Thank you for coming today to celebrate 86 years of my father’s life. Life is short even at 86. My father, Edward Sukkoo Lee, passed away to eternal life, peacefully, with his loved ones at his side, on the last day of 2019. He suffered from Alzheimer’s Disease. In the last few years of his life, I would ask him where he was, and he was having a great time traveling back and forth from his home in North Korea to Manchuria to Mongolia. He always rode his horse at full speed, thundering across Gobi desert, cheered on by 1,000 other horseback warriors. I didn’t tell him he doesn’t know how to ride a horse. He was born in North Korea, resettled in South Korea to be free of communism, and once again immigrated to Los Angeles to be closer to economic freedom. He said moving around was like a new life each time because of all the good friends he made and the good times they had together. if you are here and can hear my voice, please know that he loved you very much. It was a life well-lived. A Korean-war era soldier and newly married groom to Grace Bonglim Lee, the hard realities of life never deterred him from believing in the goodness of humanity and love for his family. My Dad was a simple but a very intelligent man. He was a hard worker too. He felt God’s pleasure whenever he worked hard. He believed in traditional values and lived by them. "8282, suck it up and take the pain, and get on with life", he would say. These values served him well, and our generation too. As a meek and peaceful man, he never complained about anything. I believe that was the secret to his happiness. He rarely got sick, and none of his joints ever ached which made me wonder about getting a 23andMe test except we looked too much alike. We often joked that he was lucky to have us as children, Michelle and husband Robert, Danny and wife Sherin, Jennifer and husband James, Janie and husband Daniel, and brother Jeff. And seven fantastic grandkids, Christian, Mina, David, Taylor, Tara, Jordan, and Ethan. But in fact, we were blessed to have him in our lives. He was the finest, most refined, and most respected human being you will ever meet. Appa, you are at peace now. You are with God, your parents, and your brothers and sister. As you smile down at us from heaven, you will be in our hearts forever. You have been my father, and that in itself is a tremendous thing.
