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Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
Early Life
Early Life
Kim Kian (김 기안 ) was born in 1935 in Gyeonggi-do province, while Korea was still under Japanese rule. At this time, most Korean citizens were being stripped of their Korean identities and forced to take on Japanese names and culture. Koreans were extremely oppressed during this period, so in 6th grade Kian dropped out of school to work and support his four other siblings.
When Kian was only sixteen, he lost both of his parents to illness; leaving him and his four siblings orphaned. Eventually, his older sister started dating an American G.I. who was stationed at a US military base in South Korea.
This connection lead to Kian getting a job as a welder, and also helped him practice his English skills. His older sister then married the American G.I. and changed her last name to Hawthorne. She later followed him to the United States to start their own family, the Kim-Hawthorne family.
Kim Kian (middle) on US military base with two friends
Yi Yuchun (bottom left) with 8/9 siblings and her parents
Married Life
Married Life
Yi Yuchun (이 유준) was born in 1940, she grew up as 2nd of 9 siblings and thus took on lots of responsibility. While growing up she took on the responsibility of learning how to cook for large groups of people, and with time learned to love cooking. Her uncle worked at the military base that Kian worked at, and Yuchun's family jumped at the opportunity to marry her off and arranged a marriage between the two in 1960.
Kian and Yuchun started their family right away, they had six children over the span of twelve years. The first boy passed away as an infant, but then followed three more boys and two girls who fortunately did not pass in infancy.
When Yuchun was pregnant with the last boy (Kwang-chin Kim), Kian became curious at the prospect of moving to America.
Kim Kian & Yi Yuchun
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