Nobie Terao Chan

Nobie was born May 19, 1925, in Burien, WA. The third in line of 6 children, to Kinsuke and Hosoe Kodama. In 1942, after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, forcing Japanese-Americans into concentration camps, Nobie, age 17, and her family were uprooted from their home and interned in Northern California at the Tule Lake Incarceration Camp. Inside camp, she was a student body officer in the first graduating class of Tri-State High School. In 1944, she was sponsored through her Aunt, and sent by the United States government, to live in Spokane, WA, while the rest of her family remained interned for two additional years.

In Spokane, she met her first husband, Hidetomi Terao, of 13 years. Shortly after, they moved to Seattle where they had three children: Cindy, Taylor and Mark, all while Nobie ran a floral shop in Madison Park. After her divorce, she met and married, then attorney, The Honorable Judge Warren Chan, who also had three children: April, James and Jill. While raising the family and helping her husband win a seat on the King County Superior Court, she went on to earn her Master's in Business Administration degree from the University of Washington.

She began teaching at Renton High School before moving into her college career as a business teacher for North Seattle Community College, later the Department Head of Business Administration and Landscape Horticulture for South Seattle Community College, and retired as the Dean of Edmonds Community College-Japan Campus, in Kobe. After retiring, at the age of 70, Nobie was instrumental in bringing the Seattle Chinese Garden and the Judge Warren & Nobie Chan Education Center to South Seattle Community College.

Among her other accomplishments, Nobie served on Seattle’s Civil Service Commission, where she was an advocate for inclusion and a crucial proponent in reducing the height requirement for civil service employees, opening the door for women and minorities. In 1977, she co-founded and served as Chairman of the Board for Seattle’s Sound Savings & Loan, the first women owned bank west of the Mississippi, which was established to provide banking services and loans for women, who at the time were not permitted to open accounts of their own. She was President of the Washington State Chapter of Ikebana Ikenobo Flower Arranging School, served on the JACL, District Trustee for Seattle Community Colleges, member of Board of Trustees for South Seattle Community College, member of the United Way Advocates, a founding member of the Columbia Tower Club and served on numerous other boards.

Nobie was preceded in death by her husband of 51 years, the Honorable Judge Warren Chan, her parents, Kinsuke and Hosoe Kodama, sister, Yasuko Kodama, brother Kinichi Kodama and sister Kriss Tanaka.

She is survived by her sister, Yuri Sata and brother, Ben (Lucille) Kodama. By her children, Cindy & (David) Nomura, Taylor Terao & (Sakie Naruke), April & (Robert) Hale, James Chan & (Kathy Krofchek), Mark & (Candi) Terao, Jill & (Peter) Rinearson and grandchildren, Michael & Suzuye Nomura, Devon & Preston Hale, Tess & Indigo Rinearson and Corina Luckenbach & Jacob Terao. As well as by her many nieces and nephews.

A private, family service will be held.

In lieu of flowers, gifts can be made to the Seattle Chinese Garden. seattlechinesegarden.org

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.Evergreen-Washelli.com for the Chan family.