Joan T. (Toshiko) Inamura Phillips, born on February 26, 1927 in Tokyo, Japan, entered into rest on July 16, 2019. She was the eldest daughter of, and preceded in death by her parents, Kohshichi Tengai Inamura and Fumi Inamura (her father’s middle name was Haiku, a writer’s special name), a sister Taeko Ishii in Yokohama, Japan, and her husband Leonard C. Phillips (in 1984). She is survived by her daughter, Joann M. Phillips, her brother, Rikuo Inamura (Tokyo, Japan), and sister, Yaoko Kubo (Tokyo, Japan). Following High School graduation after the war, she worked for the US Air Force in Japan, meeting and then marrying her husband Leonard on February 11, 1954. His Air Force career in Civilian Personnel then took them to assignments in Florida, California, Tokyo Japan, Kyushu Japan, Headquarters US Air Force Directorate of Civilian Personnel in Washington DC, and the Office of Civilian Personnel Operations at Randolph AFB Texas in 1976. Taking study courses from the University of Miami (Florida), she obtained her US citizenship in 1955 while they were in California. She has been the “sighted guide” for her daughter who has been totally blind since her birth in 1954. She deeply loved and was very proud of her daughter. Joan was a longtime member and an active participant of the Windcrest Methodist Church since 1976, and had been a choir member in the church. She will be missed by her many longtime friends in this country and in Japan.
