Lee Cataluna: Woman made sure Hawaii libraries had Korean-language material

Sook-Ki Kim Moon so believed in the transformative power of books, she gave her money, time, business acumen and organizational skills to build a collection of Korean-language material for the Hawaii State Library that now totals close to 30,000 books.

Moon died May 25 at the age of 79 after a long struggle with cancer.

She was born in Seoul on Feb. 19, 1941. She and her husband, Eugene Moon, came to Hawaii in 1981, where she was a businesswoman, running Katsura-Ya Jewelry and Boutique in the Pacific Beach Hotel for many years.

Moon had to leave school in the eighth grade to work to support her mother and siblings, but she had educated herself by being an avid reader. Her husband quoted her as saying, “People who read can improve themselves.”

In 1996 Moon read a newspaper story about the Hawaii State Public Library System facing huge financial cuts. The article mentioned that among the casualties of the budget crisis, $2,300 for the purchase of Korean-language books had been cut.

She took it upon herself to make up for that by donating $2,500 to the library to buy Korean books. When Moon was later invited to the library to see the fruits of her donation, she looked at the cost of the purchased books and the quality of the titles and thought she could do better.

She talked Korean Airlines into flying in more books at no charge. Several years later, when the airline ended the arrangement, she got Palama Supermarkets to bring in books loaded in food containers. She found a bookseller in Korea who could get better books at better prices. She set up a nonprofit, the Korean Library Foundation, secured a large endowment from a Korean steel company and made a $1 million donation of her own to continue to buy Korean-language materials every year for Hawaii libraries. When she realized what it took to catalog all those new books before they could be put out on the shelves, she arranged a contingent of volunteers to do the work for the libraries.

She even got members of the South Korean military participating in RIMPAC to bring boxes of books to add to the collection one year.

“She wanted books for the general public — history, cookbooks, fiction, children’s books — and as the collection grew, she always had a suggestion box for users of the collection to list what they would like to read,” said Caroline Spencer, retired Hawaii State Library director. Over the years, the collection expanded to include e-books and DVDs.

The acquisitions became known as the Moon Collection, which is kept at the McCully-Moiliili Library, though the materials can be borrowed through every library in the state system.

Her husband, who worked in FBI intelligence and as chief information officer for Mayor Frank Fasi, said, “She was such a wonderful, beautiful person, always trying to help people.” He too was a beneficiary of her determined, outcome-oriented kind of love. When he was in his mid-40s, she encouraged him to go back to graduate school. When he said he didn’t think he could pass the entrance exam, she hired a young scholar to tutor him every night for months so he could pass the GMAT. When it came time to apply to graduate programs, she insisted that he apply only to Harvard. He thought that was beyond his reach, but he was accepted, and attained a midcareer master’s degree from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

But of all her contributions, her husband says he is most grateful for how much she loved his son Ryan, who was from his first marriage. “She used to say, ‘I have two babies, Ryan and Korean Library Foundation. They are my flesh and blood.’” She supported Ryan in everything, from high school through medical school, encouraging him to always be the best. “She would say, ‘Don’t stand on the bottom and look up at a high mountain and say, “I cannot climb it.” You have to try first.’”

“Sook-Ki was an inspiration in her dedication, determination, caring and energy,” Spencer said. “When there was a problem, she would call a meeting of her board members, library staff members, and discuss how the problem would be solved, and it was always solved. Her list of volunteers was endless, and they were dedicated.”

She was diagnosed with Stage IV inoperable lung cancer in July 2010 and told she had just months to live. She went through years of chemotherapy and radiation, praying through her pain that God would give her a little more time so she could finish her volunteer work for the library.

“God generously granted her 10 years,” Eugene Moon said.

A memorial has been set for June 16 at the Diamond Head Memorial Park with viewing at 10:30 and service at 11 a.m.