RENEE TASAKA Obituary

RENEE REIKO TASAKA Renee Tasaka was born on August 5, 1932 to Raymond Katsuji Tasaka and Gladys Mitsue (Terada) Tasaka in Honolulu, Hawaii. She passed away peacefully at the St. Anthony Senior Care facility under hospice care in Minneapolis, Minnesota on July 15, 2023. She was 90 years old. Renee graduated in Honolulu from Farrington High School in 1950, and the St. Francis School of Nursing with a nursing certificate in 1953. She continued her education at the University of Minnesota receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing, and at Columbia University in New York graduating with a Master of Science in nursing. Although Renee was born and raised in Honolulu, she lived her adult life in Minneapolis, Minnesota. For more than 40 years, she worked at the Minneapolis Community and Technical College, Hennepin County Medical Center (formerly Minneapolis General Hospital), and at Northwestern Abbott Hospital in pediatrics as a nursing instructor. She was known to students as a very skilled, competent instructor who demanded excellence and sound preparation. Students and faculty enjoyed her lively style and sense of humor. Renee was a humanitarian. She served with the International Rescue Committee at the Khao I Dang military camp in Thailand. She cared for preemie babies who had malaria, typhoid fever, sepsis, malnutrition, worm infestations, and treated patients with infections to their amputated limbs after they had accidentally stepped on landmines. She played a big role in educating young Khmer nurses to do vital signs, blood pressure, venipunctures, and give injections. After Thailand, Renee traveled a couple times as a nursing educator to Sudan and Somalia, Africa to continue her assistance with the American Refugee Committee. She also volunteered at many clinics and places around Minneapolis. Several patients in Thailand and Africa, and nurses she worked with have named their daughters "Renee" leaving a legacy through her namesakes around the world. Renee loved the outdoors hiking, taking long walks, fishing, and canoeing. She was involved with the YMCA Camp Menogyn and led canoe, portage and camp trips into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. Renee was strong and tough, able to carry 50 pounds of camping gear, food and utensils in a monster back pack, and during portaging, hauling and strapping a large canoe over her shoulders and portaging along the trail without a whimper. Renee also loved the opera and was a voracious reader. Renee was preceded in death by her parents and longtime best friend Mae McWeeney, who became a part of the Tasaka family. She is survived by sister Dawnyn Kitazaki (George), brother Gary Tasaka (Allicyn), niece Lori Yamanaka (Todd), niece Teri Takamura (Guy), grandnieces Sydney Yamanaka and Kira Takamura, grandnephews Landon Yamanaka and Kai Takamura, and many cousins, and friends in Minnesota. She will be greatly missed and lovingly remembered. The family extends its appreciation to her friends in Minnesota who she considered as her second family, and to the compassionate care provided by Renee's caregivers. A private Celebration of Life will be held on November 25, 2023 in Minneapolis. Please RSVP to the Google form link and the family will contact you with details. https://forms.gle/tNjUu4BuRXzrnek17. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the International Rescue Committee or YMCA Camp Menogyn, or to a charity of your choice.