Setsuko Takechi Perry, a resident of Los Angeles, passed away on June 20, 2022, at the age of 93. She was born in Matsuyama, Japan, on February 4, 1929; and raised in both Imabari and Matsuyama, where her parents, Fusae and Kiheita Takechi, were landowners. She was the youngest of five children; her siblings include Shigeki, Misao, Sumiko, and Haruko. She married Lemo Houston in 1954 after a nine-year courtship. In Kansas, they raised three children — George, Rika, and Velina. Lemo preceded her in death in 1969. In 1976, she remarried Homer L. Perry, who preceded her in death in 1992, after which she moved to California to be with her daughters. Setsuko lived in California for three decades. She has five grandchildren; (from oldest to youngest) Kiyoshi, Shintaro, Leilani, Makoto, and Maya.
In her lifetime, she traveled to many cities in Japan and the U.S. including Kyoto, Tokyo, Yokohama, Honolulu, Seattle, San Francisco, San Diego, Denver, Saint Louis, Birmingham, and New York. She is the inspiration for the play “Tea,” written by Velina Hasu Houston; and is the subject of several documentary films in Japan, produced by NHK, Mainichi Hoso, and Television Tokyo. A private family service is being held in her honor, officiated by the Reverend Duncan Ryūken Williams.
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