Elizabeth Enright

[Editor's Note: I was in "Miss Tekawa's" first second grade class at the California School for the Blind. I remember her reading us stories, my getting
in trouble for coming in late after recess, and I may never forgive her for enlightening me about the nonexistence of Santa Claus. Even then she was helping
us adapt to the real world. She was a long-time member of CCB's Bay View Chapter.]

September 29, 1922-October 17, 2014

Toshiko (Toshi) Tekawa passed away on the afternoon of Friday, October 17, 2014 after an extended illness. She had recently celebrated her 92nd birthday.
She had been a resident at Piedmont Gardens in Oakland, California since 2001, moving there from Berkeley, her home for all of her adult life.

Toshi was born in Oakland to Seizo and Kura Tekawa. Her father had a small store in West Oakland. By the time she was school age the family had moved to
Berkeley, and she attended Berkeley schools, graduating from Berkeley High shortly before the United States entered World War II. She began her college
career at UC Berkeley, but was forced to drop out during her sophomore year when West Coast Japanese Americans were sent to relocation camps away from
the Pacific Ocean. The Tekawas were sent to Topaz, Utah. Eventually Toshi was invited by Huron College in Huron, South Dakota to come there and continue
her college education. She was unable to visit her parents, but did find a summer job in a settlement house in Chicago, Illinois. She graduated from Huron
and returned in 1945 to Berkeley.

After getting settled once again in the Bay Area, Toshi began work on a Master's degree program at San Francisco State, majoring in Special Education,
with an emphasis on teaching the visually impaired. In the meantime, she worked in a child-care facility in Hayward. In 1951 she began teaching second
grade at the California School for the Blind, which was then just south of the Cal campus in Berkeley. She was promoted to Principal in 1961, a position
she held until her retirement. She was much loved by the many young children who learned skills such as making butter, and who always looked forward to
the children's classics she read to them during the last half-hour of each school day.

Toshi was a very active member of the Berkeley Methodist United Church for almost 75 years. She was superintendent of the Sunday school from 1945 to 1980.
She served as both chairperson and secretary of the church governing board and was both pianist and choir member over the years. She was a member of the
California Council of the Blind and the Council for Exceptional Children, a branch of a national organization of Special Education teachers. After she
moved to Piedmont Gardens she started a program for residents in need of low-vision information and aids. She was the floor representative, delivering
daily schedules in the early morning hours to each resident on her floor. An avid handworker, she made towels, placemats, picture frames, and bookmarks
by the dozens for both her church and Piedmont Gardens' holiday fairs.