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Quy Trinh, 58, at home in Silver Spring, says of his daughter: "She wanted to save people's lives." (Sun photo by Chiaki Kawajiri / January 25, 2005) |
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There were so many things Linda Trinh had yet to do over the next five years.
For her parents, the bubbly and devoted 21-year-old planned a visit to the Vatican. For her brother, she envisioned the two of them on a golfing trip in sunny California. For her friends, she resolved to call every month and make time for girls' night out.
After all, the Johns Hopkins University senior was extremely busy with plans to land a research job or scholarship this year. Trinh figured she needed more hands-on experience before accomplishing her next step, earning acceptance into Stanford University's School of Medicine by the summer of 2006.
Her death on Sunday cut short each of the moves Trinh carefully plotted on her Goal Map 2009, a colorful diagram of five year's worth of personal and professional dreams. Some were uplifting and some were lofty, but anyone who knew Trinh also knew it was all attainable for someone who had already completed a similar set of ambitions in 2003.
As charted, Trinh's graduation from Hopkins this May would open the door to what was supposed to be the next exciting phase in her life.
"All those plans were cut short here," Quang Trinh said tearfully yesterday, slamming his hand down on the diagram where his younger sister's plans, all penned in pink, began. "She can't do those things anymore."
"We are devastated."
The Trinh family mourned yesterday, still reeling after learning that Linda was found dead in her North Charles Street apartment. Still numb to the thought that someone had killed her. Still in shock that so much promise would go unfulfilled.
Baltimore homicide detectives said yesterday that they're searching for Linda's killer. Meanwhile, a steady stream of aunts, uncles and cousins drifted in and out of the family's Silver Spring home to remember and grieve. At school, her friends and co-workers tried to make sense of her death.
But none of it made sense.
How could it when everybody was so sure that Linda was going to do things, big things, in life?
She already had a good head start, said her father, Quy, 58, a military officer who was shipped off to prison camp at the end of the Vietnam War in 1975.
In a tale similar to other Vietnamese immigrants, it would take eight years, an escape by boat and a year of living in Malaysia and the Philippines before Quy would be able to move his family in 1983 to Maryland where his wife, Hoan, had family. They settled in what would later become a Vietnamese enclave in Silver Spring in May 1983 with their only son, Quang, now 25. Linda was born several months later.
Throughout her youth, Linda's drive and endless energy were evident, her family and friends said.
Trinh lettered in gymnastics and volleyball at Montgomery County's Springbrook High School, according to Principal Michael Durso.
She was also involved in the Latin and French clubs and tutored other students. "I'm looking at her transcript right now and I don't see a single 'B' on it," Durso said.
"If you were told you could order a daughter, you would order someone just like Linda. I can't think of a single flaw," he said.
There was almost nothing Linda didn't accomplish on her Goal Map 2003.
Straight A's, check.
Junior or Senior Princess, check on both.
For her parents, the bubbly and devoted 21-year-old planned a visit to the Vatican. For her brother, she envisioned the two of them on a golfing trip in sunny California. For her friends, she resolved to call every month and make time for girls' night out.
After all, the Johns Hopkins University senior was extremely busy with plans to land a research job or scholarship this year. Trinh figured she needed more hands-on experience before accomplishing her next step, earning acceptance into Stanford University's School of Medicine by the summer of 2006.
Her death on Sunday cut short each of the moves Trinh carefully plotted on her Goal Map 2009, a colorful diagram of five year's worth of personal and professional dreams. Some were uplifting and some were lofty, but anyone who knew Trinh also knew it was all attainable for someone who had already completed a similar set of ambitions in 2003.
As charted, Trinh's graduation from Hopkins this May would open the door to what was supposed to be the next exciting phase in her life.
"All those plans were cut short here," Quang Trinh said tearfully yesterday, slamming his hand down on the diagram where his younger sister's plans, all penned in pink, began. "She can't do those things anymore."
"We are devastated."
The Trinh family mourned yesterday, still reeling after learning that Linda was found dead in her North Charles Street apartment. Still numb to the thought that someone had killed her. Still in shock that so much promise would go unfulfilled.
Baltimore homicide detectives said yesterday that they're searching for Linda's killer. Meanwhile, a steady stream of aunts, uncles and cousins drifted in and out of the family's Silver Spring home to remember and grieve. At school, her friends and co-workers tried to make sense of her death.
But none of it made sense.
How could it when everybody was so sure that Linda was going to do things, big things, in life?
She already had a good head start, said her father, Quy, 58, a military officer who was shipped off to prison camp at the end of the Vietnam War in 1975.
In a tale similar to other Vietnamese immigrants, it would take eight years, an escape by boat and a year of living in Malaysia and the Philippines before Quy would be able to move his family in 1983 to Maryland where his wife, Hoan, had family. They settled in what would later become a Vietnamese enclave in Silver Spring in May 1983 with their only son, Quang, now 25. Linda was born several months later.
Throughout her youth, Linda's drive and endless energy were evident, her family and friends said.
Trinh lettered in gymnastics and volleyball at Montgomery County's Springbrook High School, according to Principal Michael Durso.
She was also involved in the Latin and French clubs and tutored other students. "I'm looking at her transcript right now and I don't see a single 'B' on it," Durso said.
"If you were told you could order a daughter, you would order someone just like Linda. I can't think of a single flaw," he said.
There was almost nothing Linda didn't accomplish on her Goal Map 2003.
Straight A's, check.
Junior or Senior Princess, check on both.
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