In the aftermath of the Vietnam War, a young Laotian named Vanh Dongsavanh made the brave decision to leave his ravaged homeland behind in hopes of finding a better life in the United States. In the early 1980s, he rode the first wave of refugees that entered the country and settled in Utica, one of the original resettlement cities that had been established nationwide.
After his arrival, he soon found work, initially at DeIorio’s Foods in Utica, and later as a packer and shipper at Meyda Tiffany in Yorkville, where he has remained for 25 years. Vanh met and married Michelle Tran, a refugee herself, and settled in East Utica. They had one child; a son, Jimmy, who grew up in the neighborhood and joined the Utica Police Department’s Community Outreach Team five years ago.