LIMRIC, Soon Ja (Soon Ja LEE)

LEE, LIMRIC, CHON

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 6/20/2017 at 02:02:38

Obituary ~ Soon Ja Limric (Soon Ja Lee)
June 02, 1931 ~ April 30, 2017

Lamoni Chronicle
Lamoni, Decatur County, Iowa

Soon Ja Limric (no middle name) was born 2 June 1931 in Sachon, South Korea. Her father’s name was Lee, Sang Yoon and her mother’s name was Chon, Hyon Sook. In Korea the wife does not usually take the family name of the husband and all married women are addressed as “miss”. Soon Ja had three brothers, Il Sung, Hyong Ho (died) and one who died at an early age, and two sisters, Jung Ja (died) and Sun Ja). Soon Ja grew up in a neighboring sea port town of Samchon-Po. From the date of her birth until the end of World War II, she lived under the occupational rule of Japan. She became very fluent in Japanese besides speaking Korean. Her family members have commented, “her Japanese is better than her Korean.” She taught herself initially to speak English, and continued her study of English in College. She had an extensive knowledge of the Chinese characters. Soon Ja had a somewhat normal childhood. Her father was a policeman and later a government worker. For a period of a few years before and during World War II Soon Ja lived in Japan near Hiroshima. She tells a story when she started grade school in Japan, her new Japanese friends took her aside and pointed to another girl and told her, “she is Korean, don’t play with her.” Because of Soon Ja’s excellent Japanese they never knew Soon Ja was Korean. Soon Ja’s family moved back to Korea before the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima but she lost a distant relative who was killed by the bomb.

When her family returned to Korea, life became hard for the family. The Korean people did not like the Japanese and those who worked for the Japanese were in danger. The family split up and Soon Ja went with her mother deep into the country side to be safe. There was also a struggle in Korea between the communist and federalist Koreans which caused caused Korea to be split into the North and South Koreas. After about two years of being a separated nations, life in South Korea started to settle down and Soon Ja’s family was back together again. As a teenager, she was plagued with a pleurisy illness. She had to stay home most of the time where she started reading many books. She started to learn about the world and learned her original English skills.

Soon Ja completed elementary and high school earning not only a high school diploma, but also a primary school teaching certificate. She tells the story when her girl friend and she wanted to learn more English. They applied for a job with the U. S. Army in Pusan. They were hired and reported for the first day of work where they met a big American sergeant . They tried to use their English, but no words came out. They were so afraid, they ran away and never went back. Soon Ja also tells the story about when she was trapped on the North Korean Army side of the Battle line around Pusan. She had gone to visit a relative when the North broke through the line and she could not go home. She also could not go back to the relative’s home but she had a small basket of apples she was carrying on her head. For three days she ate apples until the North was pushed back and she could go home.

During the Korean War, Ehwa University, a prominent women’s university in Korea, had to leave Seoul and relocated to Pusan when the North Korean Army was over running Seoul. While the University was in Pusan, Soon Ja applied to and was accepted by the University. She did very well at the University and when it went back to Seoul, Soon Ja moved with it. She completed three years and was ready to start the fourth year but she lost her tuition money she had saved. That same year she met Dean Limric who had just came to Korea to work as an electronic engineer. They went together for two years until Dean returned to Ohio to go to college (He wasn’t ready for marriage yet).

Soon Ja then began working at the American Airbase, K-16 Hong Kong Gift Shop after Dean left. She started as a salesperson and later because the shop manager. Two years later Dean returned to Korea and on Thanksgiving day, 1960, he went out looking for Soon Ja. After wandering around for quite a bit of time, a young girl took his hand and pulled him to a house. The lady of the house came out, recognized Dean and told the girl, her maid, where to take him. When Dean arrived at Soon Ja’s house, she wasn’t home but her middle sister, Jung Ja, was home and took Dean into the house. After waiting about an hour, Soon Ja returned home. Her first words to dean were, “What are you doing here?” Soon Ja had another boyfriend, so the competative courtship drama began! Six months later, Dean was able to win Soon Ja back.

They were married June 21, 1961. The Korean Government was overthrown by a military coup and groups that had more than six people could not gather together. Their marriage was a civil union under Korean law. The Christian wedding and reception had to wait until August, 1961, when a new Korean Government was formed and the group restrictions were removed.

In the fall of 1962, Dean’s company sent him to work in Japan. Soon Ja was still a Korean citizen and needed to change her citizenship to the United States. After finding a provision in the immigration law, Dean sent her to Akron Ohio to stay with his mother and father while she applied for her immediate citizenship. In the mean time Dean went to Japan to work. At first there were some problems because the Cleveland Immigration Office had never had an application like hers. Dean’s dad wrote a letter to a Congressman about the problem. At the same time Soon Ja met a Korean in Akron who introduced her to a newspaper reportor and asked for her help. Soon there was a front page article about Dean waiting for his Korean Bride to join him and how she was havivg a problem obtaining her citizenship. About a week later Soon Ja received a call from the Cleveland Immigration Office to come in for her exam and processing. Soon Ja and Dean lived in Japan for two years and then was hired by the Department of the Army and they lived two years in Korea.

In the summer of 1966 Dean transferred to Hawaii. At that time Soon Ja and Dean were adopting a niece. Soon Ja followed three months later. After arriving in Honolulu Hawaii, Soon Ja started the process of really becoming an American. She learned to drive, learned short hand, typing and IBM punch card processing. She even learned to play golf. She gained self-confidence and soon desired to go to work. Soon Ja could speak, read and write Korean, Japanese and English. She was hired by Duty Free Shoppers and worked for two years as a sales person. Management noticed her capabilities and she was promoted to branch supervisor. After working for 25 years at Duty Free Shoppers she retired in 1997 after earning many honors and awards For Soon Ja, life didn’t stop at retirement. She spent many years working with Dean on their house, traveling, and purchasing investment properties. She had a “green thumb” and enjoyed her garden of plants and flowers.

Soon Ja was a vibrant person, very independent and strong willed. She could get things done when other people would not even consider taking on a problem. Soon Ja’s and Dean’s love for each other was a life long journey of sharing On January 13, 2014, Soon Ja experienced a ruptured blood vessel in the right front section of her brain resulting in a life threatening stroke. She was paralyzed on the left side of her body. Soon Ja had a drastic change in her way of life. She was no longer the strong vibrant person. She had to depend on Dean and care persons to care for her 24 hours a day. In her final days she was loved by all who came in contact with her. We now can say goodbye to her—”Annyong–hi ka seyo”, go in peace. “Sarang ha seyo”, we love you.

Funeral services were conducted at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, May 20, 2017, Lamoni Community of Christ Church, Lamoni, Iowa. Interment was made at Rose Hill Cemetery, Lamoni, Iowa.

Slade - O'Donnell Funeral Home of Leon and Lamoni handled arrangements.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, June of 2017

Decatur Obituaries maintained by Constance McDaniel Hall.
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