WORCESTER — Joseph Vo Van Ngo and his wife, Bay Thi Huynh, were able to escape the poverty and despair in their Communist-ruled country in a boat he stealthily built in 1980, a few years after the Vietnam war ended. But the couple, married for 60 years, were not able to avoid the snare of COVID-19, which claimed their lives in the same hospital room minutes apart on May 14.

The day the couple died, their oldest daughter, Kim Chi Nguyen-Ngo, 50, an entrepreneur who had been her parents' caregiver at their home, was taken to the hospital where she died five days later of the treacherous disease.

Two of the couple's remaining 10 children, Dominic and Thuy Ngo, both of Worcester, said like in death, their parents were inseparable in life. Their marriage had been arranged, like their parents before them, but they became connected and fell in love. The siblings said their parents always held hands and were often seen kissing. When they were taken to St. Vincent Hospital on May 8 — with symptoms family members initially thought were due to the flu or allergies — they were allowed to be in the same room.

“They were holding hands. Dad passed away first and (within about 90 minutes) Mom was gone,” said Dominic, 48, who, like his parents and others in his family, is a devout Catholic. “I think Mom and Dad is bringing our sister to heaven. They are saints. They are our role models.”

He was 85. She was 82.

Thuy, 46, said their parents were always together, “like super-glued to each other.” Her older sister, Kim, a single mother of three, was usually with their parents, especially during the past four or five years when she began going to their home to care for them when their health began to fail.

Kim, Thuy said, like their parents was “loving, kind and humble.” The older sister was like a mother to her younger siblings, and loved to cook for them. When she cooked for her family, it was not unusual for her to prepare enough to serve as many as 30 other family members.

“My sister was always with my parents 24-7, even when they went to the coffee shop. They were like a bundling together,” Thuy said. “I think that’s why God took them together. They’ve always been attached together.”

Lynnzie Ngo, 42, said Kim traveled back to Vietnam with their parents each year to hand out bags of rice to those in need. The couple worked hard to take care of their family and to give to the less fortunate and the hungry.

“They were selfless and would not spend on themselves, but instead saved to help others and to buy rice to distribute to communities in Vietnam,” Lynnzie said. She said the family has established a charity to continue their work of helping those in need in Vietnam, as well as other places.

Donations can be mailed to the Joseph Ngo & Bay Huynh Family Charity, 80 Colonial Drive, Shrewsbury, MA 01545. A GoFundMe page has also been established.

The couple’s 60th anniversary was April 20. The family had planned for six months for everyone to come back to Worcester to have an anniversary party May 17.

The couple grew up together in Rach Dung, a small fishing and farming village in southern Vietnam. Ngo was an officer with the forces that fought with American soldiers against Communist North Vietnam. Thuy said their father never talked about the war. The family had a hard life, but their mother, a quiet, very humble and modest woman, never complained and was always happy.

After the country reunified, the Communist government kept a tight rein. Anyone caught trying to escape would be jailed or worse. But their father, who was a skilled carpenter, was determined to give his family a better life. He and two of his wife's brothers built a flat boat that was used for fishing. Extra wood that would later be used to build up the sides to make it more seaworthy was kept weighted down and hidden by tall grass in a nearby river. His wife, pregnant with their 11th child, salted and preserved any leftover food to take on the journey.

During a couple of nights before the 42 family members were to make their escape, Ngo and one of his brothers would canoe out to the boat to add the taller sides.

Once at sea, Thailand pirates robbed them of their gold and money, but that did not deter the family. They were still alive and their deep religious faith kept them going. A day later, when they were chased by another band of pirates, their father aimed the gas-powered boat toward a distanced tiny black dot that he thought maybe was an island. It turned out to be a large oil drilling ship from Holland.

The group was rescued and eventually taken to Manila in the Philippines, where they stayed for six months to learn English as a second language and for the couple to give birth to their 11th child, whom they named Manila.

The family arrived in Worcester on Feb. 14, 1981, having been sponsored by the late Monsignor Edmond T. Tinsley at Catholic Charities.

Dominic and Thuy said the family is forever grateful to Sisters Carol Kell, Janet Ballentine and Mary Barry, Sisters of Mercy who worked with Msgr. Tinsley and was charged with finding housing and support for the family of 13. Each year at Christmas and Easter the family visits the sisters, now retired and living together in Worcester.

The parents attended Mass twice each day at Our Lady of Vilna Church on Vernon Hill, where nearly all are refugees or descendants of refugees who escaped Communist Vietnam by boat.

The priest, the Rev. Peter Tam Bui, said the couple had been members of the church for 39 years, beginning at St. John’s on Temple Street, where the Vietnamese worshiped before the community moved to Our Lady of Vilna in 2002.

He said the couple were well-known and well-loved throughout the Worcester community. “Mr. Joseph,” he said, served the Vietnamese Catholic community for a long time and held several positions in the church, including Eucharistic minister and lector. His wife joined with religious groups to support the parish.

The couple loved to travel to visit Catholic landmarks in different parts of the world. They also toured the Holy Land.

“They were very religious people. They supported seminarians even in Vietnam. They did such great things,” Father Bui said, adding that the parents and children were a very tight-knit family.

“I look at the family. They (are) so happy. They stayed together. The children are very close with each other. They took care of the mom and dad for years, and years and years.”