Helen Halm, founder of Halm's Kim Chee, dead at 85
By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer
Helen C. Halm, founder of Halm's Kim Chee, died Nov. 14 in Honolulu. She was 85.
Halm was born on April 15, 1918, in Honolulu. In 1955, she started making and selling the Korean staple in a Kaimuki office space behind her husband's accounting business.
Halm's Kim Chee was a small, family operation run by Halm and two other women. Sam Halm, Helen's son, said the three women did everything, including cutting the vegetables and stocking the store shelves.
"They used to have this old, green Chevrolet station wagon that they used to load the kim chee on and go deliver," Sam Halm said.
In addition to local sales, Helen Halm shipped her kim chee to the West Coast and as far as Chicago. Her son said he didn't think Halm's Kim Chee had much competition in the Midwest.
"She had a brother who lived in Chicago, and through him she was able to get people to buy the kim chee and put it in the market," Sam Halm said.
He said his mother's secret recipe was handed down by her mother.
But after only about three years, Halm was forced to sell the business when the family moved to Guam. "If that didn't happen, she might still have the business," Sam Halm said.
Larry Kang bought the business and kept the Halm's Kim Chee name. In 1985, Kang sold it to businessman Mike Irish.
Irish, who is half Korean, said today's Halm's Kim Chee is "basically still (Halm's) recipe."
"Halm's is still the dominating force, and it attests to Mrs. Halm's family recipe," Irish said. He added that he had no intentions of changing the brand name when he bought the business. "I don't think 'Irish Kim Chee' would sell," he said.
In addition to her son, Sam, Halm is surved by daughters, Diane Murayama and Deborah Stolberg; brother, George Chung; sister, Nora Wesley; six grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.
Visitation will be from 9 to 10 a.m. today at St. Philomena Church, 3300 Ala Laulani St.; service at 10 a.m. Burial at 12:45 p.m. at Diamond Head Memorial Park.
Reach Curtis Lum at 525-8025 or culum@honoluluadvertiser.com.
