// PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY LIVING //
For over 20 years Dr. Vi Tu Banh has been proud to provide residents of Uxbridge and surrounding areas with eye care they can count on. His welcoming, and beautifully appointed office features a selection of fashionable frames for patients to choose from.
Dr. Vi Tu Banh BY LESLEY WILKINS PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF DR. VI TU BANH
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A life devoted to paying it forward.
or many of us old enough to recall the end of the Vietnam war, the harrowing stories of the Vietnamese “boat people” fleeing the newly reunited country have long faded from our memories. But for Dr. Vi Tu Banh, a successful optometrist in Uxbridge, the story of his family’s journey from thriving business owners in South Vietnam to refugees building a new life in Canada is as fresh in his mind as it was 40 years ago. Growing up in South Vietnam in the 1970s, to a soundtrack of dropping bombs, Vi Tu recalls his close relationship with his
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grandparents. “ They treated me like a prince,” he says. The first of seven children, Vi Tu’s survival had been unlikely after his mother suffered a severe fever while pregnant. Her remarkable recovery and Vi Tu’s birth were a source of joy and celebration for an already close family. Vi Tu’s early childhood in Vietnam is sprinkled with fond memories of helping in his grandfather’s shops. A successful clothing business with two thriving locations, Vi Tu recalls the straightforward business ethic taught to him by his grandfather: “your job is to get people what they want, don’t rip people off, and put money in the cashbox.”
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