Letters to Gabriel: My Enduring Memories As an Immigrant in America

In the midst of post-war Korea, James Pae came into the world, as an only son to his parents struggling to find their place in the world. Unfortunately, at the age of five, Pae's parents separated and he and his father immigrated to America in 1973. With a single bag in hand, hearts filled with promises, and deep rooted dreams, they sought to make a new life in a foreign land. Since that long ago day, Pae has come to embrace the American life in all its winding, twisting paths. From living in Chicago's inner city slums as a boy to his training with the Chicago Police Academy as a man, Pae learned to deal with the rigors of life in this new country. But it was when he met his future wife, Joyce, that the lessons learned from an early age in Korea to adulthood in America finally made sense. Letters to Gabriel shares his extraordinary story of hope, struggle, and perseverance in the form of ten letters written to his unborn son intermixed with commentary on Pae's life. Written while sitting at the kitchen table of his Chicago home, Pae's deeply intimate narrative encompasses the spectrum of human emotion. More than an autobiography, this story reveals the extraordinary link between father and son, and how our parents' sacrifices can sometimes only be appreciated once we make them ourselves.

James Pae was born in 1965 in Korea and came to America in 1973. He graduated from Roosevelt University and received training from the Chicago Police Academy in 1990 and the U.S. Department of Labor’s OSHA Training Institute in 2001. Pae served as chairman of the safety committee with the Department of Aviation’s Safety & Security at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. He lives in Irvine, California, with his wife and two children.