Paul Okro Yoon

The youngest of three children, Mr. Yoon was born March 11, 1935 in Seoul, Korea. He earned a degree in Economics in Korea and served three years in the Korean Air Force, but the Korean War left a bleak future in his country so he left in pursuit of the American Dream.

He arrived in the United States in 1963 “with only two suitcases and $2,000 in my pocket” yet forged a successful life through honest, hard work. He took odd jobs as a bus boy and a bar back to help pay his way through Electrical Engineering school at the University of Chicago. His life changed for good when he took a part-time inhalation therapist job at Augustana Hospital.

There, he met a pediatric night nurse named Maryann. Soon after he graduated in 1967, the two married and remained wed for 53 years until Maryann’s death in 2020. He became a U.S. citizen shortly after their marriage.

The couple raised three children, Amy, Peter and Robert, and Paul used a relentless work ethic to make sure his family had whatever it needed. He moved jobs, and the family, from Syracuse, New York, to Flanders, NJ, to Emmaus, Penn., seeking a better life.

In 1981, a job offer from Aramco Oil company in Saudi Arabia brought the financial stability he had long sought. He worked in Saudi Arabia for 14 years until his retirement in 1995, long enough to put all his kids through college—a feat in which he took enormous pride.

His engineering prowess did not end when he left the office. A renowned tinkerer with a garage full of tools, he could always find a home improvement project to keep busy. He regularly made quick work of leaky faucets, cracked concrete, broken drawers or faulty electrical wiring.

And when there wasn’t anything to fix, he’d build something. He made cabinets, a backyard shed and built a deck. One of his most prized projects was turning the basement of the family home in New Jersey into a family living area complete with a full-sized wet bar. He did that on his own.

A proud, self-made man, Paul could be stubborn, but he was always honest and filled with integrity. Those latter traits came in handy when it came to one of his great passions: golf.

He began playing in his 40’s and played once or twice a week while he was working but upped that to three or four times a week after retirement. He played around the world, won countless tournaments, was a seven handicap at his peak and boasted an amazing eight holes-in-one in his lifetime.

Some of Mr. Yoon’s later years were devoted to his wife, Maryann, who was diagnosed with dementia in 2013. For the next seven years, Paul was the primary caretaker for his wife even as her disease progressed to the point that made caring for her a significant burden.

Ever a proponent of self-sufficiency, he wouldn’t let anyone else care for her because they could not do it like he could. He briefly put her in a senior care home but removed her after a month because he felt they weren’t doing an adequate job.

After her passing, he spent his final five years dealing with a multitude of health issues, including kidney failure. He attended dialysis three days a week, all the while longing for the day he could be reunited with his beloved Maryann. On June 24, that wish came true.

Paul is survived by his three children Amy, Peter (Missy) and Robert (Julie) as well as grandchildren Jordynn, Caitlin, Graycen, Lauren, Logan, Cecily and Kate.

A funeral service for Paul will be held Monday, July 7, 2025 from 10:30 AM to 11:30 AM at Stone Funeral Home, 355 East 9th Street, Upland, CA 91786.