Jake JEKARL
Jake Eun JEKARL
제갈 은
Jake JEKARL of Walnut Creek, CA passed away on November 15, 2022 shortly after 5 p.m. PST.
Jake JEKARL was born in Iwakuni, Japan as an ethnic Korean in 1939. Due to the nature of record-keeping at the time, Jake’s birthdate was changed to 1941 once he arrived in South Korea.
At the end of World War II, Jake and his family, being ethnically Korean was forced to relocate to Korea and journeyed through nuclear bomb devastated Japan to ships that waited to transport them to Korea.
The bulk of his family on one ship and his brother and Jake on another, Jake’s ship suffered calamity as it got lost in the Sea of Japan on the way to Korea. Most starved during those weeks lost at sea and Jake and his brother survived by having to drink their own urine to get any type of sustenance. Laying down and thinking it was the end, Jake remembers seeing hazy shadows of faces as he realized they were rescuers who managed to save him and his brothers.
Once reunited with his family, they settled in Masan and Jake was gifted with the “제갈 family genetic intelligence” and studied hard and was able to graduate from Seoul University. He studied meteorology and also served in the Korean Air Force.
In the late 1960s, he married Hannah (née Kim Soung Ran) and they welcomed a son. Hannah immigrated to the US as a nurse, quickly followed by Jake who immigrated as a mechanic. Their son Edward (née Jehgal Kap) stayed in Seoul with his maternal grandparents and joined them in the US later.
제갈 은
Jake JEKARL of Walnut Creek, CA passed away on November 15, 2022 shortly after 5 p.m. PST.
Jake JEKARL was born in Iwakuni, Japan as an ethnic Korean in 1939. Due to the nature of record-keeping at the time, Jake’s birthdate was changed to 1941 once he arrived in South Korea.
At the end of World War II, Jake and his family, being ethnically Korean was forced to relocate to Korea and journeyed through nuclear bomb devastated Japan to ships that waited to transport them to Korea.
The bulk of his family on one ship and his brother and Jake on another, Jake’s ship suffered calamity as it got lost in the Sea of Japan on the way to Korea. Most starved during those weeks lost at sea and Jake and his brother survived by having to drink their own urine to get any type of sustenance. Laying down and thinking it was the end, Jake remembers seeing hazy shadows of faces as he realized they were rescuers who managed to save him and his brothers.
Once reunited with his family, they settled in Masan and Jake was gifted with the “제갈 family genetic intelligence” and studied hard and was able to graduate from Seoul University. He studied meteorology and also served in the Korean Air Force.
In the late 1960s, he married Hannah (née Kim Soung Ran) and they welcomed a son. Hannah immigrated to the US as a nurse, quickly followed by Jake who immigrated as a mechanic. Their son Edward (née Jehgal Kap) stayed in Seoul with his maternal grandparents and joined them in the US later.
They settled in Philadelphia, PA and worked hard and managed to own their own businesses. There was a wig store, a small chain of dry cleaners, and eventually a business brokerage and even a beloved convenience store that sold the must-have Philly cheesesteaks in North Philly.
While working hard, Jake enjoyed playing golf and won many trophies. His daughter fondly remembers how he would win trophies as well as things such refrigerators or electronics, which he would generously give away to families newly immigrated to the Philadelphia area. He was a proud member of the local Lions Club and was a well-known member of one of the biggest Korean American churches in Philadelphia, Yon Hap Church during the 1980s and 1990s.
He will be remembered by his generosity to his friends and the community, his absolute love of golf and quirky admiration for the singer Anne Murray. He was a strict disciplinarian and never gossiped, probably a result of his upbringing of which he said very little. He loved the USA for what it offered him and his family and was very patriotic. He was diagnosed with dementia in his later years and his family worked hard to keep my him comfortable at the end.
He is survived by his wife Hannah S. JEKARL, his eldest son Edward JEKARL, his only daughter Susan JEKARL, and his youngest son Kahn JEKARL. He has 4 grandchildren.
