Bob Foos
With a grandmother from Vietnam, Avry Hodson knew she would want to go there eventually – so she was quick to take the opportunity to go there with fellow art students over spring break.
Avry, a 2024 graduate of Webb City High School, is studying graphic design at Missouri Southern State University. Her grandmother, Teyet “Snow” Hoang Speer, is still remembered by many from when she ran her own restaurant, Snow’s Oriental Restaurant, in the ’80s in the Madison Square Shopping Center.
Avry carries on that tradition, sort of, by working part-time at Pho-4-Ever on Madison Street. It’s a place she can practice her limited ability to speak Vietnamese. “I can understand food – everything else, no,” she says.
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Often at her side to offer hints, though, is Snow. “I made her teach me stuff before I left,” says Avry.
In addition to language, Snow shared details about her life before she left Saigon. Avry’s mother, Rebecca Hodson, has been going through boxes of family photos that are mostly of Snow when she was young. There were clues in the photos for Avry when she would arrive in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City).
She found the building where Snow grew up even though much had changed over the years. Snow says the doorway is completely different, and three stories of apartments have been added.
Most importantly, Avry found the church where Snow and her grandfather, Michael Speer, were married in 1971. She took a photo of herself on the steps and was allowed inside by a groundskeeper.
Avry’s grandfather, Michael, a 1966 graduate of WCHS, spent three tours in Vietnam with the Air Force. He met Snow in 1968 at a store she operated with one of her sisters near Tan Son Nhut Air Base. They were married in an elaborate ceremony in 1971.
Inside the church, Avry represented Snow’s family at the memorial of her great-uncle, Nguyen Hüu Mâu, who died before his wife and children followed Snow to America. At some point, his ashes were moved from a cemetery to the memorial inside the church. And Avry was the first in the family to see it. That’s because all of Snow’s family, including the 19 she sponsored, came to seek freedom in America.
It was a 17-hour flight for Avry and her group from Dallas to Hong Kong and then another three hours to Vietnam.
During their 11 days there, they toured Hanoi, Hoi An and Ho Chi Minh City. There were local guides at each site, and two guides from China were with the group for the entire time.
One of Avry’s impressions is that “everything is fast-paced. Especially on the streets, where “everyone does their own thing” without rules of the road. “But I didn’t see one single crash. That was cool to watch.”
The value of the dong currency was difficult to fathom. The largest dong bill, 500,000, is only worth $20. “I was a millionaire in Monopoly,” Avry says.
Avry was awarded two $1,000 scholarships, which covered half of the cost. Part of the deal for going on the trip is that she has to submit a piece of art before the upcoming themed semester on Vietnam.
Her mother, Rebecca, wanted to go along as a chaperone, but she was told she would have to take the class. That would be difficult since she’s a nurse at Mercy Hospital Carthage. Now, she says, “I definitely want to go for sure.”
Avry says getting to even go on this trip at only 19 years old meant a lot to her.
“I’ve spent my whole life learning about that side of my heritage through limited experience with being here in Missouri. So, getting to travel to the other side of the world and see those stories come to life, as well as make my own and further my education at the same time, was very meaningful to me.”
“She accomplished a lot,” says Rebecca.
