Family of Metro-North victim Kisook Ahn arrives
Jin-won Ahn, left, and Eui-ho Kim, family of Metro-North train victim Kisook Ahn, 35, arrive at Kennedy Airport. They are in town to begin making funeral arrangements. (Dec. 4, 2013) Credit: Newsday / Alejandra Villa
As investigators continue to probe the cause of the deadly Metro-North crash Sunday in the Bronx, the brother and brother-in-law of one of the four passengers killed in the derailment arrived Wednesday at Kennedy Airport on a flight from Seoul, South Korea.
Jin-Won Ahn, brother of victim Kisook Ahn, 35, of Woodside and brother-in-law Eui-Ho Kim were met by a representative of the South Korean consulate at the Korean Air Terminal at 10:20 a.m. As members of the media, most from the Korean press, looked on, the two men, dressed casually, said little.
An interpreter told reporters the two were "too sad to talk," but said the men were making arrangements for a funeral and church service in New York.
According to Sheldon Meikle, director of Perfect Choice Staffing, which sponsored Ahn through its international staffing division in Woodbury, Ahn was a member of the congregation at St. Sebastian Roman Catholic Church in Woodside.
Ahn was returning home from a 1 1/1/2-hour shift as a registered nurse at the Sunshine Children's Home and Rehab Center in Ossining, a pediatric residential facility that treats severely ill children, when she was killed, said Sunshine administrator Linda Mosiello.
"She was committed to making them smile," Mosiello said. "She had a very warm, loving compassionate way about her."
Meikle, whose agency recruited Ahn to come to the United States, said she was a registered nurse when she arrived in the country, having received a degree at Sungshin University in Seoul.
Ahn then entered an accelerated one-year nursing program at Lehman College and received a bachelor's degree.
After being granted a one-year work permit, Meikle said, Ahn entered and later graduated from a two-year master's degree program at Lehman, becoming a family nurse practitioner.
She graduated from that program in fall 2012, he said.
Officials said Wednesday that family and friends of Ahn will be seeking donations to help with funeral costs.
Meanwhile, a memorial service at Lehman is in the planning stages, officials said.
"Our thoughts and prayers go out to Kisook Ahn," Lehman president Ricardo Fernandez said Wednesday.
With John Valenti
'I'm going to try to avoid it' A trip to the emergency room in a Long Island hospital now averages nearly 4 hours, data shows. NewsdayTV's Virginia Huie reports.
'I'm going to try to avoid it' A trip to the emergency room in a Long Island hospital now averages nearly 4 hours, data shows. NewsdayTV's Virginia Huie reports.
