Mary C. Kim Joh (1904 – February 9, 2005), also known as Che Sik Cho, was a

Korean-American Korean Americans are Americans of Korean ancestry (mostly from South Korea). In 2015, the Korean-American community constituted about 0.56% of the United States population, or about 1.82 million people, and was the fifth-largest Asian Americans ...

music

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

and medical research scientist.Dunning, Jennifer
"Mary Kim Joh, 101, Who Wrote a Korean Anthem, Is Dead"
''New York Times.'' February 11, 2005; retrieved 2012-12-12. Joh is best known for writing "School Bell" (학교종 ''Hak'kyo Jong'') in 1945. This children's song is taught to pre-school students in South Korea.

Early life

Joh, ''née'' Kim Sam-sik (김삼식), was born in Seoul in 1904. She was the daughter of Kim Ik-seung, the founder of one of Korea's first joint-stock companies, and a niece of

Kim Kyu-sik Kim Kyu-sik, also spelled Kimm Kiusic (Korean language, Korean:김규식, Hanja:金奎植, January 29, 1881 – December 10, 1950), was a Korean politician and academic during the Korean independence movement and a leader of the Provisional Go ...

. She graduated from

Ewha Womans University Ewha Womans University () is a private women's university in Seoul founded in 1886 by Mary F. Scranton under Emperor Gojong. It was the first university founded in South Korea. Currently, Ewha is one of the world's largest female educational ins ...

. In 1930, she was awarded a master's degree in music at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

.'학교종' 작곡 김메리씨 별세
'' School Bell' composer Mary Kim passes away', ''

Hankyoreh ''The Hankyoreh'' (, literally "The Korean Nation" or "One Nation") is a centre-left liberal daily newspaper in South Korea. It was established in 1988 after widespread purges forced out dissident journalists, and was envisioned as an alternati ...

'', 2005-02-13; retrieved 2015-11-17. Later in life, she earned a master's degree in science from

Wayne State University Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...

Career

Joh taught in the music department at Ewha. She was asked by the South Korean government to compose children's songs after the end of Japanese rule over the country. At the end of World War II, the Koreans had no Korean-language school materials. Her 1950 book on Korean folk songs is one of very few published on the subject. In the United States, Joh changed professions. She began a second career working in a hospital laboratory. At age 73, she was a

Peace Corps The Peace Corps is an independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to provide international development assistance. It was established in March 1961 by an executive order of President John F. ...

volunteer in

Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...

. She worked in a hospital 600 miles from

Monrovia Monrovia () is the capital city of the West African country of Liberia. Founded in 1822, it is located on Cape Mesurado on the Atlantic coast and as of the 2008 census had 1,010,970 residents, home to 29% of Liberia’s total population. As the ...

Selected works

In an overview of Joh's writing,

OCLC OCLC, Inc., doing business as OCLC, See also: is an American nonprofit cooperative organization "that provides shared technology services, original research, and community programs for its membership and the library community at large". It was ...

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the OCL ...

lists 2 works in 3 publications in 2 languages and 39 library holdings. WorldCat Identities

Cho, Che Sik
retrieved 2012-11-1. :''This list is not finished; you can help Wikipedia by adding to it.''
''Folk songs of Korea: original folk melodies and national anthem,''
1950

Honors

* Ewha University, ''honoris causa'' 1980

References

External links

School Bell song at Transparent.com

학교종 at YouTube.com

''Hakkyo Jongq'' at Youth Orchestra Los Angeles

김메리 at Nate.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Joh, Mary Kim 1904 births 2005 deaths Ewha Womans University alumni Ewha Womans University faculty South Korean emigrants to the United States South Korean composers University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance alumni Peace Corps volunteers Women centenarians American centenarians South Korean centenarians Wayne State University alumni