Pent Somkit passed away Friday night and she will be missed. She and her family immigrated to Indiana from Cambodia in the early 1970s. They have attended our church from the very beginning of their experience here. She spoke very little English but told Anita through a translator of hard days in Cambodia where she lost a child in a bombing at the school. These were the days of Pol Pot’s regime (The Killing Fields).

I remember we hired the Somkit boys to demolish a large chicken coup at our former residence. We couldn’t find Americans who would work as hard as they did.

I also remember officiating at Yort Somkit’s wedding. They were a part of a fellowship of oriental immigrants from the Ft. Wayne area. Some of these immigrants were chefs at restaurants and hosted a big oriental reception. I remember eating soup with octapus tentacles, among other mysterious stuff. But we also had the American influence: we drank out of Pepsi cans and had apple pie for dessert.

What will you remember about Pent Somkit?