirds of her life, surrounded by family from both continents.  We remember Thao for her love of gardening and karaoke, and for her unfailing generosity.

Thao is survived by Michael, her two daughters with Michael:  Bao Chau Ruland and Tracy Lorraine Nguyen Ruland; by her children from her first marriage:  Amy Thai, Trung Thai, Trang Thai and Thanh Thai; and by numerous grand- and great-grandchildren.

Funeral Services were provided by Omega Funeral and Cremation Services, 223 SE 122nd Ave, Portland, OR; and she rests now at Lone Fir Cemetery, 649 SE 26th Avenue, Portland, OR.