Thousands mourn May Song Vang, 'mother' to American Hmong communities
May Song Vang, who lived in Orange county, in the state's south, died on August 5 at the age of 62, but her four-day funeral is being held in Fresno, considered the heart of America's Hmong community.
For the next three days, thousands will congregate in Fresno, central California, to remember the woman known to many as the "mother" of Hmong Americans.
May Song Vang, who lived in Orange county, in the state's south, died on August 5 at the age of 62, but her four-day funeral is being held in Fresno, considered the heart of America's Hmong community.
On Friday, about 1,000 people packed a building at the Fresno county fairgrounds, and about 25,000 are expected to have visited by tomorrow before Vang is buried in southern California.
After the 2011 death of her husband, General Vang Pao, who led the CIA-financed Hmong forces in Laos during the Indochina war, Vang became the undisputed leader of the US Hmong.
Her elevation bucked the trend of a culture steeped in paternal traditions, said Maiyer Vang, a member of the May Song Vang Memorial Committee. When Vang Pao died, it became her job to mediate conflicts within the Hmong community.
Vang trained as a nurse before meeting Vang Pao and marrying him in 1973.