Soon Sun Kim and Timothy Kim

85 and 68, Los Angeles

It had been five years since the Kim family all lived under the same roof in their Koreatown apartment. But the coronavirus brought them all home. First the grandmother, Soon Sun, came home in mid- April after checking out of Olympia Convalescent Hospital. The family, particularly her daughter Eun- Ju, worried about the rapid spread of the virus in assisted living facilities. Then the father, Timothy, closed up his acupuncture practice and started delivering sermons from home for his weekend job as a pastor at L. A. Nasung Church in La Crescenta. Eun- Ju, meanwhile, took care of the household while her children, 22year- old Hannah Haein and 17- year- old Joseph, f inished the school year at home, their classes now online.

But the homecoming was short- lived. After contact with sick patients through the nursing home and Timothy’s acupuncture practice, both Soon Sun and Timothy tested positive for COVID- 19 in April. Eun- Ju also came down with serious symptoms. The rest of the family tested positive later that month, including Hannah and Joseph.

One after another, Soon Sun, Timothy and Eun- Ju were all admitted to Good Samaritan Hospital by the end of the month, leaving Hannah and Joseph alone in the apartment.

Hannah felt that the women in her mom’s family were particularly strong, since many had lived to be more than 100. “We have a lot of grit and passion,” Hannah said. “My grandmother was alive and well, up until this virus.”

When Soon Sun died one week later at 85, Hannah took to Instagram to give her friends a warning: “This virus is not a joke.”

Hannah and Joseph grew up with their grandmother, who emigrated from Seoul to live with the family in the small town of Randle, Wash., Soon Sun would always make “old school” Korean dishes like galbijjim and yakgwa for the family. Soon Sun and the kids would bring a ladder from their house to a local park to pick nuts from a huge gingko tree to add to their meals, Hannah remembered.

Then, Timothy died May 21. He was 68. “He was my favorite person,” Hannah said of her father. He had been born just as the Korean War was ending, and always had stories to tell. Hannah knew she’d miss him deeply.

Hannah and Joseph said their father’s sense of humor was so powerful that it could turn a sour conversation around. “We would be so mad one second, and the next second we’d be laughing,” Hannah recalled.

The family tried to keep news of their father’s death from their mother as she battled the virus in intensive care. But she could tell something was wrong. After all, the couple had been married more than 20 years.

“I’ve already lost my dad, and I promised my dad I would take care of my mom,” Hannah said. “And that’s what I’m going to do.”

Eun- Ju is now virus- free, but her lungs were damaged so severely she may need a double- lung transplant.