Legacy Spotlight is a new feature in the Marmion Magazine that highlights alumni and their legacy connections.
Over 40% of our current student enrollment has a legacy connection to Marmion. This connection, made from father to son, grandfather to grandson, uncle to nephew, etc., shows the pride our alumni feel toward their alma mater. Their desire to share the Marmion experience with their family reflects how much they were impacted by their own time at Marmion.
April 2021 - John Khin '82
In the Fall of 1978, my parents dropped me off at Marmion Military Academy to begin freshman plebe training...and the start of a journey beyond anything I could have imagined. While my eighth-grade classmates and friends went off to “normal” high schools in their communities, my parents sent me to Marmion, believing that was the best educational opportunity for me in the Midwest. As a scrawny and timid 14-year-old boy, I was seriously doubting the wisdom of attending an all-boys military religious boarding school. Really? What were my parents thinking? What was I thinking? In those first few weeks, like many freshman Cadets, I felt like a frightened mouse trying hard to avoid the attention of the intimidating Cadet upperclassmen, the grizzled old Army instructors, and the mysterious Benedictine monks in their black robes. As time went on, I felt more comfortable as I became friends with other students, and we shared with each other the challenges and anxieties we all faced, and the antics and banter understood only by teenage boys. Eventually, these friendships grew and strengthened into bonds of brotherhood across many groups around campus. I ran cross-country and track, and played tennis. I joined the drill team and rifle team. I joined the chess club, math club, biology clubs, ski club, pep club, band, and other activities and interests that were all new to me. My time at Marmion quickly transitioned into a busy and exciting experience with a lot of new friends and activities. The following year, my younger brother, Paul, joined Marmion as a freshman Cadet in the Class of 1983. Having an older brother on campus seemed to make the transition for Paul a little easier. I also felt more “at home” knowing that my brother was somewhere nearby, even if we didn’t see each other every day. I learned that so many of my fellow Cadets had not only brothers, but also grandfathers, fathers, uncles, and cousins who were faculty members or alumni. For the next few years, as my brother and I continued our Marmion experience, we learned along the way that Marmion was unique and special in many ways – as a community and a brotherhood. I recognized that the Marmion brotherhood also extended to teachers, coaches, military instructors, and the monks over the course of four years. I grew and thrived in this environment, and by senior year, I felt that I had grown into a mature, disciplined young man who was ready to step into the world, prepared for anything that life had to offer. After college, I joined the U.S. Army and began an exciting and fulfilling profession in law enforcement, which led me to a highly successful career as a Special Agent with the Defense Criminal Investigative Service. I’m sure this was much to the surprise of Father Abbot Vincent, who at that time was my junior year dorm prefect, and French teacher for 4 years. I believe Father Vincent was quite convinced back in 1980 that I was a repeat offender of a number of minor violations on campus, i.e., having my hair too long, going “AWOL” after I got my driver's license, and other indiscretions that indicated I may not be a good follower of rules and regulations. Nevertheless, I somehow ended up on the right side of the law as I went on to spend my entire professional career in the criminal justice system, enforcing the law and bringing to justice those who violated Federal law.
After serving over 30 years in the U.S. Department of Defense in law enforcement and criminal investigations, I had reached the pinnacle of my career. In 2017, while living near Atlanta, GA, and as I was planning to retire in the near future, my wife, Anita, and I were quite dissatisfied with the high school options for our sons, Charles and Alexander. Charlie was already in eighth grade at that time, so we needed to make a decision soon. When we realized that, with my pending retirement, we could move and live anywhere we wanted, we quickly came to the conclusion that giving our boys the Marmion advantage was the obvious choice. So, within a few short months, we uprooted ourselves from our comfortable life in Georgia, and moved to Illinois. Although returning to Illinois was sort of a homecoming for me, I also knew that for my wife and sons, this was a big change. But, we had only one simple reason for this move – to send our boys to Marmion. As we explained our reasoning to our family, friends, and neighbors, few could truly understand why we would move halfway across the country just to send our kids to some private high school in Illinois. The idea seemed a bit strange to others, but I knew it would be well worth the effort and sacrifice. Charlie entered Marmion in 2018, in the Class of 2022, and is now in his junior year. Recently, our youngest son, Alex, was accepted to Marmion and will start his freshman year this Fall (2021), in the Class of 2025.
John Khin ’82 with his sons Alex ’25 (left) and Charlie ‘22 Nearly 40 years after I graduated from Marmion, I returned to the brotherhood and the community of Marmion. As I reflect back on how I ended up where I am, and the journey along the way, I realized that so many factors in my adult life that led me to this point – making the right decisions when challenged, exercising good discipline and sound judgment, being an effective visionary leader, and being a loyal patriotic American citizen - were forged into my character from my experiences and education at Marmion. From the rigorous top-quality academic curriculum, to the order and attention to detail instilled by the military program, to the faith and dedication modeled by the Benedictine monks – I know that Marmion was responsible, in large part, for who and what I am today. I believe that Marmion’s pillars of spirituality, academics, and leadership guided me through a life well-lived. I feel that it is my privilege and honor to now be able to send my own sons to Marmion, to gain the education and experiences that will help them achieve their best lives. Although Marmion has evolved over these decades, I know that the core tenets of Marmion remain unchanged. I am grateful to see that some of my former classmates and some of the same teachers I had more than 40 years ago now have the awesome responsibility of educating and nurturing my sons and the next generation of Marmion Men. John F. Khin MMA, Class of 1982