Muriel Hla Tin Redam

Muriel Hla Tin Redam, of Jacksonville, Arkansas, passed away August 13, 2016 at the age of 93. She was born in London, England and was the daughter of the late Walter Hla Gyaw Lwin and Melody Elizabeth Lwin. Muriel left London at the age of nine and moved to Burma with her parents and sisters. Her mother was English while her father was Burmese and a student in London at the time her parents met. She attended a private school in Burma and studied dance and nursing. While in training to become a nurse, WWII broke out in Burma with the invasion of the Japanese. Her family had already evacuated to the north and was airlifted to India. After arriving in India, Muriel joined the ranks of the Women's Auxiliary Corps (WAC I) and was assigned as a cipher operator to decode secret messages. After the war, in 1948, she and her family moved back to Burma but they quickly had to leave for England due to Burma gaining its independence from the British government. A secretarial job with the Burmese Embassy led to the introduction of her future husband, Everett Redam, who was in the American Air Force and attached to the American Embassy. Muriel's first move out of England with the American Air Force and new husband was to Germany where their son John was born. Soon after they were transferred to Long Island, NY then Columbus, Ohio where their daughter Elizabeth (Bj) was born. A couple years later they were transferred to Saigon, Vietnam where Muriel taught English to the Vietnamese children. After President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered the Americans out of Vietnam, Muriel and her family went back to Germany for four years then moved to Jacksonville, Arkansas in 1967. A career in the newspaper business came about after being interviewed by a reporter for her Burmese recipes. She worked as Society Editor and reporter for the Jacksonville Daily News before retiring in 1996. She was preceded in death by her sisters, Daphne (Ron) Frizell, Eileen (Stan) Watts and Miranda (Denis) Druitt. She is survived by her son, John Redam and Bj (Andrew) Napolitano, six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Memorials may be made to the American Cancer Society. Arrangements by Moore's Jacksonville Funeral Home & Crematory (501) 982-2136. Sign online guestbook at www.mooresjacksonvillefuneralhome.com.