Dr. James Hong Kwon Kimme

Dr. James Hong Kwon Kimme passed away peacefully on June 22, 2024, in Vancouver at the age of 89. He will be remembered lovingly by his wife of 65 years, Ji Young, his daughters, Grace (Jim), Joyce (Don), and Sarah, and his grandchildren, Mitchell and Samantha.

James was born in Jeonju, South Korea in 1934, the eldest son of seven children. During the Korean War, 16-year-old James set his sights on immigrating to a safer country in North America, which was extremely difficult to do, especially when one had little money and no connections. Quiet and shy by nature, one of his teachers tried to bring him out of his shell by giving him the terrifying task of standing in front of the entire student body, with a megaphone in hand, and getting the crowd fired up and cheering at the school’s sporting events. Though extremely nervous, he would manage to get the crowd cheering, and throughout his life would continue to take on remarkable challenges, often quietly and to himself, including running in a marathon (and coming in 9th!), swimming across the Han River (a major feat), and immigrating to North America in the late 1950s.

Although he was very bright, James always attributed his success to working hard, which he did throughout his life, not just to achieve his own goals but to help support others as well. To earn money for his tuition, James tutored high school students and worked in the railway station moving goods on and off trains. A classmate, who had registered for English classes but later decided not to attend them, offered the paid-for classes to James, although James would have to pretend to be him. James gratefully grabbed this opportunity for free English classes and would always laugh as he recounted how often he would forget to answer the teacher when she called him by his classmate’s name.

While completing medical school from the prestigious, Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea, James rigorously prepared for and successfully obtained a student exchange visa for the United States. In 1959, after recently having married his high school sweetheart—Ji Young (now pregnant with their first child)—he voyaged to North America, arriving in New York with only $200 in his pocket. To be allowed to stay beyond the 6-month visa, James would have to pass a challenging medical exam. The stress was immense and, as with all exams, he would have to translate each question from English to Korean, figure out the answer (in Korean), and then translate it back into English; so, each exam came with huge time pressure. As arduous as such challenges were, he had a remarkably optimistic nature and greatly appreciated the unexpected gifts of help that life would often provide. At the end of one particularly stressful examination, James had several questions he had not had time to answer. When the instructor came around to collect his exam booklet, James showed the instructor all the unanswered questions and said he was very sorry and that he had run out of time. The instructor took pity on him and said he would go around the room and collect all the other booklets first, giving James time to complete several more questions. James told this heartwarming story countless times and each time with renewed delight and gratitude. Although he faced many challenges, including tough exams in a foreign language, financial stress, pervasive racism, separation from his wife and daughter, he always maneuvered his perspective in a way that saw himself as a lucky person.

Although money was tight (and would be for many years), James sent as much money back home as he could so that his brothers and sisters could attend university. It was during these years that he created what his daughters later named “Daddy’s Recipe”, a simple, inexpensive, yet tasty dish consisting of hot white rice, butter, and soy sauce. After two years apart and many Daddy’s Recipe meals, James was able to bring Ji Young to join him. After another two years, he was able to bring over his 4-year-old daughter, Grace, whom he was excited to be able to meet finally.

James went on to continue his medical studies in Canada, forming wonderful connections with his kind colleagues at Regina General Hospital who supported James when he was later accepted into the anesthesiology program at the University of Toronto. It was during this time that his second daughter, Joyce, was born. Just a month before her birth, James, pregnant Ji Young, and 5-year-old Grace were involved in a serious car accident—hit by someone who was driving while intoxicated. James fractured his skull and nearly died; Ji Young also experienced severe head and facial trauma; and the infant of the immigrant couple whom they were driving to the grocery store at that time, tragically died at the scene. It was a dark time, but with pressures of supporting his wife and daughters as well as his family back home, James returned to work as quickly as he could.

Upon finishing the anesthesiology program, he was offered positions from both Regina and Toronto, and although the latter was much more lucrative, he accepted the position in Regina out of gratitude for the support they had given him. His third daughter, Sarah, was born there, just prior to moving his family to British Columbia (with his colleagues’ blessings) where he worked at Richmond General Hospital and later BC Women’s Hospital (for 32 years). He successfully wrote and passed both the Canadian Medical Board and the American Medical Board examinations and was regarded as an exceptional anesthesiologist among his colleagues, who would commonly express their delight when seeing “Jim Kim” was the anesthesiologist on shift. He was also regularly sought after by many physicians to provide them/their partners with epidural anesthesia during their labour and delivery. With patients, James would quietly enter their room, kindly say a few reassuring words and, with seeming ease, exchange their pain for much welcomed relief and comfort, and then quietly exit. James became an associate clinical professor for the UBC Faculty of Medicine, and, upon retirement, an award was named in his honour, “The Dr. James Kimme Golden Epidural Award” that was given by BC Women’s Hospital’s Department of Anesthesiology each year to one junior and one senior anesthesia resident who exemplified excellence, aptitude and a passion for Obstetric Anesthesiology. If this wasn’t enough, he also quietly earned a Ph.D. in Medical History.

His compassion for the pain and suffering of others extended well beyond his professional career. Throughout his life, he devoted an enormous amount of time to helping others. He was a past President of the Korean Society of BC and was also instrumental in the formation of a Korean Language School in Vancouver. He happily provided countless support to Korean newcomers to Canada in every way he could, including helping them set up housing, navigating Canadian laws and culture, offering financial support, helping with creating connections in the community, and treating them to wonderful Korean meals where they could enjoy familiar, comforting food and friendship.

Though he valued working hard, both beauty and balance were also important to James. He loved classical music, especially the sound of the violin, and was a talented ballroom dancer. He also loved to sing and admired those who could play a musical instrument and, during his retirement, decided to learn the saxophone. Every home he lived in was made more beautiful by his acquired skills in carpentry and landscaping, and he developed property on which he built several beautiful new homes during his life.

Perhaps because so much of his life was marked by hard work and struggle, James greatly appreciated the moments and people that allowed him to not take life too seriously. He had a wonderful and engaging sense of play and an ebullient and uplifting laugh. Bob Hope, The Three Stooges, and Ted Knight’s character on the Mary Tyler Moore show were particular favourites. He also enjoyed recounting funny stories, which would always end with his infectious burst of laughter, even though he had told the story countless times before.

His playful nature was also evident in the amount of socializing he and Ji Young did throughout their lives and the wonderful and highly anticipated parties they would host as well. As for his daughters, they share happy childhood memories of him taking them to the PNE every year and winning them an armful of stuffed animals, surprising them with new bicycles or roller skates, and ensuring there were also a lot of super fun toys at Christmas, which he enjoyed playing with them. He was also great fun in his spontaneous suggestions of going to Dairy Queen for a treat or ordering an after-dinner evening pizza, and when they were older, he would also pay for them to go to Whistler with their friends even though he once admitted that he would worry about them driving in the wintry weather and would be much relieved when they would return home safely.

And finally, there was his love for golf, which he thoroughly enjoyed for over 50 years. He loved watching golf, practicing golf, teaching golf, introducing others to golf, jokes about golf, and, of course, playing golf and mostly at Point Grey Golf and Country Club, which became a second home to him. It seems fitting that he would love this outwardly quiet sport where the player makes all the decisions and shots on their own, and where your game can be filled with unlucky breaks, bunker shots, and missed putts, but then you have one lucky break, one great shot, one unexpected successful putt, and you finish the round feeling it was a great game, regardless of your final score. As in both golf and life, James took the greatest joy in the lucky, unpredictable breaks that both offered and was grateful in just being able to play.

We realize this obituary is much longer than what is normally written, but as James did not wish to have a funeral, we wanted to take this opportunity to share a bit about him and his remarkable life. Thank you for helping us honour him in this way. No doubt, he would be very touched by you reading this.

James was cremated on July 5, 2024, in the presence of his loving family.