Three times a year, my family holds a traditional ceremony to honor my paternal grandfather. We observe it on the anniversary of his death, Chuseok, and Lunar New Year. Although many Korean Americans no longer perform such ceremonies for the deceased, our parent’s upbringing has instilled in us a deep respect for our grandfather. When we held these ceremonies, we thought about our family motto created by our late grandfather. The motto said in Korean, translates to “I am (full name), I will always be someone who does everything with joy and full effort.”. Beginning with “I am” and ending with declaring a pledge, this motto is uniquely structured. My father told us that every night, along with his two sisters, they had to repeat and memorize this motto.
Our grandfather was a school principal in Yecheon, Korea, and was heavily committed and dedicated to ensuring that all children, regardless of their economic status, had access to education. Even though he wasn’t able to carry out this dream during his lifetime, we suggested keeping his vision alive by creating a foundation in his and our grandmother’s name. The foundation, Turtle House(Gu-Dang) collects donations from our father’s side of the family every month and uses these funds to support underprivileged children in Yecheon. Gu-Dang is a combination of one letter from each of our grandparents’ nicknames, which are Gu-Am and An-Dang. This translates to Turtle House.
Making this foundation has transformed our annual ceremonies from mere acts of remembrance into a powerful pursuit of his lifelong goal. This way, each commemoration becomes a meaningful contribution to a cause he cherished deeply—making education accessible to all those who seek it. In this way, we honor my grandfather’s memory not just through prayer, but an everlasting impact. Unfortunately, we never had the chance to personally meet him, we strive to make him proud by carrying out his dream.