Jeannie, born Jong Oak and later changed to Jong Wan, in Seoul, South Korea, toward the end of the Korean conflict was too young to remember the dangers and struggle for survival. As a happy little girl, protected by her parents from the hardships that were the legacy of war, she learned to find creative solutions to problems and to never be defeated by a problem.  Emigrating from South Korea to the United States in 1972, Jeannie found herself one of very few Koreans in the small mid-western town of Robinson, Illinois, and married to an ex-GI. 

 

Determined to become successful for her son and husband and to bring her family from South Korea to join her, Jeannie took jobs to save money to start a business.  As each goal was achieved Jeannie was already working on the next.  Today, as head of a very successful electronics and appliance retail store, she has diversified this business into high end home furnishings and interior design. 

 

Jeannie's most recent business venture is investing as a partner in a construction business in Las Vegas with her first son Mike. 

 

After raising three children and various nieces and nephews in a large home in Terre Haute,  Jeannie, her brother InGe (who joined her in 1979) and wife Lee, and their son Jonathan continue to live in that home as an extended family.