PARK - Jean Marie (nee Leight) April 30-1939 - May 4, 2025 Of Clarence, New York, passed away on May 4, 2025 at the age of 86 from complications of advanced Alzheimer's Disease. Jean is survived by her 3 children: Jennifer Park (Wooj Byun) (Minneapolis, MN), Victor Park (Clarence, NY), and Bertrand Park (Dabbie) (Portland, OR), two grandchildren (Nina Byun and Amber Park), and many nieces and nephews and their children. Jean is predeceased by Howard Park, her beloved husband of 56 years until his passing in 2016 at age 82, her beautiful granddaughter, Maria Byun, who passed away in 2022 at age 24, and her siblings, Marvin, Jessie, Nathan and Ken.

Jean Leight was born on April 30, 1939 in Davenport, Iowa and grew up in the nearby town of Pleasant Valley. She attended Adam State College in Colorado, with plans to become an elementary school teacher. But on a fateful visit to Minneapolis with her two college friends during the summer of her sophomore year in 1959, she met a Korean student, Howard Park, who was working on his MA in Political Science at the University of Minnesota. They fell in love and married on December 4, 1959, and later moved to New York City where Jennifer was born. But they missed Minneapolis and soon returned there where Jean worked at the U of M Walter Graduate Library and at keypunching jobs in the early years of their marriage, while Howard completed his PhD at the U of M. The family eventually moved to Dunkirk, New York, where Howard taught at Fredonia State College and Jean stayed home to devote herself to motherhood with the birth of Victor and later with the birth of Bertrand. The family finally settled in Western New York after Howard became a professor at Buffalo State College, SUNY, in 1969. After the kids got older, Jean resumed working at other keypunching jobs in the Buffalo area, eventually becoming an accounts receivable clerk for Service Systems, Marriott and Sodexo, where she worked until 2003 and made many dear friends who stayed in touch with her through the end.

Jean expressed her creativity through her many hobbies. She was an excellent cook and made many delicious Korean dishes, including kimchi which filled the house for many days with its pungent odor. She made her first pie when she was only 6 years old and continued her love of baking throughout her life, creating elaborate cakes for special occasions and dreaming of opening up her own bakery someday. She loved to read biographies (she never tired of the Royal family) and subscribed to dozens of magazines and collected even more cookbooks. She made a recipe book for each of her children as a keepsake and created lovely scrapbooks full of precious mementos. She wrote short stories and poems, and after Howard's passing, wrote a touching memoir entitled "My Life with Howard: An Open Letter to My Husband of 56 Years."

Jean will always be fondly remembered for her gentle, modest, caring and kind nature, her devotion to her husband and children, and her thoughtfulness with her dear friends.

Family and friends are invited to attend a Memorial Service will be held on Sunday, June 15, 2025 at 2:00 PM at North Presbyterian Church, 300 N. Forest Rd., Williamsville, NY 14221. Arrangements by: ERIE COUNTY CREMATION SERVICE, 824-6435. Please share your condolences at: www.eriecountycremationservice.com