09/02/2026
In Memory of Trưởng Phùng Quang Tuyên (1963–2015)
As Liên Đoàn Chi Lăng prepares for the upcoming Labor Day Camp, we remember our dear Scout brother, the late Trưởng Phùng Quang Tuyên (1963–2015). He passed away on September 2, 2015, while serving as head of Liên Đoàn Chi Lăng, just three days before that year’s camp. The news left many of us numb and deeply saddened. Writing his obituary two days later was one of the most painful duties I had undertaken.
Trưởng Phùng Quang Tuyên was born on June 12, 1963 iin Bạc Liêu Province, Vietnam. The youngest of nine children, he grew up surrounded by the affection of his older siblings.
In February 1979—the same month Kha Đoàn Chi Lăng was founded—Trưởng Tuyên left Vietnam with his older brother for Malaysia and stayed on Pulau Bidong Island. He arrived in Southern California in July 1979, settled in Santa Ana, and enrolled at Valley High School shortly after turning 14. There, he participated in sports and the Vietnamese Club, became an outstanding varsity player, and ranked among the school’s top ten students academically. He joined Kha Đoàn Chi Lăng (Explorer Post 279) in Orange County in September 1979.
In 1983, he was admitted to UCLA and later transferred to UCSD, where he met his future wife, Đinh Vũ Kim Thy, a pharmacy student. After graduating, he remained active in Scouting until June 1996, when he married Ms. Kim Thy in San Diego. Soon afterward, the newlyweds attended a camp at Three Falls in Frazier Park, braving the freezing cold of late winter 1997.
Ten years later, they returned to Scouting with their children: Nguyên Quân, Nguyên Lý, Thiên Kim, and Thiên Ái. Throughout his years with Liên Đoàn Chi Lăng, Trưởng Tuyên distinguished himself as a talented and virtuous leader held in high esteem by all. He served as Patrol Leader of the Đống Đa Patrol, Team Leader of the Bách Việt Rover Crew, leader of the Rover, Scout, and Cub Scout units, Cub Scout Commissioner, and ultimately Liên Đoàn Trưởng, head of the Scout Group.
Over the Group’s 35-year history, he dedicated both his youth and his adult life to its development. Even while living in Houston or San Diego, he carried the Chi Lăng spirit with him and established Cub Scout units in both places. When his children were older, he and his wife traveled to Santa Ana for weekly meetings and helped build Liên Đoàn Chi Lăng into a strong organization recognized by mayors and by state and federal legislators.
Known by his Scout jungle name, “Attentive Tiger” (Cọp Chu Đáo), Trưởng Phùng Quang Tuyên devoted himself to community service and to the ideals of justice, compassion, and human dignity. He joined disaster-relief efforts from Houston to the Philippines, assisted victims of human trafficking in Cambodia, and helped build homes for people in need in Mexico.
As a Scout leader, he lived by the Scout Promise: to fulfill his duties to his spiritual faith and country, to help others at all times, and to obey the Scout Law. He was a dutiful son, a devoted husband, and a dedicated father.
Within the Chi Lăng family, he was an affectionate elder brother to younger Scouts and a respectful younger brother to those who guided him. In every part of his life, Tr. Tuyên placed service to others before himself; that spirit remains his enduring legacy.
With Deepest Sorrow,
Lê Minh Lý
