We served on the city arts council together for six years. Lilly never let bureaucracy become an excuse for inaction. She found a way. Every single time.
4 months ago
Lillian Grace Park
September 2, 1972 – January 28, 2026 · 53 years
"She poured herself into the world and the world was richer for it."
Biography
Lillian Grace Park was a community organizer, muralist, and mother from Oakland, California. She grew up in Koreatown Los Angeles, the daughter of immigrants who ran a dry-cleaning business, and carried their work ethic into everything she did. Lilly organized neighborhood clean-up campaigns, painted over 30 public murals across the Bay Area, and founded the Oakland Youth Art Initiative, which has served over 2,000 children. She died at 53, far too soon, leaving behind her husband Daniel, children Mia and Sean, and walls across Oakland that still carry her color.
Messages & Tributes (15)
+ Write a MessageAunt Lilly was the coolest person in our family by a wide margin. She let me help paint a mural when I was eight and never once treated me like a child.
4 months ago
My daughter was luminous. That is the only word. I have no idea how the world keeps turning without her light in it.
4 months ago
I was a student in her first Youth Art Initiative class in 2006. I am now a working artist. I would not be without her.
4 months ago
Lilly's mural on the corner of 14th and Broadway is the first thing I see every morning on my way to work. It always makes me walk a little taller.
4 months ago
Mom taught me that art is not decoration — it's argument. I will keep making that argument for both of us.
5 months ago
Lilly, you painted the world brighter than it was. I look at every mural and I see your hands. I will spend the rest of my life doing that.
5 months ago
She trained me how to facilitate community arts workshops. Everything I know about working with young people, I learned by watching her.
4 months ago
Lilly saw the city the way other people see a canvas. Everything was potential. Everything was possible. She made you see it too.
4 months ago
She organized the entire East Oakland Clean-Up Campaign in 2018 in three weeks using nothing but a group chat and sheer force of will.
4 months ago