My Dad, a good Korean,
left an admirable legacy

Dad's parents, together with their young daughter and son, were among the first Korean families to arrive in Hawaii in 1904. At that time, it was rare for whole families to come at once because the sugar plantations usually recruited men, married or unmarried, who could emigrate alone.

Another unusual fact about Dad's family is that they were Roman Catholics, baptized in Korea. Also, my grandmother was four years older than my grandfather. In Korea, it was common among well-bred families to match their young son with an older girl who would guide him through life; they usually married in their teens.

Grandpa's father held a high position in his village. Grandpa was his second son and because the first son inherits everything, Grandpa, his wife and his children had to emigrate to Hawaii for better opportunities. Unfortunately, Grandpa, who was an educated and proud man, adjusted poorly to plantation life, drifting from job to job.

Grandma died when she was 68, long before Dad met Mom. Grandpa contracted tuberculosis and was admitted to Leahi Hospital, where he convalesced and resided for many years. He died there at the age of 97.

Dad was born in 1909 on Maui. Because his father was too ill to work, Dad had to manage their pig farm rather than attend school. He was 8 years old when he finally entered first grade. Too embarrassed to admit his age, he said he was 6.

Of the two churches Dad attended, Korean Christian Church and Korean Methodist Church, he preferred the former. Its dress code was more lax, its youth activities more numerous, and, according to Dad, the Korean girls there were prettier. It was at Korean Christian Church that Dad met Syngman Rhee, who would later become the first president of the Republic of Korea. After Dad graduated from McKinley High School, Rhee invited him to become a minister in his church.

"I want you to become my disciple," Rhee said, "but as my disciple, you will have to blindly follow me."

"Sonsaeng-nim (honored teacher), I will follow you everywhere, but not with my eyes closed," Dad said and declined to become his minister.

Active in Korean cultural affairs in Honolulu, Dad was elected president of Kuk Min Hur, the Korean National Association of Hawaii, making speeches in Korean and English at club functions. He expanded his Korean vocabulary by studying a Korean-English dictionary.

Eventually, he joined the Catholic Church and was asked to give the invocation at banquets and the grace at family gatherings. At those times, we called him "Reverend Chung."

When my father gradually lost most of his hair in his forties and fifties, he desperately tried to reverse the process. He read ads in the newspaper, and bought special shampoos and creams to rub into his scalp. He even tried a massager, which was supposed to stimulate the blood vessels, thereby fostering hair growth. Not a day went by when I didn't hear the buzz of the massager as he pressed the gadget against his head. Of course, none of this helped and he resorted to wearing a baseball cap. Later in life, Dad became less self-conscious, tossing the cap and going bare-headed.

One Valentine's Day, when I was still a teenager living at home, Dad called out to Mom to open a gaily wrapped package he said he had found on our front door step. It was addressed to her. When she unwrapped it, she saw a box of chocolates and a card which read, "To Julia, with love from your secret admirer, Carlos."

Mom chuckled because Dad's name is Charles and "Carlos" is its Spanish equivalent.

As a tailor for the Marine Corps, he managed to purchase a house on Puunui Avenue, then sold it to buy two houses on Kewalo Street, one of which he rented to another family. In the early 1950s, he sold those houses, bought an empty lot in Manoa Valley, and had a house built according to his specifications. The lot and house cost $25,000. He paid off the mortgage in three years. This property is now worth about $600,000.

Dad lived in comfort and peace, and when he died at age 87 in 1997, he left behind not only a beautiful house in a desirable neighborhood, but also several hundred thousand dollars in the bank and absolutely no debts.