Weinberg freshman Charles Kim was remembered Saturday as a determined student, a courageous Naval ROTC midshipman, a loyal friend and a caring big brother.
Family and friends lined the aisles and filled the lobby of Northwestern’s Jeanne Vail Chapel during a memorial service for Kim, 19, who died Dec.1.
“I only wish he realized how many were there to help him if he had just asked,” Kim’s father, Jong Shik Kim, told the approximately 250 people who attended the service.
Kim’s father said his son would have been pleased with the number of Naval ROTC midshipmen who were present, adding that his son wanted to be “an officer and a gentleman.”
Kim’s younger brother, Edward, remembered Kim for gently pushing him in everything he did and for his loyalty to friends and family.
Friends from Loomis Chaffee boarding school in Windsor, Conn., spoke of Kim as a resident assistant in his high school dorm, a cello player and a cross-country runner. Despite all his talents, friends added, Kimremained humble.
His NU freshman adviser, economics Prof. Robert Coen, said Kim was always the one to fill awkward pauses in discussion during Coen’sfreshman seminar. Coen said this was the saddest time in his 30-yearteaching career.
“In this case,” he said, “I feel as if I’m a gardener who has lost one of his finest plants that never had a chance to bloom.”
Services were simultaneously held for Kim — who was born in Chicago to Korean parents and who spent time in China — in Beijing, Seoul, South Korea and San Jose, Calif.
Kim’s family has requested that contributions be made to the Charles Kim Memorial Fund. Donations can be sent care of William Banis, vice president for student affairs, to Northwestern University, 633 ClarkSt., Evanston, Ill., 60208.
University Chaplain Timothy Stevens conducted the service, which included a performance by a cappella group Harmony In Spirit.
During his invocation, Stevens addressed NU students and professors, friends from boarding school and family who flew in from outside the United States.
“What unites us this afternoon,” he said, “is the recognition that we did not have enough time with Charles.”
