Chonsok Jonathan Hwang – Biographical Sketch

Chonsok Jonathan Hwang passed away peacefully on Thursday April 16, 2026, at his home in University Place, Washington. He was 90 years old. He died in the faith of his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and in peace he rests until Jesus' soon return, when he will receive his eternal inheritance.

Chonsok was born on January 27, 1936, in Haenam, South Korea to Manwoo Hwang and his wife Choonja. His birth was registered on March 1. His mother supported herself and her son as a seamstress, and Chonsok grew up in the Seventh-day Adventist faith that his mother had espoused.

When Chonsok was a young man, his mother came home one day from the public health clinic she had just visited, and told him about a very kind and beautiful nurse that she had seen there, and urged him to go meet her. He would court and eventually marry the nurse, whose name was Duksoon Amy. It was the beginning of a love story that lasted for more than sixty years, and continued to grow deeper and more tender until Amy's death.

Chonsok and Duksoon were married on February 17, 1962. Their family grew with the births of their son Chansun and daughter Una. They lived with Chonsok's mother Choonja, who watched over the young children as Chonsok worked as a math and history teacher, and Duksoon as a nurse.

In 1971, the couple made the decision to move their family to the United States, at a time when the United States was actively recruiting nurses to emigrate there. It was then that Chonsok chose for himself the English name Jonathan. Jonathan and Amy navigated the difficult economic climate of the 1970's, and an unfamiliar language and culture, and wholeheartedly embraced the United States as their new home. They proudly became naturalized citizens on July 4 1976, the bicentennial anniversary of the founding of this nation.

The family eventually settled in Chicago, and Jonathan, with Amy's encouragement, bought a small neighborhood grocery business. Later he expanded and bought a larger business near their home on the north side of Chicago, where he served a bustling multi-cultural community. His mother Choonja also emigrated to the United States soon after Jonathan and Amy became US citizens and lived with them.

When Jonathan and Amy's son Chansun married another doctor named Esther and started his own family, Jonathan's mother Choonja moved in with them to help take care of their young son. When they decided to move and settle in Washington state, she went with them. For Jonathan and Amy, the pull of the growing family of grandchildren soon proved too much to resist, so in 2000, the couple said goodbye to their longtime friends and their adopted hometown of Chicago and headed for the Pacific Northwest. Twelve years later, their daughter Una left her job in Maryland and moved here.

In Washington, Jonathan was retired, and turned his attention and energy to creating beautiful floral gardens in his home, and to cooking. He was a very good cook, and enjoyed making Korean dishes of all kinds. Later, however, he discovered that he loved Thai food even more than Korean food. Together, Jonathan and Amy watched over their young grandchildren while their parents worked--picking them up from school, cooking for them, and nurturing them.

When Jonathan's mother Choonja needed nursing care late in her life, Jonathan visited her faithfully, twice a day, every day, to make sure that she ate well and had company. Then, about the time of his mother's death in 2008, his wife Amy also began to need care. For the next fourteen years, he watched over her tenderly, and took care of her needs with steadfast and enduring devotion—at first in their own home as her primary caretaker, then later, when she was in nursing care towards the end of her life, and finally in hospice care at the home of their son, where she passed away in 2022.

Jonathan moved back into his own home in 2025 with his daughter Una. Although he had found an affectionate home with his son's family, it had always been his cherished wish to live out his days in the house that held so many precious memories of his life with his beloved wife Amy. He and his daughter had a happy life together in this house for a nearly a year before he required a brief hospitalization at the end of March. He was then placed in hospice care at home. During these, his very final weeks and days, he was lovingly and watchfully tended by his family, both near and from afar. On Thursday April 16, at 12:43 pm, he took his last, quiet breath in the loving arms of his daughter while their dog lay keeping faithful watch at his feet.

Jonathan and Amy instilled in their two children a love and reverence for God and for the Holy Scriptures. Toward the end of her life, Amy had written out the entire King James Bible by hand, and Jonathan had ever been a careful and thorough student of Scripture. He filled notebooks and the margins of his Bible and the books he studied with neat and copious notes. He loved to listen to, and sing, the hymns of his faith, and especially loved hymns that looked forward to heaven. He was a man of scrupulous honesty and integrity, and left that example to his children and those who knew him. Though quiet and retiring in nature, he sincerely appreciated the people in his life, and was careful to show them courtesy, gratitude and appreciation at every opportunity. He greeted people warmly and cheerfully, and treated them all with respect and as his friends. He is much missed.

Jonathan loved his family, and they in turn loved him dearly. He is preceded in death by his beloved wife Amy, his mother Choonja, and his father Manwoo, and survived by his son Chansun, his daughter Una, his daughter-in-law Esther, wife of Chansun, and their children, Nathan, Mina, Nico, and Noelle.

A celebration of Jonathan's life will be held on Sunday May 3, 2026, at 2 pm at the New Tacoma Cemetery Chapel, across the road from the cemetery office located at 9212 Chambers Creek Rd W, University Place, WA 98467. A dinner reception will follow the memorial service. The graveside service will be held the following day, on Monday May 4 at 2 pm.

In lieu of flowers or other gifts, the family kindly requests that you consider donating to Blessed Hope Health Center (blessedhopehealth.org). This clinic, operated by Jonathan's son and daughter-in-law, provides free medical, dental, and other vital services to the community.