Helen Park

Helen Park passed away from natural causes on May 12, 2025 at the age of 85 in the comfort of her home.

Helen (Hwa Ja Ko) was born on Dec. 2, 1939 in Seoul, Korea to Gui Dong Ko (Father) and Dae Gil Ko (Mother). She was one of ten children and along with her older brother, Star Bum Ko, were the only ones to survive to adulthood. Helen immigrated to the Los Angeles, CA in 1964 and was later joined by her brother and his family. Helen attended the Korean United Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles, where she met many of her life long friends; she also met Joseph Park and the two were later married in that same church in 1966. Though she trained as a medical assistant, Helen started working as a beautician in the Los Angeles area, and would continue in that profession for over five decades. She had the most loyal and loved customers. Helen and Joseph moved to Torrance in 1970 and lived a beautiful life filled with children, family, travel, exercise, friends and grandchildren. Helen eventually retired in 2020 and spent the last few years enjoying her grandchildren, gym, audio books and friends.

Helen was an incredibly positive and energetic person. She attributed her optimism and faith in her success to beating cancer 20 years ago. Helen was passionate about having a clean house, a healthy body and her books; books all over the house, books in the car, books waiting to be returned and books newly checked out. The library staff knew Helen and her grandchildren very well as she would take them often for story time. However, her greatest passion was her “family”; Helen was fiercely devoted to those she loved and her circle included her family at home, her family at work, her family at the gym and anyone else fortunate enough to have their name scribbled in one of her many phone books. Helen will be remembered for her ease in making friendships, her thoughtfulness of others, and her always positive view of life.