Tham studied English literature in Malaysia before marrying an American Peace Corps worker.
She converted to Judaism after marrying Jewish-American Peace Corps worker, Joseph Goldberg, in Malaysia.
In 1971, the couple immigrated to the United States, first settling in New Jersey and then moving to Arlington, Virginia two years later.
She chaired the Northern Virginia Coalition, a nonprofit organization that helped to resettle Vietnamese refugees,[1] and served as sisterhood president at her synagogue, which is now the Congregation Etz Hayim in Arlington.
Tin Mines and Concubines received the Washington Writers Publishing House Prize.