Misoon Yun Chun

Misoon Yun Chun - beloved wife, mother, grandmother, sister, auntie and friend - died peacefully in her home in Bethesda, Maryland on November 17, 2023, surrounded by her family.

Born on June 2, 1938 in Seoul, Korea, Misoon was the middle child of five siblings. She attended Kyunggi Girls School, where she played volleyball, developed a love for American movies, made many lifelong friends and pursued her greatest passion - her love for ballet. Her father, In-Sik Yun, served as Secretary to the Consulate General of the United States in Seoul and also on special assignment as chief interpreter to General Douglas MacArthur during the Korean War. In recognition of her father's service, General MacArthur sponsored a rare family visa for the Yuns in 1957, enabling them to leave war-torn Korea for America in search of a better life.

The family settled in San Francisco, California, where Misoon studied pharmacology and earned her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of California at San Francisco. While living in the Bay Area, she also met her husband, Ki-Taek Chun, with whom she would remain happily married for over 56 years. After their marriage in 1967, Misoon and Ki-Taek moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where she worked at Saint Joseph's Hospital and had her two sons, Stephen and Michael.

When Ki-Taek was offered a new career opportunity in Washington, D.C. in 1975, they relocated to Bethesda, Maryland, which would be her home for the rest of her life. Following the move, Misoon continued her own career as a licensed pharmacologist and member of the Public Health Commissioned Corps at the Food and Drug Administration - working at the FDA for over 20 years until her retirement and rising to the rank of Navy Captain. She served in the agency's Pulmonary and Oncology Department as the point person for approving inhalant delivery mechanisms for asthma medications, which continue to be widely used to this day.

At home, Misoon was the unquestioned heart and soul of her family. She raised her sons to continually strive to broaden their horizons and instilled in them her passion for the arts and European culture. She loved living in the D.C. area, with its cosmopolitan and intellectual distinctiveness, sophistication and vibrancy. Her favorite family outings were to exhibits at the National Gallery of Art and other Smithsonian museums, concerts at the Kennedy Center and sampling the diversity of restaurants throughout the city, which stimulated her own joy and creativity in the kitchen. She wanted her children to be versatile and well-rounded as well, and she fostered a wide range of interests and activities to achieve this - including family camping and skiing trips, piano lessons and her sons' various sports. While taking loving care of her family, she also nurtured her own spiritual self, and her long-held religious beliefs led her to be baptized as a Catholic in 1987 with her son Michael.

Retirement allowed Misoon to spend more time on her favorite interests - such as ballet, painting, golf and studying French - as well as her passion for travel. She traveled the globe with Ki-Taek and was the inspiration and benefactor of a number of memorable family trips, which had a particularly strong impact on her grandchildren and instilled in them a passion for learning about the world around them. She also cherished the numerous friends she had made over the course of her life, from Korea to San Francisco to Michigan and Washington, D.C. Nothing exemplifies her kindness and loving nature more than the fact that her friendships were so enduring, whether forged many decades ago or more recently during her golden years - neither time nor distance could diminish these relationships. Perhaps most of all, Misoon will be remembered by her family and friends for the way she expressed herself through her cooking. She was always happiest when she was able to share her love of good food and exploring new cuisines with others.

Misoon embodied the qualities of grace, dignity, selflessness, caring and love. She is survived by her husband Ki-Taek, sons Stephen and Michael, daughters-in-law Susie and Wendy and five grandchildren (Megan, Ryan, Nicole, Andrew and Kyle).