Joy Yoshida 1934-2014
Joy Yoshida, “Sokikwe,” 80, Mayetta, died Friday, Dec. 26, 2014, at St. Francis Hospital in Topeka.
She was born June 14, 1934, at Mayetta, the daughter of Ernest and Angeline Whitefish Seymour. She graduated from Washburn University with an associate’s degree in criminal justice.
Mrs. Yoshida had worked at the American Indian Center in Chicago and later at the Prairie Band Gift Shop and the Prairie Band Elder Center.
She was a member of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation and the Drum Religion.
She married Giichi Yoshida on Nov. 23, 1959, in Chicago, Ill. He died Sept. 30, 1993. She also was preceded in death by four brothers, John Seymour, Peter Seymour, Ernest Seymour and Robert Clements; and a sister, Elmira McClure.
Survivors include two sons, Mark Yoshida, Chicago, Ill., and Kenneth Yoshida, Erie, Pa.; a daughter, Michelle Yoshida, Topeka; a brother, Charles Seymour, Mayetta; and two grandchildren, Malakai Rice and Sabriel Thomas.
Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday at Chapel Oaks Funeral Home in Hoyt. Burial will follow in Potts Cemetery on the Potawatomi Reservation. Mrs. Yoshida will lie in state until service time at the funeral home, where family and friends will meet from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday.