Obituary of John Y. Sohn

John Y. Sohn passed away on August 5th at the age of 91. He was born in Yanggu, Korea to Jin Suk Sohn and Jung Suk Huh. John graduated from Keijo (Seoul) National University, majoring in business administration in 1944. That same year he was drafted into the Japanese Army, graduating from their Reserve Officer School and discharging as a second lieutenant. In 1948 he departed for the U.S. to study and in 1951 he graduated from the Southern California Bible College. He attended Summer Institute in Linguistics at the University of Michigan before moving on to Indiana University. That is where he taught Korean and received his MA in linguistics in 1964 and his Ph.D. in linguistics in 1973. During that time he spent two years at the University of Berkeley doing pre-doctoral study and research. John held many professional positions throughout his life including Interpreter for the US Military in Korea. He was also an English teacher at Kangwon High school in Chunchon, Korea, and a Korean teacher and Course Developer at US Army Language School where he became the Korean Department Chairperson. He taught Far Eastern Subjects and Linguistics at MIIS in Monterey, CA, before finishing his career as the Chairperson for Korean Department A and B and Chief of Evaluation and Research at the Defense Language Institute where he worked for 46 years. John has published 10 articles in various journals, written several Korean textbooks for the US Army Language School, and supervised writing nearly 30 books for the US Army Language School and DLI. He received many superior and outstanding performance awards and fellowships during his time there. In 1990 he received Korean People's Medal from the South Korean President for teaching and graduating approximately 15,000 Korean linguists for the US Armed Forces. In 1997 he received a Letter of Appreciation from President Clinton for serving the US in an outstanding manner for 45 years. In 1953 John and a friend founded the first Korean Church in Monterey County. He was also active in many different Associations. At one point he was the President of the Korean-American Cultural and Educational Assn. of Monterey, President and Advisor of Korean-American Assn. of Monterey County, President and Senior Advisor of International Assn. for Korean Language Education, and the Principal of Korean School of Monterey County in Marina. He is survived by his wife, Myung Ja, son, John (Grace) and 2 grandchildren. A funeral Service for John will be held on Friday, Aug. 7th beginning at 3pm at Seaside Funeral Home at Mission Memorial Park, 1915 Ord Grove Ave. in Seaside, followed by burial.