Chun W. Ro, 82 years, died on June 30, 2010, at Lourdes hospital in Paducah.
He was born in Hoiryoung, North Korea, in 1928. In 1948, he went to South Korea to pursue a higher education. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics in 1957 from Kook-Min University. He came to the United States in December 1958 to do graduate work in Political Science at Southern Illinois University (SIU) at Carbondale, Illinois, and received a Master of Arts degree in 1962, and his PhD degree in 1977.
From 1962 to 1966, he taught American Government as a teaching assistant from SIU; from 1966 to 1967, he taught American Government, Comparative Government, and International Relations as an assistant professor at Georgia Southern University at Statesboro, Georgia; and from 1968 to 1993, taught American Government, Introduction to Political Behavior, and World Politics as a professor at Paducah Community College (PCC). At PCC, the student body elected him "Teacher of the Year" seven times between 1970 and 1986, and in 1986 the University of Kentucky presented him a "Great Teacher" award.
During July and August of 1975, with his wife, Colla Ro, he assisted in a Judicial Inventory in the six westernmost counties of Kentucky for the Office of Judicial Planning, Kentucky Judicial Council for the preparation of the Constitutional Amendments, the Judicial article approved by the voters in the 1975 November election.
In 1986-1988, he served on the 41-member Commission on the Constitutional Review (CCR) which was created by the Legislative Research Commission (LRC) of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The CCR was charged to review the Kentucky Constitution and to submit recommendations for necessary amendments to the LRC.
As to his civic activities, in 1994-1995, he was elected Governor of District 43-K (KY) of Lions International; and for eleven years served on the Board of Trustees of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He was a member of Olivet Baptist Church since 1975, where he served as a deacon and Sunday School teacher. In the meantime, he served as a faculty sponsor of the Baptist Student Union (BSU) at PCC for seventeen years.
His father, J. Man Ro, and mother, Man Hyo Yoon-Ro, preceded him in death, while the whereabouts of his relatives left in North Korea are not known.
He is survived by his wife, Colla Mae Ro; a son, Randall Chun Ro; a daughter-in-law, Kimberly Renee Ro; a son, Terry Wayne McBride; a daughter, Janet Lynn McBride; a grandson, Justin Randall Ro; a granddaughter, Ashley Renee Ro; a stepgranddaughter, Tonya McNichols Kimbler; a stepgrandson, Tony Wade McNichols; and a stepgreat-granddaughter, Kallie Kimbler.
A funeral service for Mr. Ro will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, July 3, 2010, at Olivet Baptist Church in Paducah with Rev. Skip Parsons officiating. Burial will follow in the Woodlawn Memorial Gardens.
Visitation with the Ro family will be held from 5 p.m.-8 p.m. Friday, July 2, 2010, at Milner & Orr Funeral Home of Paducah.
Expressions of Sympathy may take the form of memorial contributions in memory of Chun W. Ro to American Lung Association, 4100 Churchman Ave., Louisville, KY 40215; or Olivet Baptist Church Building Fund, 5186 Hinkleville Road, Paducah, KY 42001.
You may leave a message of comfort or light a candle in memory of Mr. Ro at milnerandorr.com.