Memorial Peace Park dedicated in I-Ho Pomeroy's honor

During the dedication, I-Ho's family gathered around the peace pole and listened to her husband, Derik Pomeroy, share stories of I-Ho's passion for community-building, her generosity and her love of giving back to others.

Her son Yung-Jai and daughter Jin-Ju were both in attendance, along with her son-in-law John and two grandsons.

“My mom loved this community so much,” Jin-Ju Jahns told The Chronicle.

She said the park was a testament to how involved Pomeroy was in the Bozeman community.

“She was really proud of being Korean, but she also loved living in Montana, Jahns said. “It’s a very Korean park but also a very Montana park.”

She pointed to a tri-colored, circular symbol on the top of the two red archways, called a sam taeguk.

“It’s a very traditional symbol in Korea,” she explained.

The sam taeguk includes three red, yellow and blue shapes, which represent heaven, humanity and earth. South Korea’s flag has a similar taeguk symbol, with blue and red in the circle, to symbolize balance.

And on the side of the park’s concrete benches are black and red images of a man and a woman, with dozens of birds flying between them.

The design is based on the Korean folk tale of two star-crossed lovers, Gyeonwu and Jiknyeo, who were banished to the opposite ends of the universe by their King.

The Korean holiday Chilseok, which takes place on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month every year, is said to be the one day a year that Gyeonwu and Jiknyeo are allowed to reunite. That day, magpies and crows work together to create a bridge across the universe for the lovers.

In his remarks, Derik pointed out more of the park’s Korean elements, including a metal tiger image on the side of a bench and three baby cherry trees that will produce cherry blossoms when they get bigger. The cherry trees are inspired by the South Korean Jinhae Gunhangje Festival in Pomeroy’s hometown, a springtime events that draw millions of people to the city.

The park features a prominent peace pole, provided by Sunrise Rotary, that says “May Peace Prevail on Earth” in several different languages.

Derik stood before the large crowd and spoke deeply about Pomeroy’s generosity and some of her fundraisers.

As a teenager she would volunteer at a local orphanage in Jinhae and translated for a Dutch missionary working there.

After moving to Montana, she helped raise money for victims of the 2004 Indonesian tsunami. She met a Three Forks woman originally from a small village in Thailand, who was going back to help after the tsunami and Pomeroy wanted to help her out.

Through her work Bozeman Sunrise Rotary Club, she raised funds for another tsunami, this time in Japan in 2011.

Her very last fundraiser was for Cancer Support Community Montana, a nonmedical support for people with cancer and their families.

He ended his speech by encouraging people to fund a “personal sense of peace” in the park and take a moment to pause and focus before going out into the world with purpose.

The event also brought longtime friends of Pomeroy’s, who eagerly shared their stories of her. Everyone was in a joyful mood as they regaled in her memory and experienced a park she would have loved.

Ken Alexander traveled from Camas, Washington for the park dedication.

Alexander was stationed at the US naval base in Jinhae, South Korea when he met Pomeroy. He was a public works officer and hired Pomeroy as his secretary. She worked for him for over a year before moving to Busan, where she met Derik in 1986.

He reconnected with her when she moved to Montana in 1989 and stayed in touch with her until she passed away.

Alexander said everyone in his family knew her, all his kids, his ex-wife and his current wife. They would visit from Washington and stay with the Pomeroy family from time to time.

“She was very, very special to me because I always knew there was something about her that was unique,” Alexander said.

He shared that after they reconnected in the 90’s, Pomeroy told Alexander that she wanted to be famous.

And from the way people in Bozeman showed up for her, it seems like she got her wish.

“She was a really amazing person,” he said.

Derik told The Chronicle that Pomeroy was great at getting people involved in different projects and working with the community.

“She felt such gratitude that her adopted country had treated her so well, and she wanted to pay back to the community. That was her primary motivation for running for the city commission,” he said.

Derik especially likes the peaceful feeling of sitting at the benches in the park and the incorporation of Korea in the small space.

“They did a lovely, lovely job,” he said.

Derik said that he received a “remarkable response” to accepting Pomeroy’s honorary doctorate from MSU on her behalf after she passed away. He shared that 800 people donated to her Go Fund Me account when Pomeroy got sick and a lot of people came to her memorial service in June 2024.

“She would always tell our grandchildren that if you give to others, you’ll get more back, and she really believed that,” Derik said.

Deputy Mayor Douglas Fischer said the park came together "incredibly quickly” by city standards. It took roughly a year and a half to complete, from the initial idea to the finished park.

Fischer worked with her while he was on the school board and filled her city commission seat when she stepped down due to her illness in 2023.

“It was a real honor to have her seat, to carry on her legacy and it’s incredible to see that legacy continuing through this park,” he said.

Pomeroy was first elected to the commission in 2013 and served until 2023.

Madgic spoke to attendees during the dedication and said Pomeroy was very interested in protecting Bozeman’s downtown and supporting small businesses.

After Pomeroy passed away, Madgic came up with the idea to create a park in Pomeroy’s honor.

The two served on the city commission together for three years, during which time the commission had to make difficult decisions and endure tough meetings, per Madgic.

“Her presence there just once again helped relax us all to get through these really tough times,” Madgic said. “I miss that kind of spirit on the commission.”

She said Pomeroy had a “nice, pleasant presence” and was always generous with her compliments.

Before the peace park came about, Madgic recognized it as a place with a lot of potential. It formerly featured two benches, a few trees and some rock beds with plants.

Madgic noted that the park is halfway between city hall and Pomeroy's restaurant and residence.

“It just made so much sense,” she said.

The reconfiguration of the park included removing two parking spaces and expanding the curb, a nod to Pomeroy’s interest in making Bozeman friendlier for pedestrians and cyclists.

She referred to the plants around the park as the “icing on the cake” but they almost didn’t get funded until the commission wrote grants and found pockets of money to make it happen.

“I’m hoping that this concept is replicated in other parts of the city,” Madgic said. “That you can do great things with small spaces.”

She was happy that the park was a cooperative project between different organizations and individuals.

“I think I-Ho would be pleased,” she told the Chronicle. “I see her looking down on this and smiling. That's really what this is all about."

To close off her speech, Madgic said there was a word that Pomeroy would say ethuastically.

“Many of you probably know this word. It was Hallelujah,” she said. “On three, with great enthusiasm, we’re all going to say Halleluiah.”

She counted down and everyone in the tightly packed crowd yelled “Hallelujah” in Pomeroy’s honor before erupting into applause.