From my cousin:
My mom forwarded me your presentation about your mom which was forwarded from your uncle which was forwarded from our cousin (haha!), and it was very nice.
I still remember when we came up to Pittsburgh for your mom’s funeral. I was only 12 and I remember only one story at the eulogy—so this was good to watch too—and I don’t remember if you or Ken said it but it was about…
Of course it was in a larger story where the people in the audience had laughed, but that was the quote I remember.
I forgot that story and that was one my mom liked to tell her university students. It was in the part of the eulogy where I talk about my mom and me (the second story). It goes like this…
Mom had a heart condition which made life tough on her and she sometimes, when she was tired or exasperated physically, she’d say, “I’m dying!”
“Terry, I’m dying!” She exclaimed one time when I was seven.
I was feeling irritable that day. “Mommy! I’m dying; you’re dying. From the minute we’re born, we’re dying!” I said.
Ever after that, when she’d want to say she’s dying, she’d follow it up with that quote: “Ahh! I’m dying …(pause)… ‘Mommy! From the minute we’re born, we’re dying.’”
And then she’d quietly smile to herself.
More on Broken Jewel
Here is an e-mail my Uncle sent to his friends:
Subject: Remembering my late sister Teresa (信惠)
Christina (my daughter) met her cousin (Terry, a son of my 2nd sister Teresa), when Christina made a 3-day visit to her parents last week. I wasn’t aware of her meeting Terry until I got her email (below) today.
Please click the URL link in the email, where Terry gives a slide presentation on eulogy remembering his mom.
Briefly, my sister Teresa passed away in 1999 because of the sudden heart valve failure after her second artificial heart valve replacements involving 4 heart valves. She was a year younger and always violently competitive scholastically to excel (& beating) over everyone in sight including myself. Her death was the key reason of my retirement a year later (2000) after her death. I already had my heart attack/bypass in 1992/1993.
Her heart valve problems caused to skip the last two years at Kyungi Women’s High. But she got her PhD at 23 or 24 years old and became a full professor at the U. of Pittsburgh 4 or 5 years before she died. Her achievement may be the first for women Korean descendants.
If I am bragging about my sister Teresa, it is because I am. So, please pardon me. I was a kind of overwhelmed by remembering about Teresa.
Francis
———- Forwarded message ———-
Subject: terry slide presentationi saw terry last weekend when i was in the bay area and then happened upon this slide presentation he did about aunti teresa.
thought you might enjoy it. it is very moving.
just click on the “broken jewel” link and you can hear his spoken presentation along with the slides.
And here is the story referenced at the end of the presentation.