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AT: And I know that we're getting close to an hour, we might be past an hour, I'm really not sure. But I do want to like, open the floor for anyone to mention anything or even just a certain memory, and just talk about anything that you think is important to contribute to Kip's legacy. Yeah, Bill, if you'd like to start.

BT: Yeah, thanks. One thing that's been running through my mind, as everybody was talking, is one thing I will always remember about Kip is that he made you feel important and appreciated. And he always gave you credit. And you always felt comfortable talking with him. And I realized this as a gift of his because after his death, there was a number of us who got together, I think it was at the cultural center, it may have been at, I forgot where it was at. But we were all sitting around talking. And it dawned upon me, every single person was saying the same thing, is that Kip made them individually feel important. And I still think that that's one of his biggest gifts and skills that he had.

BL: Bill, what I want to say about that is that you can think of it as a skill, but being the person that was home when he came home from these meetings, he would come home and say, oh my gosh, I was meeting with so and so, and he would always have these things to say about how amazing these people were. And I think that he really did appreciate certainly all of you and your skills and your gifts. ACLF was a good example. He'd say, oh my gosh, you won't, you will never believe this amazing class that has just come in. And it seemed like he was constantly in awe of everyone that he was working with. And so I mean, I just think... and this happened like, throughout the time that I knew him, he was always like so and so this, so and so that, and it's like, I can't believe... and it was just, I don't know, part of the way that he saw the world or saw people. I'm not sure that I can even describe it, but it, that's sort of the way he was. He was in awe of all of you and all the people he worked with.

AM: I have a story to share about how open and nonjudgmental he could be. So he was working on a campaign and his opponent's literature had a picture of his mother on it. And he went to his mom and he said, "You're certainly welcome to support anybody that you want. I just would have liked to have known that you were supporting this person." And she said, "Well, I'm not supporting that person, it was part of a stock photograph that was used." and the opponent didn't know that was Kip's mom. So anyway, he didn't get mad at her and he didn't get furious or anything like that. He just said, "Well, Mom has a right, I guess I'm gonna go ask her." So that really does show his personality.

AT: Well, I can't say I would have done that. I probably would have, I probably would have said something to my mom. [Laughs] Thank you guys for those stories. And, again, if there's anything before we end, I just want to make sure that everyone has a chance to talk about him and just commemorate his whole legacy. I mean, I'm just so honored to be able to talk to everyone about him because I didn't personally know him at all, but I think my family recognized his name when I mentioned that I would be talking about him today. And so he's touched so many people in Seattle and beyond, especially within the Japanese American community. But as we've talked about already, just he was so, he advocated for everyone. And so I'm glad we've been able to touch on these different topics. But yeah, if anyone has anything else to add, please feel free.

STS: I don't know that I have something to add, per se. Let me just say, though, that I'm sorry that we couldn't get more of the funny anecdotes about Kip on this recording. There's just so much to say in answer to all of your questions. But I hope that in the end, what people will think about when they think about Kip is his humility, first and foremost, his passion for youth, for the community, his pride in his community, in his family, in his wife and his daughters, his commitment to leaving this place better than it was in his lifetime.

But the thing that I think is almost impossible, unless we do go back to the Bush Garden at some point in the future with a roving camera, is all of the funny stories about Kip. I mean, Barb described him as being not detail oriented, and that's absolutely true. But the way that that would manifest itself is not only in him being the big picture seer, and then being able to surround himself with all of the right people who have the detail orientation and have the skills to be able then to execute on the big picture. He's what I would call as the -- a charismatic leader. But because of his own inability to focus in on the details, which is not a -- I'm not going to say that that's a problem because he was focused on the big things. But it did mean that he put himself in really funny situations which you can call as being absent minded or just completely not paying attention. The stories of him insisting that his cars were being stolen or that other things were happening. I think one time it had something to do with his keys in the office in Olympia. Seems to me I remember something else about a wallet that he was sure was stolen. So these are the things...

BL: All mishaps.

STS: Exactly. [Laughs] And those are the things that he would, even afterwards, what always astonished me was he would insist that his story was true. Somehow somebody stole the car, and it just got moved. Or the wallet was, who knows, the keys I think were never found. But it was part of what made him so real and so approachable, was that he was, even while swearing that it was true, he was able to laugh at it. And we would all kind of roll our eyes and say, well, that's Kip. But it's what made him such a real person and made him so approachable. And I don't think people are going to get that out of this recording, necessarily, but maybe we can do something else at some future time. Off record, just for the family.

BL: That would be cool.

AM: I'm coming. I don't care where I am. I'm coming.

BL: Yeah. And the kids certainly have stories of their own for sure.

AT: Well, thank you guys all so much for being a part of this and just talking about him and especially what he's done for pretty much all the communities. He wasn't, he was not focused on just one. But yeah, thank you guys so much for being here. And I think with that, we will end the recording.

<End Segment 11> - Copyright © 2022 Seattle Chapter JACL. All Rights Reserved.