Welcome to Quixotic Heights, where we explore the extraordinary stories that shape our shared humanity.

Today, we’re joined by Dr. Randy Kluver—Dean of Global and International Studies at Oklahoma State University—whose family story is one of quiet courage and compassion.

In the years following the fall of Saigon, Randy’s parents, Mary and Ordell Kluver, opened their hearts and their home to sponsor more than 250 Vietnamese refugees who resettled in Oklahoma. Their story, now preserved in the book Chào to Main Street, published by Randy in their memory, captures the power of community, kindness, and connection across cultures.

We’ll talk with Randy about his parents’ legacy, the lessons their story holds for today, and how personal history can shape a lifelong commitment to global understanding.

Randy Kluver is the Dean of the Oklahoma State University (OSU) Global and International Studies program. His family sponsored over 250 Vietnamese refugees who came to Oklahoma in the 1970s and 1980s and resettled there. His parents wrote about their experiences in Chào to Main Street: An Account of Vietnamese Refugees in Western Oklahoma.“Captivating from start to finish.” — Major General (Ret.) Viet Luong
With the fall of Saigon in April of 1975, Vietnamese refugees flooded into US military bases to await resettlement in the United States. Ordell and Mary Kluver, from a small town in Western Oklahoma, soon found themselves immersed in a project to sponsor and help resettle 250 Vietnamese refugees in Clinton, Oklahoma, and the surrounding areas. They arranged for housing, education, and job placement. This book is their account, detailing the economic, social, and cross-cultural issues that arose from such an experience and exploring the genuine difficulties of introducing the Vietnamese people, with strong cultural traditions, into a vastly different, largely rural culture in the US.
“Considered one of the most successful group resettlement efforts in the US, this amazing story is barely known, and this volume tells the story of that migration with humor, tragedy, frustration, and above all, an undying commitment to providing those who had fled their homes with a chance to start a new life.”
— Scott Fritzen, President of Fulbright University Vietnam.
“Not only does this book reimagine what it was like for the many Vietnamese families who had to give of their lives for the sake of freedom and the struggles of starting over, but it also allows so many people to realize the hardships for those who were fighting to help the immigrants and the refugee families.”
—Thuan Hieu Nguyen, President, Vietnamese American Heritage Community of Oklahoma
“A heartfelt, powerful tribute to resilience and compassion.”
— Amy M. Le, Author of Snow in Vietnam