Sun Ae Kim

Sun Ae Kim was born in Dae Gu, South Korea on January 1, 1938. She was the 2nd child of 7 children to her parents, Dal Bum Lee and Boon Yi Kim. She aspired to go to college as a young adult but due to limited family resources, she went to nursing school instead and used her savings to send her younger brother to college in her place. In 1963, at the age of 25, she boldly left her family behind in an impoverished country still recovering from the devastation of the Korean War, in search of economic opportunities in the United States. While adjusting to a new culture and language, she worked diligently as a nurse in an American hospital and sent her earnings to support her struggling family back home in Korea.

Her plans of returning to Korea quickly changed after she met and married Jong Doo Kim, then a seminary student in Philadelphia, a year later. She later followed her husband to Munich, West Germany after he changed career paths and decided to pursue a doctorate in Philosophy and Western Theology. She continued to work as a nurse in a US army hospital based in West Germany to support her husband while he studied. In her free time, she spent much of her time traveling to different parts of Europe with him, collecting postcards to commemorate their many trips, which she would later recall as being one of the happiest times in her life.

In 1971, she returned to the US and gave birth to her first daughter, Jeannie in New York. A year later, her second daughter, Susan, was born. She continued to work as a nurse during this time to support her new family while still sending money when she could to support her family in Korea. In 1980, her husband returned to Munich to focus on his studies. Finally, after 13 years of study, he eventually earned his doctorate in Philosophy and Western Theology from Munich University in 1982 after completing his dissertation in German.

While her husband was away in Germany, she remained in Brooklyn, New York with her young daughters and continued to work faithfully as a nurse to support her family, often taking the less desired night shifts, as the pay was higher. Despite the hardship she endured as a single mother in a foreign land, she raised her daughters well and saw them graduate from college and graduate school. Jeannie became a Speech Language Pathologist after earning her Master’s Degree from Teacher’s College at Columbia University in 2000. Susan became a kidney doctor after earning her medical degree from SUNY Downstate in 1998 and completing her nephrology fellowship at Weil-Cornell Medical Center in 2004. During this tumultuous time, she somehow managed to find time to take college courses in pursuit of her own dream for higher education and eventually earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Hunter College in 1993.

Mom was loyal and always concerned about her family’s welfare. She sponsored 4 of her sisters and their families and helped them emigrate to the US. She also helped bring her mother to the US for a better life. She was generous with her resources and continued to financially support her family and others when she could, to improve their situation, even if it meant she had less for herself. She was a devout Christian and taught us to care for the less fortunate by example.

During the latter years of her life, she found delight in caring for her 3 grandchildren, Noah, Justin and Julian. Her face would brighten by the sheer mention of their names, and she was always joyful in their presence. Mom will be remembered for her generosity, loyalty to her loved ones, tenacity and her sense of adventure. She will be missed by us all.

She is survived by her daughters, Jeannie and Susan, grandsons Noah, Justin and Julian and her sisters Young Ae, Jung Ae and Kyung Ae