Missionary couple returns to Korea

EAST COUNTY — At 89 and 94 years old, respectively, Eldon and Marcy Cornett never thought they’d be recovering from jet lag.

But after two day-long flights and 3,600 miles across the Pacific Ocean, the Windmill Manor couple are relishing the memories of their trip.

“We’re just now recovering,” Marcy Cornett says, laughing. “In fact, we’re not recovered.”

But the jet lag was well worth the exhaustion.

The Cornetts returned to South Korea Oct. 15 through Oct. 29 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Korean Nazarene University, a Bible school they helped start in the 1950s.

It was the first time they’d returned to the country where two of their five children — Esther Getker, who previously lived in Braden Woods, and Dave — were born, after leaving in 1971. (Their other son, Steve, was born in the United States during one of two one-year furloughs.)

Eldon and Marcy Cornett arrived in South Korea as missionaries in 1957 with the Church of the Nazarene after a month-long trip on a freight ship. Marcy Cornett was pregnant with their third child; their two boys, Phil and Michael, were 2 and 4 years old at the time.

The Cornetts joined another missionary family there in starting what is now Korean Nazarene University, then located in Seoul.

There, the couple trained pastors and helped organize and establish churches.

“Our main thrust was to train those pastors; it was theological training,” Eldon Cornett said. “There were 60 students when we left (in 1971).”

Forty-three years later, the school has grown to 6,000 students with about 330 professors.

“We were anxious to see everyone,” Eldon Cornett said. “It was overwhelming.”

The celebration began with a trip to Seoraksan National Park before returning to Cheonan, where the university now is located. The original school site is in Seoul.

The celebration included concerts, tours of the campus, a ceremony at which former missionaries received plaques and lavish Korean-style banquets, among other events.

Marcy Cornett adds: “It was unbelievable. We’d heard it had developed. We knew there was a big development there. We were overjoyed.”

The couple reunited with Bible college students they’d taught or for whom they officiated weddings or baby dedications. They met the children of those students as well.

Seven former students, whose weddings Eldon Cornett performed, made sure to greet them. They even vied for the chance to push Marcy Cornett in her wheelchair.

“Some of the kids who played with our children when they were young were all grown up,” Marcy Cornett said. “We met some of them.”

Two of the couple’s own children — Getker, who now lives in North Carolina, and Michael Cornett, who lives in Korea as a civilian attached to a military unit, attended the celebration as well.

The Cornetts said reconnecting with old friends and seeing their new families was their favorite part of the weeklong experience.

Eldon Cornett particularly loved meeting a child he’d dedicated as an infant. Marcy Cornett most enjoyed seeing one of her children’s old friends, Ikboom.

“It felt like we were missionaries again,” Marcy Cornett said. “All the memories came back.”

Contact Pam Eubanks at [email protected].

FUN FACTS
What Koreans say when asked to smile for a photograph? Kimchi!

“For picture taking, that’s what you say,” Marcy Cornett says. “It’s a spicy vegetable dish.”