City of Seal Beach

Kori and Daren DeLeon are the quintessential community volunteers, involved in a variety of events and organizations in Seal Beach while at the same time owning a local company and managing it on a daily basis (Kori) and working as a customer service manager for Southwest Airlines (Daren). And they have raised four children, the youngest being in his first year at the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he is on the football team. Kori’s father had a career that caused the family to move quite often. At some point, however, Rossmoor became home and provided such a positive environment that, when the time came, she and Daren decided to raise their family in the same neighborhood.

Being honored by the Cypress College Foundation is not the first time that Kori has had a connection with the college. In the last semester of her senior year in high school, Kori arranged her schedule so that she was through with her classes by noon every day. While she envisioned spending her afternoons having fun, her mother had other ideas, so Kori took a class at Cypress College. She doesn’t remember the details of the class or who her instructor was, but she remembers it as a very positive experience.

Daren grew up in Hemet, where he lived until he graduated from high school. Then he moved to Long Beach and enrolled in Long Beach City College, where he and Kori met.

After several years, they married and began a family, knowing they wanted to be involved in their children’s school and extracurricular activities to the greatest extent possible. They also had the model of Kori’s parents, who were very active in their children’s lives. They took care of people, doing whatever they could for others. Kori and Daren have adopted this philosophy, volunteering because “it is simply what one should do.”

Once their children began attending Los Alamitos High School, Kori and Daren went into high gear as volunteers. Although they helped out in a variety of ways, one area of special focus was the nationally known choir. The couple took tickets and handed out programs at concerts, fed choir members after performances, organized the very successful Bingo fundraisers, made costumes, and even set up equipment backstage at choir competitions all over the country. They also helped with football. Daren coached at Los Alamitos, where he was also responsible for setting up an inflatable Griffin (the Los Alamitos High School mascot) before each game so that team members could run through it, an important tradition at the school. As they did with students in the choir, Kori and Daren provided food for the players after their games. For their 20 years of service to Los Alamitos High School, the DeLeons were named Heroes of the Heart in 2021.

Kori and Daren have both also been very active in the Seal Beach community. As members of the Seal Beach Lions Club, they have helped with the Fish Fry, Pancake Breakfast, and Christmas Parade. They have also volunteered with the annual Run Seal Beach race.

For many years they have chaired the highly successful Seal Beach summer concert series, even during the pandemic when many other events were cancelled. Attendance at the 2022 concerts was at an all-time high.

They have both been on the Seal Beach Chamber of Commerce board, which Kori served as president one year. For her service to the chamber she was named Volunteer of the Year and Business Person of the Year (Kori is the president of RTI Insurance Agency in Seal Beach). She also received the Lions International Citizen of Merit Award.

Their outstanding volunteer work led to the honor of being named Grand Marshals of the annual Seal Beach Christmas Parade in 2021. As Americana Citizens of the Year, they also appeared in the 2022 parade.

Daren has used his employment with Southwest Airlines to participate in the Honor Flight Network Southland, a national organization that transports American veterans to Washington, DC, to share in a day of honor at our nation’s memorials.

Seal Beach is proud to recognize Kori and Daren for their outstanding service to the community.