Trussville fitness instructor reflects on life in Vietnam, looks forward

When Ta Huffstutler was hired as a fitness instructor at the Trussville Civic Center in June, she sold her house near U.S. 280 and moved in with her sister in Trussville.

That commute — the trek up Interstate 459 North from U.S. 280 to Trussville-Clay Road — was just too far.

That’s understandable, but Huffstutler has traveled much, much farther.

Born in South Vietnam in 1964, Huffstutler was one of 10 children. Her father owned a bank, and was in the import and exportbusiness. By the spring of 1975, Communist North Vietnam was in the process of overtaking South Vietnam. Huffstutler remembers the sounds of bombs and getting into a bomb shelter. Her dad was stressed.

“As a kid, I was scared, but I didn’t know what was going on,” she said. “I knew the Communists were coming in.”

On April 29, 1975, when Huffstutler was not quite 11 years old, the Le family, along with a few other families, left the country on a private boat owned by her dad’s best friend. Because the Communists were coming in, the families had mere minutes to leave. Four of Huffstutler’s siblings, with the family’s nanny at the time, were left behind.

On April 30, 1975, North Vietnam overtook South Vietnam. Huffstutler and her family heard the news on a radio on the boat.

“Everybody just cried, because we lost our country,” Huffstutler said.

Huffstutler’s mother had motion sickness the whole voyage. At some point, the United States Navy intercepted the boat and took the families to Guam, where they were considered refugees. From Guam, the families were flown to Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.

The Le family stayed at Eglin for six months. Center Crest Baptist Church in Center Point then sponsored the Le family, moving them into the growing area near Birmingham. They went to church every Sunday, even when they didn’t understand the English.

“As a Christian you’re supposed to be really good to people, and that’s what they did,” Huffstutler said.

The sponsorship allowed the family to receive aid, including groceries, for six months. Huffstutler’s dad worked two jobs, full time with a sign company and part time at a luau restaurant in Hoover. In South Vietnam, he owned his own business. He employed three people to work for his family.

“He had to leave all that behind,” Huffstutler said. “Of course, I was young and didn’t understand, but as I got older, that hurt his pride having to work [that hard], but he did. He was a real hard worker.”

Huffstutler’s mom got a job at the restaurant as a dishwasher, and her brother got on as a waiter. The family sent money back overseas for the four children left behind in 1975. They worked at the restaurant for five years. In 1986, Huffstutler’s dad opened Le’s Cuisine in Tarrant City, a Chinese restaurant. That same year, the four children were able to leave Vietnam and come to Alabama.

“We all had a meltdown because we hadn’t seen them in 10 years,” Huffstutler said.

Huffstutler graduated from Huffman High School and attended Jefferson State Community College. After 15 years in America, Huffstutler’s grandmother moved back to Vietnam. Her dad went to visit her in 1996. She died in mid-August, and he died a few weeks later in Vietnam. Huffstutler surmised her father’s death was due to stress and a broken heart.

Huffstutler said her family members were all Buddhists, and she was the first to convert to Christianity after seeing the “Jesus of Nazareth” miniseries. Her ex-husband’s father was instrumental in her getting to know the Lord.

When the “Passion of the Christ” movie came out, she took her mom to see it. Her mom had diabetes and went through seven months of dialysis. Huffstutler saw all those appointments because she went to translate. In October 2005, her mom gave her life to the Lord. She had a heart attack a few weeks later and spent more than two months in the hospital before she died.

Huffstutler saw the stress her dad experienced. She saw her mom struggle with diabetes. She realized that eating fried chicken and rice late at night after working was causing weight gain. So, she joined a gym. Within three years she was competing in bodybuilding and fitness competitions. She trained others while working a full-time job. These days, she loves working out and playing tennis. She recently started playing pickleball.

Earlier this year, she was offered a fitness instructor position at the Trussville Civic Center. She started June 25.

“I love it,” Huffstutler said. “I love the people, the members, the employees.”

Right now, she is training seven people, and when she’s not working with them she cleans the civic center. She stays busy. More people are beginning to walk through the doors again amid the COVID-19 pandemic. She tries to learn all their names and make them feel welcomed.

“It’s rewarding because it’s knowing I can help someone to get better,” she said.

She only sits to check her email, so after her 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. shift she’s somewhat tired.

“My dad always taught me, ‘No matter who you work for, either for me or for someone else, you work it like it’s your own business,’” she said. “I will never forget that.”

In Vietnam, she had it made, she said. When the North took over the South in 1975, forcing the family out of their country, she had to adapt. She began working at age 13. She learned not to take things for granted, to treat people how you want to be treated and not to complain. Many teenagers today get a new car when they turn 16, or they receive the newest iPhone when it becomes available. Huffstutler believes that teenagers should visit another country, places far worse off than the U.S.

“Live over there for at least two weeks, and they will come back with a different attitude,” she said.

As for Huffstutler, she has not been back to Vietnam since the day her family left on a boat in 1975. It would be too sad for her, she said. It would hurt too much to see the poor people, the way life is in many areas there now.

“I would give all the money away,” she said. “But if I did that, it would make me feel good knowing I helped somebody.”