Jakyoung Agnew Obituary

Jakyoung Yoo Agnew was born a country girl. On April 28, 1961, she made her debut in the rural island of Seongmodo, South Korea; a place and time still mired in the inconveniences of postwar life, complete with woodstoves, kerosine lamps, and outhouses-indeed containing newspapers, but not necessarily for reading. Regardless, it was in this small village that she rooted her connections with the world around her, her family, and other people. She grew up plating make-believe banchan (Korean side dishes) with seashells from the beach and skipping over boulders rising from water-laden rice paddies with her friends. Her perfect set of teeth could clean a chicken bone better than a bear out of hibernation; though such a delicacy was a rare occasion, as her big-hearted grandmother kept an open-door policy on their house for dinner guests who had even less than they. She was the eldest daughter of an eldest son of seven, making her big sister to an army of siblings and cousins. Of course, for anyone who knows her, it is no surprise this was a role she took in enthusiastic stride.
Friends and family always described her as the shortest but brightest kid. Across her life, little has ever changed. Jakyoung knew early on that she was destined to be a scientist from the unceasing stream of questions she posed to any poor adult that lent an ear. As such, she demonstrated her capabilities by breezily earning her bachelor's degree in biochemistry from Yonsei University-one of the most elite universities in Korea-in 1983, and standing at just 4'11," no less. Not to mention, she did so amidst the political turmoil of the 1980 military coup d'etat, against which she joined her classmates in protesting for democracy. Her clubmates remarked incredulously how despite her deep involvement with the Red Cross club on campus and an undisclosed number of nights outdrinking the guys, she still managed to make perfect grades.
Following graduation Jakyoung worked for several years for a pharmaceutical company in Seoul, saving up money and helping her siblings through their educational endeavors. She eventually realized her desire to pursue a master's degree, and finding herself fed up with the culture of corporate Korea at the time, Jakyoung made the lifechanging decision to immigrate to the United States in 1986, in spite of her long-standing loathing of English language classes. She first touched down in Los Angeles, California, where she began a master's program at UC Riverside. However, finding that her English immersion in the greater LA area was faltering due to the vibrant Korean community, she decidedly moved to Laramie, Wyoming to pursue a PhD where she would be assured to never hear a hint of Korean. She endured six years of rigorous molecular biology research and, even more bravely, many nights of kimchi-less dinners (a particular struggle-meal featuring salsa with rice). Jakyoung graduated victoriously from the University of Wyoming with a PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology; and, the country girl turned cowgirl made another lifechanging decision to continue her stint in the Midwest with a postdoc at the USDA Research Center in Hastings, Nebraska where they sought to sequence the bovine genome. There, the cowgirl spent two more snowy years as a farm girl.
It was during that time that she met a young Colorado State biochemistry PhD student by the name of Brian James Agnew. Through Brian's roommate at the time, they began a six-year friendship that, through unforeseen circumstances, eventually found them living on separate boats in the San Francisco Bay area while pursuing post-doctorate work at UC Berkeley. Unleashed upon California, Jakyoung took the surrounding mountains by a storm, learning to rock climb in Yosemite and ice climb in the Sierras. While living on boats at the Emery Cove Marina in Emeryville, CA, they built community with the other liveaboard marina inhabitants. It was also here that Jakyoung was introduced to Brian's 6-year-old daughter, Quincy Erin Thomas-Agnew, and the two instantly became good friends. It is hard to say precisely what attracted Brian to Jakyoung, be it her sense of humor, her lovely smile, her precious laugh, or her indominable appetite, though likely all four, but it was there in the Bay that the two postdocs fell in love and Brian asked for her hand in marriage in the spring of 1998. The couple was married on February 6th, 1999. After their marriage, Jakyoung completed her postdoc and began working for Celera Genomics where she worked on the pan-national effort known as the Human Genome Project.
Jakyoung, without thought, accepted Quincy as her own, spending time with her and helping to care for her. Then, despite her designs to never have children of her own, Jakyoung with great joy gave birth to her daughter, Angela Irene Agnew, in July of 1999 at the age of 38. It was love at first sight. Inseparable, Jakyoung was known to spend a night or two in her daughter's crib with her, able to fit thanks to her diminutive stature. After two years of navigating parenthood in the city, Brian and Jakyoung decided to seek a slower and more economical lifestyle, bringing them to purchase a home perched in the southwest hills of Eugene, Oregon in 2001. Shortly after arriving in Eugene, on September 19th, 2003 Jakyoung proudly became a United States citizen, and thereafter she never missed an opportunity to vote. Jakyoung and Brian both secured positions with a small biotechnology company called Molecular Probes (now Thermo Fisher Scientific), where Jakyoung would live out an ambitious and highly successful 24-year career as a senior business development manager. Seasoned with years of commanding her younger siblings and wild cousins, she was a natural leader and tough negotiator, still beloved by all who worked with her both in and outside of her company. She managed to balance her demanding days with being a loving and attentive mother, who instilled in her daughters the importance of education, their Korean heritage, and unconditional love.
Sixty years and five thousand miles away from her birthplace in Korea, Jakyoung remained connected to the earth and her friends and neighbors around her. She could spend hours gardening on a sunny Saturday, pulling weeds and stacking rocks around her flower beds, or ferociously battling the blackberry bushes at their cabin on the Alsea River in the Oregon coast range. She delighted in steaming up only the best Korean white rice in her Korean-speaking rice cooker, plating unimaginable variations of kimchi for dinner, and sneaking into the kitchen to purloin the first bite of freshly baked bread (the fruit of her husband and daughter's labor, always). She religiously bought books for the children in her Korean community at the Korean Central Church and chatted over steaming bowls of stew with their parents after service. And most of all, Jakyoung loved her family unconditionally and sacrificially, as a mother, wife, and big sister. Nothing would ever change this; not the distance from her rural island home, nor her cancer. Her daughters, husband, and all who survive her will always remember her that way, infectious smile, joyful laugh, and all.
Jakyoung is survived by her husband Brian Agnew, her daughter Angela Agnew, her stepdaughter Quincy Cuseo and husband Logan Cuseo of Magalia, CA, her father Bongdan Yoo, her brother Youngkyun Yoo, her sisters Sukyoung Yoo and Bokyoung Yoo of Seoul, South Korea, her sister-in-law Sheila Epstein and husband Gary Epstein of Newberry Park, CA, and her sister-in-law Marina Reichl of Eugene, OR. Additionally, Jakyoung has many aunts, uncles, and cousins residing in both the United States and South Korea. She is also survived by her Westie dog, Scout.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks to please plant a tree in memory of Jakyoung:
· https://shop.alivingtribute.org/products/plant-a-tree-oregon
Or please donate to:
· The Imagination Library of Eugene for children
https://www.eplfoundation.org/aboutimaginationlibrary
· The American Cancer Society
https://www.cancer.org/donate.html
Please join us in a Celebration of Life for Jakyoung to be held at the Korean Central Church (Game Farm Rd) on May 17th, 2025 at 11 am.
To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Jakyoung, please visit our floral store.