1907-2012
Evelyn Becker McCune was born August 17, 1907 in the ancient walled city of Pyongyang, Korea and passed away at home in Merced, CA just short of her 105th birthday.
She was the first of three children of Methodist educational missionaries, Arthur and Louise Becker of Michigan. She grew up on the campuses of the first two colleges in Korea where her father was a founder, administrator, and science teacher and her mother was a music teacher.
In 1914, Evelyn’s family moved from Pyongyang to Seoul to help found the college that is now known as Yonsei University. Evelyn attended the Seoul Foreign School until her graduation in 1926, with the exception of two middle school years in Ann Arbor when her father was getting a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Michigan.
Evelyn returned to the U.S. to get her higher education, eventually graduating from UC, Berkeley with an English Literature major and an art minor. She graduated in 1930 and returned to Korea to teach at Seoul Foreign School for two years. During that time she became reacquainted with George “Mac” McCune, who was teaching in Pyongyang’s Soongsil, and made a connection that lasted a lifetime.
In 1932, Evelyn went back to Berkeley to get her M.A. degree, which was interrupted mid-term by a trip to Maui, Hawaii, and her marriage in 1933 to Mac McCune, the subject of the recently published book: : A Daughter’s Journey: Evelyn Becker McCune, by Heather Thompson and Darlene Blackwood.
Mac and Evelyn returned to California where Mac got his Ph.D. in history from UC, Berkeley. The next year their first daughter, Helen, was born and in the mid 1930’s, they returned to Korea where Mac, along with E.O. Reischauer, romanized the Korean language among other things. He and Evelyn together wrote many historical articles, then and throughout their lives together. They returned to California where Heather was born and where they taught, Mac at Occidental College and Evelyn teaching art at Polytechnic in L.A.
WWII pulled the McCunes to Washington, D.C., where Mac was researcher at OSS (precursor to the CIA), on the Board of Economic Warfare, and then Head of the Korea Desk at the State Department until 1945. During that time, Evelyn was editor of the Korean Section of the Robert’s Commission and Technical Assistant to the Army Map Service. The only maps that the United States had of Korea were those the McCunes supplied at that time, detailing railroads and important military sites.
During one winter of this pre-penicillin and pre-TV period, their home was quarantined because Helen had the highly contagious and often fatal disease of scarlet fever, followed by a string of childhood illnesses which both girls got, and ending with Heather’s whooping cough. This meant, in addition to Mac having to stay at a downtown hotel, that they ran out of reading material early on. So Evelyn wrote a children’s book, Kim Rides the Tiger, one chapter at a time, to be read every evening as the girls’ only distraction during that long winter. It was later published (1951), followed by other articles and books about Asia, the last being Empress (1994), published when Evelyn was 87 years old. At the war’s end, they returned to U.C. Berkeley, where Mac taught history and Evelyn was an editor at the University Press.
In November of 1948, Mac lost his battle with heart disease from having had rheumatic fever as a youth. After his death, Evelyn finished her M.A. degree at UC. When the Korean War erupted in 1950, the family moved to Washington, D.C. where Evelyn was chief of the Korea Unit, Orientalia, in the Library of Congress. She spent much time telling Congressmen where Korea was and why they should care about its fate.
During 1952, Evelyn was sent to Korea to help locate artifacts and books, “lost” during World War II and the Korean War. During this chaotic time, she found many priceless things, helped by her fluent Korean and many family contacts. She returned in early ’53 with United Nations (UNKRA) as liaison officer, and in June, her girls went to Japan to attend school there for the following two years. During this period, she also taught Asian art and Far Eastern history with the UC, Berkeley overseas program in Korea and in Japan.
When Evelyn returned to California in 1956, she taught at Diablo Valley College until she retired in 1978. During that time, she did research work on North Korea for the State Department, as well as writing (1961) The Arts of Korea, a first major book on Korean art, along with numerous articles on Korean art and culture. During 1982-84, she returned to Korea where she taught and did field work for her book, The Inner Art: Korean Screens.
She retired in Hawaii until she returned to Merced, California where she lived with her daughter, Heather, and was the subject of a Merced Sun-Star article by Mike Tharp: From Korea to Merced in 102 years; http://www.mercedsunstar.com and type in Evelyn Becker McCune.
Evelyn’s survivors include her daughters: Heather Thompson and Helen Lawless (Barney); grandsons Robb Thompson, Patrick “Rick” Thompson, Carrick Eggleston, Eric Eggleston, and granddaughter Karen Eggleston Lee; their wives (Lisa, Erica, Sarah and Terry) and husband (Chris), along with 12 great-grandchildren.
The memorial service is planned for 10:30 a.m. on August 11, 2012 at the United Methodist Church, 899 Yosemite Park Way, Merced, CA.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her name to the church or to Heifer International, P.O. Box 8058, Little Rock, AR 72203-8058.
Arrangements are under the direction of Stratford Evans Merced Funeral Home.
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