Obituary of Choeur Mao

Choeur Mao Choeur Mao, age 73, and a resident of Joliet since 1981, passed away Wednesday, September 26, 2007 at home surrounded by her family. Born August 8, 1934 in Battombang City, Cambodia to San Mao and Phenh San, she married Noun Dim, at age 16. They moved to Pailin City, Cambodia where together they raised a family of eight children, but unfortunately lost three of her children to illnesses at ages 11, 9 and 7. When the Khmer Rouge became the ruling communist party of Cambodia in 1975, and her life was changed forever. Choeur's husband died of starvation in the killing fields in 1976, and her oldest son was taken off to be killed. After that, she always tried her very best to protect the rest of her kids from harms way by moving from one place to another. In 1979, a few months after the Vietnamese invaded Cambodia, she feared for the safety of her family so she fled with her children to the neighboring country of Thailand, where they lived at Khao I Dang Camp for one and one-half years, until deciding it was time to move on to yet a third country. On November 1, 1981 she arrived with her children in Oakland, CA, staying two days until coming to Chicago and directly to Joliet. Life was still not easy for her because everything was so different from where she came from, but that really didn't matter. She continued to raise her kids to have a better life in this country than she ever had before. In November 1999, she began to suffer from kidney failure, which she courageously kept fighting until the last day of her life on September 26, 2007. Surviving are her two sons, Ran (Sorn) Dim of Chicago, and Run (Kley) Dim of Joliet; two daughters, Mach Nehm of Cleveland, OH, and Sokha (Kiam Yim) Dim of Joliet; eleven grandchildren; and a special cousin, Yorn Sarin. She was preceded in death by her husband, Noun Dim, her parents, one sister, and her four children. Funeral services for Choeur Mao will be Saturday, October 6, 2007 at 9:15 a.m. from the Fred C. Dames Funeral Home to St. John the Baptist Catholic Church for a Mass of Christian Burial at 10:00 a.m. Interment will be in Woodlawn Memorial Park. Visitation Friday, 6-9 p.m. at the funeral home. FRED C. DAMES FUNERAL HOME 3200 Black at Essington Rds. For information: (815) 741-5500