Hae Young Pak, MD, passed away at her home in Havensight, St. Thomas, on Friday, May 17, 2024, after a long struggle with Parkinson's disease. She died peacefully in the presence of her caring husband, Dr.
Kab Kyun Kim. Dr Pak served the Virgin Islands community as a pediatrician for nearly 60 years, delivering thousands of babies. She delivered quality medical care to more than 20,000 infants, children and adults.
She was very proud of serving three generation families. Dr. Pak was a woman of extraordinary grace, elegance, quiet strength, talent, and resilience, and she was lovingly devoted to her family and her adopted community.
Her crowning joys were serving her patients, seeing that all her three sons became physicians, and enjoying her seven grandchildren in retirement years. Dr. Hae Young Pak was born on Dec.
13, 1932, in Seoul, South Korea, during the Japanese Occupation and came of age during the Korean War of 1950-53. Tumultuous developments forced her to emigrate from South Korea and settle in the U.S.
Virgin Islands. Her route to her adopted home, the Virgin Islands, was circuitous and unplanned. She was born into a middle class, land-owning family whose mother was a high school teacher and whose father was a postmaster.
She excelled in school as a child, becoming the youngest female medical graduate from Seoul's Women's Medical College at age 21. In addition to academic excellence, she was a talented violin player and performed in many concerts. However, on June .