Hallam Carey Shorrock Jr.

1923 - 2018

December 1, 1923 - August 8, 2018 Hallam C. Shorrock, Jr., a former missionary to East Asia with a long career in international education, passed away in Claremont, CA, on August 8th. He was 94. Shorrock, with his wife Helen (d. 2001), was one of the first American missionaries allowed into Japan during the US occupation. They arrived in 1947 and spent the next two decades as teachers and relief workers in Tokyo and Seoul. A native of Seattle, Washington, Shorrock enlisted in the U.S. Navy shortly after Pearl Harbor and was assigned to study Japanese at the Navy's School of Oriental Languages in Boulder, CO. After the war, he studied theology at Yale Divinity School in New Haven, CT, and was ordained by the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). In Japan, he organized Christian workcamps where US and Asian volunteers helped the country rebuild from the war. Later, he served for 16 years as a director of Church World Service in Japan and Korea. His service in postwar Japan was recognized in 1954 by the Emperor of Japan. In 1961, he was awarded a Public Welfare Medal by the President of South Korea. From 1963 to 1969, Shorrock was vice-president for financial affairs at Tokyo's International Christian University. In 1969, he became an associate director of the University of California's Education Abroad Program in Santa Barbara, CA, where he lived for over 20 years. Shorrock is survived by his five children and their families – Karen Hayes of Davis, CA; Tim Shorrock of Washington, DC; Terry and Georgia Shorrock of Cranford, NJ; Michael and Rosemary Shorrock of San Anselmo, CA; and Judy and Evan Fletcher, of Davis, CA; and 12 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. His second wife (m. 2003), Yasuko Fukada Shorrock, died in 2016. Shorrock's memorial will take place at the United Church of Christ church, 233 W. Harrison Ave., Claremont, CA, at 2 p.m. on Saturday, September 29, 2018. In lieu of flowers, his family asks that donations be sent in Hallam Shorrock's name to one of three institutions: Japan ICU Foundation, 475 Riverside Drive, Suite 439, New York, NY 10115-0439; Yale University Divinity School Class of '52 International Scholarship Fund, 409 Prospect Street, New Haven, CT 06511; and Pilgrim Place, 625 Mayflower Road, Claremont, CA 91711.