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BY: I'm going to now step back to some more chronological questions beginning with, what is your full name and date and place of birth?

TI: So my full name is Thomas Kevin Ikeda. I was born in Seattle, I think it was Providence Hospital or Seattle General Hospital. It's one of the local hospitals. And born January 22, 1956.

BY: And who were your parents and what were their vocations at the time of your birth?

TI: So my mom is Mary Kinoshita Ikeda, and my dad is Victor Junichi Ikeda. My dad was... when I was born, he was an administrator with the Department of Defense at the old Pier 91 complex, and was a procurement officer. And had a career in the federal government, I think eventually the regional administrator for the Department of Labor for the Seattle Northwest Region. My mother, after working in a clerical position when she was younger, once she got married and started having children, she was a stay-at-home mom. I have four other siblings, so I'm right in the middle where my eldest brother, Dan, is four years older, he's a physician. The next brother, Steve, two years younger than Dan, two years older than I am, ended up working at Boeing for a career. Then I have a younger brother, John, three years younger than I am. He was a mechanical engineer and worked for the FAA. And then the youngest, my sister, who's three years younger than John, Karen, she was an account management consultant.

BY: And I note that your father said that she rose to this important position at Arthur Andersen, but then the Enron debacle sunk Arthur Andersen and I guess set her back professionally for a while.

TI: Right, so she had to switch. She got another great job and did more of the, moving away from the accounting/auditing area and more into management consulting. And so I think that was actually a pretty good move for her.

BY: And do your siblings all live in this area?

TI: No, they're sort of scattered. My eldest brother is in Sacramento, and then my sister splits time between Phoenix and Seattle. And then my other two brothers, one is in Kent and one is in Seattle.

BY: And I'm sorry to say that I don't know about the status of your folks. Are your folks still with us?

TI: Yes, I'm happy to say that they're both living in the house I grew up in, both of them. I just saw them the other day. So my dad's ninety-three, my mom is ninety-two, and they still are taking care of us. But the thing when I mention my siblings and what they did, I think my mom in particular, it's a source of pride that we all not only graduated from high school, but graduated from college and were able to get jobs, so that was something that, it was always something that was really, really important to her.

BY: Was she able to go to college?

TI: No, she didn't, and I think maybe that's why it was so important. That, and having good teeth, those were the two things that she would always remind us of. [Laughs]

BY: That's funny, that theme.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2020 Densho. All Rights Reserved.