On February 6, 2007 the Club lost a wonderful member and person when Hiroko Ikeda passed away. Hiroko transferred to our Club in 2004 from the Fairfax, Virginia Rotary Club as a pearl specialist. She and her daughter, Dena, operated Shinju Pearl on Montana Avenue which offered pearls from their family’s pearl operations in Japan as well as the best pearls from other world-wide locations such as the South Sea Islands.
During the time she was with our Club, Hiroko was very active and received numerous honors for her contributions of time and financial support. She was awarded a Paul Harris Fellowship (in addition to already being a Paul Harris Fellow) for her generosity to the International Food Festival which permitted the Club to make significant international and local charitable contributions. Recently she was recognized for her support to District 5280 in their fundraising efforts. She was the ideal member to turn to when our Club hosted students from Japan on the Rotary US/Japan Exchange Program.
Hiroko was born in Japan but emigrated to the U.S. in the '60s, married and settled in the East Coast. During that time she became a US citizen in her adopted homeland. Hiroko is survived by two sisters and a brother all of whom reside in Japan. One of her sisters, Noriko, was President of the Osaka Rotary Club and visited our Club on many occasions as well as accompanying Hiroko to several Rotary International Conventions. The light of Hiroko’s life were her two children, Mark Brazeal, Dena Brazeal and Dena’s daughter and Hiroko’s grand daughter, McKenzie. Dena and Mckenzie, over the years attended many Rotary functions, and we are hopeful that tradition will continue in the future.
We will truly miss Hiroko but she will long be remembered by those of us who knew her.