Getting to Know: Kum Yon Jones
--interview conducted and written by Kathy Hinkle

Kum Yon was the Shining Star (employee of the month) in May. Everyone knows Kum Yon! She is the petite, Korean, Certified Nurse Assistant in the Health Care Center who has touched the lives of many, many residents in her almost 25 years here at Saint Simeon's. Her name, Kum Yon, actually means “Golden Lily” in one of the Chinese dialects and her parents couldn't have selected a better name for her.

If you need someone to give you a bath at Saint Simeon's you may need to get in line for Kum Yon since she has the reputation of providing the most pleasant, gentle bathing experience possible. She also enjoys helping residents in other special ways -- getting them something they ask for, doing a little sewing, helping them find things - anything to see them smile and their eyes light up.

She was born in South Korea in a town about the size of Sand Springs but in a very different world. It was in a valley surrounded by mountains - and we're talking real mountains, not Oklahoma hills. She remembers the incredibly pure air there, tiger lilies and baby's breath, and strange flowers she didn't know the name of, and the hillsides covered with red azaleas in the spring. Many of our houseplants grow outside as wildflowers in Korea.

Her father was a baker and also owned a fruit orchard. He loved anything that grew and everything he grew was wonderful. Kum Yon's mother helped him as did Kum Yon and also her brother, who was two years older, and it has resulted in her having a life-long love of plants. Her brother still lives in Korea and as the oldest son in the family takes care of their parents. Kum Yon has three brothers and one sister.

Kum Yon didn't finish high school because she wanted to leave her small community and see what the outside world was like. She joined her country's army and served three years. Her husband to be, Jerry Lee Jones, was also serving in his country's (USA) army and was stationed in South Korea. He was a Military Police Sergeant in a canine unit. Through mutual friends - the husband of her best friend was a friend of his - they met and married in the Korean Embassy.

Several years later they made the necessary arrangements to move to the United States with their daughter, Angela, who was 19 months old. This is our very own Angela who works in housekeeping here. Just before Kum Yon was to arrive, Jerry Lee was transferred to Germany but she came here anyway since he had relatives in Sand Springs. While living there two older neighbors saw her taking such good care of Angela that they suggested that she should consider taking care of older people at the nearby nursing home. She took their advice and started working at Oakdale Nursing Home in Sand Springs.

When the nursing director left to go to Southern Hills Nursing Home in Tulsa, she wanted Kum Yon to come with her so she did. Later a friend here at Saint Simeon's recommended her as someone who would be an excellent employee for us and a call was made to her. She didn't know Saint Simeon's at all, much less how to find it. She finally came to visit and the first time she saw our beautiful trees, “almost like a forest”, she knew this was the place she had to be.

Kum Yon's husband is unable to work because of a disability from his military service. They have two children. Angela, in addition to working here, is studying theology at the Victory Bible Institute. Her brother Robert, who also worked here for a while, works for and is a part-time student at Oral Roberts University studying business administration and theology. He also is the assistant to the pastor at the church the family attends, Redeeming Faith Temple.

Gardening is a passion for Kum Yon. Her garden at home wraps all around their house and she only comes inside when it gets too dark to be outside. A rabbit arrived one day that Kum Yon named Sarah. Lots of birds make their home there in the many trees that Kum Yon planted decades ago. There's also the “grandkitty” named Sasha, a very sweet chow named Minister, and three gerbils referred to as the Three Stooges. Here at St. Simeon's, Kum Yon is the special friend of the tortoises in the Gazebo Courtyard - especially, Sam, our first tortoise, which she named. Sam favors scrambled eggs and pancakes that Kum Yon feeds him.

Angela says that she grew up thinking that her mother had the quickest hands and sharpest eyes of anyone. Are you aware of the movie, The Karate Kid with Pat Morita as the Karate master and his remarkable ability to be able to catch flies with chopsticks? He's got nothing on Kum Yon - she was able to do that. She also has the ability to look at a field of clover and immediately spot any four-leaf clovers hiding there.

Kum Yon's reputation extends beyond this facility. In 1998 she was selected as the Career Nurse of the Year for Tulsa, Creek, and Osage counties - you can see the framed certificate at the Health Care Nurses' Station. What motivates her? “I am not able to take care of my mother and father who still live in South Korea so I hope that how I take care of other people's parents here is how people over there treats them.”

Kum Yon's pure spirit shows in everything she does and residents appreciate her. “Sometime a resident will tell me that I am really pretty and I tell them that their eyes are not so good and they need glasses.” But we know that what they “see” and sense is very real in our very special “Golden Lily”.