Exclusive: Drowning victim was looking to start new life

STAFFORD COUNTY, Va.  – It was a marriage that brought the Kangs and Ackermans together. It was a sad and unexpected accident on Thursday that brought them even closer.

Miwha Kang, 61, died early Friday morning at Mary Washington Hospital after she fell into a swimming pool at her home on Cardinal Drive in south Stafford.

Her death has been tough on her husband, Paul, who found her in the pool. It’s also been difficult on the rest of Kang’s extended family, whom are doing all they can to comfort each other during a trying time.

“We enjoyed grand mothering together for six years, and I wrote in my journal this morning that Miwha was gracious, generous and completely a lady at all times,” said Susan Ackerman.

Ackerman’s son, Hans, married Kang’s daughter, Michelle in 1999 – four years after Michelle was crowned Ms. Virginia, she said.

Kang loved to cook, loved to be the life of the party and loved her grandchildren.

Just last week, Kang and her husband spent the afternoon at a condominium they recently purchased in Woodbridge’s Belmont Bay neighborhood, overlooking the Occoquan River.

Kang brought a picnic lunch to the home that was still without furniture, and a blanket, where she invited Hans, Michelle and their grandchildren to come sit and eat together.

“That was just the kind of person she was. This new home was going to be the next phase in their lives,” said Ackerman.

Kang and her husband were in the process of preparing their larger home in Stafford County to be put up for sale. Their new condo would be a smaller, more manageable space that would put them closer to their family and to their church.

On the night of the accident, Kang’s husband had just returned home about 8 p.m. after helping a neighbor move some firewood when he found his wife face down in their pool. He called 911, and emergency crews took Kang to a local hospital. She passed away about five hours later.

An investigation was conducted and police say she drowned accidentally.

Kang was an active member of her church, the Korean United Methodist Church of Greater Washington in McLean, where she sang in the choir. She will be remembered there at a funeral service at 7 p.m. Sunday, with a burial service on Monday in Olney, Md.

In addition to her husband, she is survived by her two children and a combination of more than 10 other grandchildren, in-laws and other family members.