Hard work, determination, and a strong sense of family – all are important to Cabool restaurant owners Huch and Mary Ouck, whose life journeys brought them years ago from their war-torn homeland in southeast Asia to this small town in the Missouri Ozarks. They fled the killing fields of Cambodia in 1979, met and married at a refugee camp in Thailand, and eventually made their way to America, settling in Cabool 18 years ago and opening Emperor’s Palace on Spruce Avenue. “They sacrificed everything to come here and give us a chance,” Sokhan Ouck said of his parents. In the late 1970s, the Khmer Rouge was in power in Cambodia. Leader Pol Pot sought to make the country an agrarian society and those who did not fit the image of his ideal were eliminated. It is estimated between one and two million people in Cambodia perished during that time. In 1979 Huch, who was working in the rice fields, dropped everything and headed on foot to Thailand to escape. Mary was working at a rubber plantation; she also left behind her life and fled. Utilizing a modern “underground railroad,” each made their way to the border, walking under the cover of night. It took four months to reach Thailand. “They endured a lot of things that most folks will never see,” son Sokhan said. They had only what they could carry with them. It was at a refugee camp in Thailand that the two first met. They later married and were the parents of two children – daughter Khan and son Sokhan – by the time they came to the United States. Life in the camp was not easy, food was scarce, and the Thai guards could be cruel, but the Oucks fished to supplement the scant cup of rice each was allotted each week. After four years in the refugee camp, a United Nations relief worker was interviewing refugees, asking if they wished to return to Cambodia. Many did, wishing to be reunited with the families they hoped had survived. Huch, who loved his homeland, did not wish to return. “I don’t want my family to die,” he told the interviewer. The family eventually went to the Philippines where they spent a year learning English in anticipation of going to America. The Ouck family was sponsored by Sister Patricia Sullivan and brought to Springfield, Missouri, along with 11 other families, on January 26, 1986. The climate, with its snow and cold, was as foreign to them as the American culture. They sought work wherever they could find it, manual labor, factory work, “that’s all they knew,” Sokhan said. They networked with other Cambodian immigrants, learned new skills, saved their money, and in 1992 they became naturalized U.S. citizens. Eventually the Golden Dragon restaurant in Cabool, owned by a fellow Cambodian American, was available for sale. “It was an opportunity that was given to them,” said Sokhan. The family moved to Cabool to make their home in 1996. Sokhan, like his older sister and their younger brother, Sokvany, grew up at the family restaurant, Emperor’s Palace. Schoolwork came first, then work at the family business. “Education is the number-one key,” Huch told his children. “There is not a single day that you can’t continue learning.” Sokhan said two important things his parents instilled in their children were “to be a good person and a work ethic like no other.” Emperor’s Palace is open six days a week and Huch and Mary are there from nine in the morning until nine at night. He prepares fresh batches of chicken and rice each morning and she preps the salad bar and gets the dining area ready for guests. Throughout the day he is more behind the scenes, preparing the meals in the kitchen, while she greets customers, waits tables, and handles the cash register. “They say Cambodia is the land of the smiling faces,” Sokhan said. “Anyone who comes in here and sees Mom knows that.” Partners in life and in business, the Oucks are also each other’s best friend. Sokhan himself is the head chef for Panda Express out of Springfield and he comes to help out a couple days of week at Emperor’s Palace. He enjoys working side by side with his father in the kitchen and says there is more to his father than many realize. “He appears quiet, but he’s actually quite a talker,” Sokhan said. “He’s very proud to be from Cabool. He loves this town.” The Oucks have been back to Cambodia four times over the years, meeting with family and visiting the places where they grew up. Themselves now the grandparents of four, they share family history and traditions. But Cabool is their home and they enjoy serving their customers, who drop in for a meal or stop by for carryout. Sokhan said his father has often said to him, “Hard work and determination can lead you to the door of success.”
Posted on: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 01:40:43 +0000
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