ISHII, KAY KIKUKO KAWABE. Age 82. Despite being California-born in 1941, she spent her childhood years in Heart Mountain, Wyoming, in a Japanese internment camp. When the Kawabe family returned to Los Angeles, Kay fought against asthma, racism, cultural and societal gender roles to wear pants & climb trees, become a high school cheerleader, and social worker to LA County’s juvenile dependents. In 1965 she married the love of her life, George Ishii, Sr., and became a full-time wife & mother. She founded and became the Mayor of “Fun City,” a room full of play things & creative wonders for her children. After her children grew up, Kay went on to pursue her Masters and Ph.D. in Psychology – her dissertation being: “Acculturation, Stress, and Psychological adjustment in Japanese-American Women”. She went on to open a thriving private practice in Gardena, as well as treating trauma for First Responders in the wake of 9/11. Kay Ishii has lived through everything from Japanese internment to the L.A. riots, from the pandemic to cancer, from the loss of her husband to her final last breath, passed peacefully in her home on March 13, 2023. Through all of her pursuits, Kay never missed celebrating a moment in the lives of her surviving children: Keri-Jean Ishii, George (Lory) Ishii Jr., and Brent Ishii, and the special moments in the lives of her beloved grandchildren: Clementine and Theodore Ishii. Kay Ishii was never one to complain, compare, or control–instead, she faced every hardship with compassion, care and courage. She leaves a legacy of unconditional love and perpetual optimism to all who knew her. Funeral services will be held on Tuesday, March 28, 2023, 10 a.m. at Fukui Mortuary, 707 E. Temple St., Los Angeles, CA 90012.
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