Myong Sik "Amy" Yun

On March 2, 2026, at age 85, Myong Sik "Amy" Yun shuffled off this mortal coil (in the words of Hamlet/William Shakespeare). Her daughter, Jessica Wright, and husband, Chris; son, Mark Jeong MD, and wife, Myrna; four grandchildren - Nate and Devin Wright, and Denton and Fiona Jeong; and many family members and friends old and new lament losing her from their lives.

Myong Sik was born on September 15, 1940, in Seoul, Korea, near the end of a 35-year occupation of Korea by "the Japanese Empire." She was the treasured baby of the family of Tae Woo Yun and Gae Im Oh, each descendant from leading families of Seoul. An older brother, Kwang Sik, and four elder sisters - Tuk Sik, Hyun Sik, Joong Sik, and Pyong Sik - cared for her during wartime and helped Myong Sik to come of age during the earliest years of the founding of the Republic of Korea and then three years of the Korean War (1950-1953). By the end of the 1950s, she had graduated from Seoul's renowned Gyeonggi Girls' High School and was a student at Ewha Woman's University, the first accredited four-year university in Korea and one of the nation's preeminent schools of higher education. An art major at Ewha, she graduated in 1963.

After debuting as a young lady in Seoul society, she met her true love and soulmate and married him in December 1965: Dr. Woon Sou Jeong. Newly returned from the University of Kansas with a Ph.D. in Economics after earning science degrees at Yonsei University, one of South Korea's most prestigious universities, Dr. Jeong would embark on an illustrious career that would take him into academia (Yonsei, KAIST), industry, and the highest echelons of South Korean government. Through each of its chapters, Myong Sik was Woon Sou's companion, caretaker, and partner, raising their children, running their household, and rising to every occasion that was required by her husband's work. Dr. Jeong's sudden death in 1978 brought this chapter of her life to a tragic end and began a period of deep grief and re-orientation.

By 1980, at the encouragement of her older siblings who had all emigrated by then to the USA, she emigrated, too, with her daughter and son. Transitioning between the homes of family in Detroit suburbs and Metro Boston during their earliest years in America in search of the right new home for her family, she and her children finally settled in Michigan by 1982. A short and tragic second marriage to Pyong Tai Lee MD, ended with his death after extended illness in 1984.

A second phase of deep grief did not distract Myong Sik from the best interests of her daughter and son, who matriculated at Bates College and Bowdoin College in 1986 and 1988, respectively. Though neither would return from college to Michigan, both maintained close and loving relationships with "Umma" as they began their adulthoods in Boston, New York, Providence RI, and Denver. Myong Sik was proud to see her daughter Jessica succeed outstandingly as a travel entrepreneur and her son Mark earn a Doctor of Medicine degree from Brown University and attain a leadership role in Kaiser Permanente.

After ten lonesome years, Myong Sik met John "Ned" Grant in 1995 through a chance encounter near her home. A love affair that would last nearly 30 years would begin, with them ultimately married for more than 20 years. Ned was a loving companion who was loved dearly by her. He cared for Myong Sik through COVID-19 and into her decline in later years. Upon his death in December 2023, Myong Sik moved to near her daughter Jessica's family and lived out her life in cheerful and attentive care at AVIVA Country Club Heights in Woburn, MA.

A nurturing mother and grandmother, vivacious friend, athlete, and artist, Amy Yun was a loving and much-beloved person. The world will miss her laughter and grace and be less fun without her, but her memory will live on in the hearts of many. Her earthly remains will be laid to permanent rest alongside her true love Woon Sou and other members of the Jeong Family in Seoul. Services in America will be private.