In memoriam of a friend of the Worldwide Church of God

In memoriam of a friend
of the Worldwide
Church of God

The life of the vigorous and always helpful former Abbot of the Thai Temple of Los Angeles was unexpectedly cut short on Sept. 2 in Bangkok, Thailand. Many students of Ambassador College in both Big Sandy, Texas, and Pasadena remember Abbot PhraThepsopon as the encourager of our student-teachers who volunteered to serve at two refugee camps in northern Thailand from 1980 to 1983.

Perhaps it is significant that the demise of Abbot PraThepsopon occurred on the day Americans designate as Labor Day, for at the time he collapsed of a heart attack he was publicly serving his people.

In his later years the Abbot rose to higher rank and obtained the name PraDharmmarajanuwat. He was chairman of the board of Wat Thai of Los Angeles and for decades led and served at Thailand’s largest Buddhist temple—Wat Po in Bangkok. His parents emigrated from southeastern China to Thailand and from that heritage came his deep appreciation of the gardens of Ambassador College in Pasadena. He took the character of these gardens as the standard for the grounds around Wat Thai of Los Angeles.

We appreciate the Abbot’s insights in enabling John Halford and staff to coordinate the work of our student-teachers among the refugees from Laos who were to be settled in third countries in the middle 1980s. And also for his guidance in the 1980s of our teachers who served in the Royal Palace School in Bangkok.

The Thai community in Southern California expressed its appreciation to Joseph and Tammy Tkach and to the Worldwide Church of God for recognizing the "wide heart" of the Abbot in his decades of service in Thailand and Thai communities abroad. Elder Herman L. Hoeh gave the eulogy on Saturday evening, Sept. 7, at Wat Thai.

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