Yoshiko Kay Fukushima (nee Fukui) left us on July 4, 2025, aged 88. Though tiny at 147 cm, she was a sharp-elbowed dynamo, much like her older sisters who predeceased her, Megumi May and Fumiko. Growing up in wartime and post-war Japan, Yoshiko lived through hardship, death, and privation, which deeply influenced the rest of her life. She embraced joy and delight, opened her heart and her home with generosity, and, to be honest, loved having nice things. Yoshiko was a high school athlete and gymnast, a masterful seamstress, a bank teller, a store manager, a mother, and a wife. She was always embarrassed by her immigrant Japanese-accented English, which no one else really noticed. She loved her son and daughter-in-law but absolutely adored her grandson. Yoshiko's life was full and complete. She'll be missed dearly, not least by the loving and welcoming folks of the Peterborough stake of the LDS church, who were her second family the past two decades. As Yoshiko's health declined into Alzheimer's, she was graciously and gently taken care of by the teams at Fairhaven LTC, to whom we will be forever grateful.
There will be no service nor ceremony, but if you wish to honour Yoshiko, please make a donation to the Alzheimer's Society of Canada chapter nearest you.
