September 27 2018: LONG, Dep Tan

 

In Loving Memory of Dep Tan Long, a Woman of God, a Devoted Wife, and a Caring Mother of Ten Blessed Children

August 7, 1925 – September 20, 2018

Dep Tan Long was born in Cambodia on August 7, 1925, the youngest of seven children of Tan Long, who was one-half Portuguese and one-half Khmer (Khmer is native Cambodian with Indian heritage), and Vui Quite, who was Cambodian (mainly of Khmer and Chinese heritage).  Dep embraced her Portuguese-Cambodian heritage as a great blessing to her.  At age 19 she married her love partner, Phum Sem, who was well educated in the fields of economics and finance.  With Phum having influential skills in commerce and notable education with degrees obtained in the US from University of California, Berkeley and Georgetown University, he later became Governor of the province Prey Veng located in southeastern Cambodia, and then President of Banque d’Agricole, a government-owned bank of agriculture operated in Phnom Penh, Cambodia before 1975.  Dep and Phum became very prosperous together in life and were able to afford having and providing for ten children of their own whom they devoted their life to raising at their great-loved home in Phnom Penh.  While Phum was the overseer of their children’s education, Dep shared important disciplinary responsibility in building solid foundation for their household based ultimately on biblical teachings, which she and Phum believed life would not be fulfilling without understanding and applying the word of God.  Even with ten children, Dep and Phum never stopped taking in relatives and other people who needed their support.  Their unconditional love for family and passion to help others in need became life model for their children to follow.  Before 1975, Dep and Phum sent their second and third oldest children abroad to pursue college education, one to the US and the other to France.  Not long after, Dep’s family life began to turn upside down on April 17, 1975 when her remaining household family members were forced at gunpoint by political communist regime Khmer Rouge to leave their home and to start trekking north, along with other Cambodian civilians, toward the wilderness where they would soon face severe famine and torturing death inflicted by Khmer Rouge, especially if anybody was revealed to have any sort of formal education at all.  Because the objective of Khmer Rouge was mass murdering of all educated citizens and implementation of an agrarian society with emphasis on their Year Zero political notion, Dep’s family became a major target.  Phum was the first in the family to be taken away by Khmer Rouge soldiers for execution.  Next was her son-in-law, followed by her next two oldest sons ages 16 and 17. Death and more death of her children continued to occur forcing her to shut off her emotion to try to stay strong as she buried her own child one after another.  By 1978 when this genocide movement came to a halt by aid of the South Vietnamese army, Dep ended up with only three surviving daughters , ages 8, 10, and 17. She and her three daughters were later sponsored to come to the US on November 30, 1980 by her eldest son Sompheap (third of ten children), who was already living in the US since 1973 before Cambodia collapsed in 1975. After all the trials and tribulations she had experienced, Dep became more and more dependent on the grace of Almighty God for divine strength to help her live on purpose.  Indeed she found the greatest purpose of her life – prayers.  She often prayed to God for intercession to help her overcome difficulties and to restore Cambodia and heal its people from traumatic effects of the Khmer Rouge genocide.  Her faith in the living God Lord Jesus Christ became unsurpassed when He appeared to her in a vivid dream back in 1987. Dep repeatedly told her children how surreal the dream was that she was falling from the sky and was so terrified.  And just when she was near hitting bottom a Man with long hair caught her in his arms and told her to hold on tight to him, and as she did the Man ascended in supernatural speed taking her with him.  Although back then her children ignored any significance about the dream, Dep remained faithful to God and never ceased to pray to Him.  Her greatest hope was for every person to come to know God in Jesus Christ because she trusted that He is the Messiah, the only One Who can heal the brokenhearted and has the ability to help bridge the gap between religions, cultures, and traditions for integration of the human race as a whole.  Through her faith in Christ, she became more and more like Him as she found strength to forgive even the most heinous act as that inflicted by the Khmer Rouge on her family.  She had learned to trust the Lord to be her Vindicator and received His forgiveness of her own sins as well – from past, present, and future.  In latter part of her elderly years, Dep was blessed with devoted care from her loving daughters Pheary and Phally.  On April 19, 2017, Dep re-affirmed her faith in Christ by baptism, as confirmed by her beloved home church St. Jane Frances de Chantal, located in Bethesda, Maryland, USA.  She chose to be baptized during the Easter season as a dedication of her love for and utmost gratitude to the Lord and her deep personal relationship with Him for He had healed her broken heart and comforted her soul.  A few months before her passing, Dep knew that her life mission here on earth would soon be complete.  She mentioned before Phally and Pheary that God was calling her to go home.  And indeed, she has departed peacefully and is now home resting in the Lord.  Amen

 

Relatives and friends may call at Collins Funeral Home, 500 University Boulevard West, Silver Spring, MD, (Valet Parking), Friday, September 28, from 7 to 9 pm. Mass of Christian Burial at St. Jane Frances de Chantal Church, 9601 Old Georgetown Road, Bethesda, MD, 20814 on Saturday, September 29, at 10:15 AM. Interment Gate of Heaven Cemetery at a later date.