I missed it at the time, but last month Rhee Ho Nam died. The name probably means very little to most of you, but Brother Rhee was one of the noble and great ones. A very early convert to the Church in Korea, he served as the first Korean stake president, and at one time was the president of the mission where I served: Korea Pusan. When I was a missionary, you would still lots of Rhee Ho Nam stories from members in Pusan. After I returned from my mission and re-enrolled in BYU, Brother Rhee taught one of my Korean classes. He was a warm, funny person, and one who provided tremendous service to the Kingdom and to the Korean saints. A heroic Mormon has passed on.
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Belated Good-Bye
4 Responses to Belated Good-Bye
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Nate, thanks for posting this. But Brother Rhee died a year ago. A week or so ago was a memorial service commemorating his death.
I think it is unfortunate that so few people, relatively speaking, knew Brother Rhee. I have known him since I was fifteen and have always admired and loved him. He was intelligent, strong, kind, loving, and incredibly faithful. Besides the church callings you mention, he served as a Regional Representative, the head of seminaries and institutes in Korea, and a bishop. He was one of the most important leaders of the early Korean church.
Brother Rhee was my next door office neighbor for a number of years, and I was assigned, for two years or so, as a high council representative to the Asian BYU ward in which he served as a bishop.
I want to endorse what Nate has said. Brother Rhee was unfailingly kind and limitlessly faithful. He was one of the finest men I have known.
His anme, though little appreciated outside of Korean circles, was treasured among Koreans wherever they might be. In late 2002, for example, I spent some time with Korean members in Toronto, and questions about how Brother Rhee was doing were at the top of their lists. Over and over again.
He was a giant in the history of the Church in Korea, and, no matter how the earthly books are written, he is a giant in the history of the Church generally.
What years?
My parents did a temple mission to Korea, previously my dad served with the ROK Dragon Battalion in Viet Namn and provided the Book of Mormons that Chu assigned all the men to take turns reading.
His name has been in my memory since he was called the first stake president in Korea. I also knew that he became a teacher at BYU. As a member of the Church in a neighbor nation, I am interested in the situations of Korea. Thanks for the post.