Lohmann: Godwin janitor called ‘best person in the world’

SLIDESHOW: Godwin Janitor

On the first day he walked into Henrico County's Mills Godwin High School as a ninth-grader, Jordan Kocen met everyone he expected he would and at least one person he didn't.

"I see this guy standing in the hall, a janitor, and he asked me for my name," recalled Kocen, now a senior, still somewhat surprised by the request. "Ever since then, whenever I see him -- on the football field, at basketball, at lunch -- he always says, 'What's up, Jordan?'"

Phuong Nguyen, 60, the school custodian who befriended Kocen and does the same with pretty much everyone else who comes through the doors at Godwin, never forgets a name or a face. He never forgets to say a kind word. He never forgets to smile.

"Have a nice day," he says, all day every day.

For a guy who spent seven years in a Vietnamese prison camp, who has been separated from much of his family since coming to the United States in 1992 and who works two jobs to pay the bills -- one during the day cleaning Godwin, the other at night working at a fast-food restaurant -- he sure has a good disposition.

"I live in America; I'm happy," he said. "Everyone treats me so well. That's why I smile."

His smile is contagious.

Ask a Godwin student, teacher or administrator about Nguyen and you get a story about a good deed or a friendly gesture. Graduated students routinely come back to Godwin to visit Nguyen, who is invariably described with terms such as "amazing," "excellent" and "cool." One teacher called him "a hero." Robbin Bailey, who teaches special-needs students, said simply, "He's the best person in the world."

All of that, and he can sing, too.

When Nguyen is asked, he'll perform at school concerts and assemblies. "Ave Maria" is one of his signature pieces.

"He's an incredible opera-style singer," said David Myers, Godwin's principal. "He gets up there in his custodian uniform, and you just don't think 'Ave Maria' is about to come out of his mouth. It's unbelievable."

Hearing such praise, Nguyen smiles shyly, clearly uncomfortable with all of the attention. His mother, he says, always taught him to be humble.

She would not be disappointed.

Nguyen was a lieutenant in the South Vietnamese army when North Vietnamese forces took over the South in 1975. A month later, he was imprisoned in one of the infamous postwar "re-education camps," where, it's safe to assume, he learned nothing more than how humans should not treat one another.

For almost seven years, he was kept there, away from his wife and daughter. After he was released, he scraped together a living, riding a bicycle 50 miles a day to acquire goods in the city and then resell them in a remote village.

When the opportunity arose in 1992 to immigrate to the United States, he eagerly snatched it. He and his wife, Tuyed Ngo, a former teacher who now works in an alterations shop, found their first U.S. stop, New Hampshire, too cold. So after two years they moved south to Richmond. Their daughter, grown and married, stayed behind in Vietnam and still lives there.

Nguyen returns to his homeland every few years to visit his daughter's family -- he has three grandchildren -- as well as his mother and siblings. His father, who also served time in a postwar prison camp, died last year.

The beginning of a new school year is always one of Nguyen's favorite times as Godwin, where he has worked for 15 years, comes alive with the return of teachers and students.

Once again, he can greet old friends he passes in the halls and learn the names of new ones. As he waits to clean the commons and kitchen after lunch, he can stop by tables and chat with students while they eat, asking about their classes or sports or just about anything.

"I do love this school," he says.

So as school doors reopen, it would do us well to think of Mr. Nguyen, a man who wields so much more than a mop and a broom. Through his hard times and his hard work and, maybe most importantly, his good nature, he is a true teacher.

And have a nice day.

Contact Bill Lohmann at (804) 649-6639 or .