HELEN HALM / 1918-2003
Kim chee maker
heated up Hawaii
Almost 50 years ago, Helen Halm grew a factory out of the back of her husband's accounting offices on Waialae Avenue with the help of her mother's recipe book and her family's labor.
Today, Halm's Kim Chee is one of the island's most popular brands of the Korean favorite and will be the dish of honor at Halm's memorial service.
Halm, who died Nov. 14 at her Honolulu home, was 85.
"The reason she started (the business) was just to give her something to do," said Halm's son, Samuel. "It was hard work. She used all fresh ingredients (and) went out personally to talk to the people in the markets."
Halm said he remembers himself and his sisters sitting in front of the television nightly while the factory was running and stripping codfish for use in his mother's products.
Helen Halm's husband, children and sister also pitched in at the factory, he said.
When the Halm family moved to Guam three years after the company was started, the kim chee factory and rights to the Halm brand were put on the market.
The label was sold again in the 1980s and is now operated by Halm's Enterprise Inc.
Owner Mike Irish said that even though the Halm's Kim Chee label has not been in the hands of its namesake for decades, having Helen Halm's brand on the shelves is "promoting her legacy."
After six years on Guam, Halm returned to Hawaii but never went back to making kim chee for anyone other than family. Her son said that at one time she had hoped to start a brand of Korean-style hot sauce, but the plan never came to fruition.
"Dad retired. He always like to be doing something and always had some clients on the side. She would give him a hand."
Irish said he met Halm twice over his more than a decade of the company's ownership. Both times, she came to tell him that "you're doing just fine," he said. "She was always happy and proud. I told her, 'You let me know, because that's your name up there.'"
Halm is also survived by daughters Diane Murayama and Deborah Stolberg, brother George Chun, sister Nora Wesley, six grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
Services will be private. Burial will be at 12:45 p.m. Tuesday at Diamond Head Memorial Park. The family requests no flowers and casual attire.
