Construction of my Family

• In Korea, the school year starts in March, while it begins in September in the United States. Thus, I spent one freshman semester at the Engineering College of Seoul National University, right after my high school graduation until I started my freshman year at the Carnegie Institute of Technology (in Pittsburgh. USA) in September of 1954.

  At that time, Koreans did not trust female engineers. There were not many girls going to engineering colleges. In 1954, my freshman class consisted of 360 students, but there were only 15 girls. Among those girls, one of them appeared attractive to me.

• The following photos show the engineering college and the girl who attracted my attention.

• I met this girl again in 1963 in Washington. By that time, she needed a husband, and I needed a wife. We got married. We had our son in 1965, and he went to Princeton as a freshman in 1983. He got married in 2003. We now have two grandchildren.

• How much money did I have during those challenging years?
  According to these bank statements, I came to Maryland from Princeton in 1962 with $2,094. I got married in 1963, and we started saving money in 1964 for our house down-payment with $700. We bought the house in 1969. We sent our son to Princeton (money money) in 1983.

• This is our family photo of 1966.

• In 1969, we bought a new house, and we still live there. This house is about six km from the campus of the University of Maryland. I could go to my office during the evening hours.

  1. Our neighbors are nice people. They help us whenever we need helps. We once invited them to a Korean restaurant in the Washington area.
  2. There is a treed area near the house, and we see sometimes un-invited guests like this in our backyard.
  3. Click here for more house photos.

• In 1983, our son went to Princeton for his undergraduate study, and grduated in 1987. He then went to Harvard for his graduate degree. He is a Harvard PhD.
  

• In 2003, he married a medical doctor. We now have two grandchildren. Their parents (our son and his wife) are doing well. In 2020, they bought a Steinway piano for our grandchildren. We are proud of all four of them.
  

• Let me conclude. In my main job as a research scientist, I am singing Einstein these days, and people are beginning to listen. Financially, I reached the level of average Americans. I own a home, travel around the world, and ready to pay college tuitions for my grandchildren. I came to the United States in 1954 with a student visa. The United States has been very nice to me.