The Walworthians: Terence Wolfe
The Walworthians
A collection of telephone interviews published in the Wayne County STAR Newspaper and Wayne County MAIL Newspaper, 1994-209
by Kate Chamberlin
T
Terence M Wolfe
October 24, 1997.
October 24, 1997.
Terence M Wolfe
October 24, 1997.
Terence M Wolfe, Jr. is one of the people in our neighborhood. Well, he hasn’t exactly been living in our neighborhood for many years, but, he’s home with his parents, Terry and Gail, until January.
After graduating with the Wayne Central Class of 1986, he joined the U. S. Army. During the last 2 years of his 6-1/2 years of duty, he was stationed in Korea and specialized in Air Traffic Control.
He became immersed in Korean culture and elected to stay in Seoul after his discharge. He attended the Yonsei University to study the Korean language and culture.
“Now with my emphasis on Korean language,” he calmly said with self-confidence, “I’ve done a 180-degree turn from what I started out doing in the Army, The Air Traffic Control experience was interesting, but, with the stress factor, the job began to wear thin.”
It is obvious when you talk with Tj, that he is found a nitch he’s comfortable in. He softly and knowledgeably spoke about studying the culture: history, language and customs of Korea.
He supported himself by teaching English as a Second Language to students and business people. As his expertise in Korean grew, he did some translating on a consultant basis. He anticipates completing a Bachelor’s Degree at a west coast university here in our country. He sees his options as remaining in academia and researching Korean language, continue teaching either Korean here in America or go back into teaching English in Korea.
Interpreting for international business or being in the diplomatic field are all possibilities along with court reporting or international trade.
For now, though, TJ is filing a petition and working his way through the red tape to bring his wife into the United States.
“Kang Eun Jin has been to the States on a tourist visa,” Tj said, “but, this time she’ll be here for longer than 90 days and we need an Immigrant Visa. We hope she’ll be here in a few months.”
One of the time honored customs of the Korean people is for a married woman to keep her family name and it is listed first. All of the legal documents and official paper work lists Tj’s wife in the traditional manner: Kang Eun Jin.
“Sometimes, when Koreans come to live here,” Tj said, “they westernize their name and it causes confusion as to which is their first or last name. For the legal aspects, we’ll use her Korean name, but, for the social aspects, we’ll be introduced as Mr. and Mrs. Wolfe. It makes the people your with more comfortable to observe the local customs.”
Tj told me that when a girl marries, she cuts her hair short and wears a wedding band to indicate her status.
I’m sure that Dr. Laura would be happy to know that there is no shacking up tolerated in Korea.
“I received a call one night from a Canadian friend,” Tj said. “His girlfriend had a friend with her and they needed a fourth. We hit it off the bat and had a 15 month whirlwind romance.”
Tj found that the Korean people, on a personal level. Are friendly, but, within the business networks, the barriers are very evident.
“The Korean students work harder and go to school a lot more than we do. Their school day might go from 7:00 AM until 10:00 PM,” Tj said. “There is a lot of emphasis on OUR language, OUR country and OUR people, rather than THE language, THE country and THE people. Friendship circles are begun very early in life and held onto throughout life. National patriotism and personal loyalty is built into the educational and social systems!”
Thank you, Tj. You are an international Walworthian we are proud to know. We extend a hug and a warm welcome to Eun Jin.
You are Walworthians with the accent on worth.
2018 Up-Date: none