Roy Kawamura Obituary

Roy was my Science Dept Chair when I was a new teacher at Redford HS. He acted as a mentor and watched out for me, and later introduced me to Shinnyo-En temple when I was interested in helping with the Lantern Floating. It took me a while to appreciate his humor and soft, caring side. I miss him.

I knew Roy as colleague from the days when he & I were on the bod & officers. We traveled together & roomed together. We became friends & confidant. Roy was a religious man. He was also a frugal man when shopping he always searched for deals. He was honest & trustworthy. I´m just sorry that we weren´t able to get together after leaving HSTA. We will all miss him.

Roy has been a dear friend for over 20 years. We met him after he retired as a teacher, at Shinnyo-en Hawaii. We became good friends with him over the years, sharing our favorite dishes, recipes and restaurants as we shared many meals together. Roy had a heart of GOLD, so much kindness and generosity. He was a bibliophile and was always sharing his books with us. He loved to cook and generously donated boiled peanuts and pickled cabbage with all his temple friends. We miss him so much. Rest in Peace. Love, Tom & Lynne

Sadden to hear of Roy's passing. He was a mentor and friend to me when I started my career at Radford HS as a beginning teacher. My condolences to Arlene.

I worked at Radford High School as a custodian and room cleaner in the 1990s, taking care of the biology dept after school. At first, I didn't know what to make of Roy, with a stoic expression that seldom smiled. Mr Kimura, who taught in the room next to door, had a ready smile, especially when he walked into Roy's room. While cleaning, I'd listen to their conversation that was often like a improv scene, with Mr Kimura feeding Roy a question just to see his reaction... waiting for the tutorial tone and the stern face answering, before they both broke into smiles. I began to look forward to cleaning their rooms, which often highlighted my days, doing an otherwise tedious job. It was great!