My grandmother Hye Kyong Shelton, or as I call her: Nana, came from Korea in the year of 1969 with her Father, Mother, and Brother. She came here for education and intended to leave immediately after however, this changed when she got married to a man named Devon Shelton. From what I’ve been told, my grandmother was a “party girl” and often went to nightclubs back in the 70’s. One time, when her date was being extremely rude to her and they got in a fight resulting in him leaving, my now grandfather started talking to her, he offered a ride home and she gave him her phone number. The rest is history. Shortly after that, my mom was born in 1970. Devon and her got married and 4 years later had another child, my aunt. When my grandmother first came here she found things that she liked, and some that she had difficulties with. For instance, when she came here, she had already known English but the slang and expressions used confused her, so she had to learn those. She also really missed Korean food until she found a small restaurant in LA. She really loved the way the water worked here as well. Back in Korea, the water only came on at night, so the maid had to collect large amounts of water at night to use the next day. When she came to the USA she loved that she could take warm or cold water, any time of day. She worked most of her life with desk jobs every time she moved. She moved A. LOT. She first moved from Hawaii to South Carolina and worked as a headhunter there, then to California with UCLA doing the billing for the ophthalmology department, then she went to California, to North Carolina, to North Carolina where she’s staying for the rest of her life. In total, she spent around 43 years working and is now in retirement. She says she doesn’t do much anymore but she was glad she came to America because of the experiences and the culture.
