Tod Fujioka, family peacemaker
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He was good at all those things that make for a complete life but would never make him famous or rich or, on most days, newsworthy.
He knew how to be happy. He knew how to relax and play. He was a peacemaker, a comforter, a kind presence wherever his feet took him. He knew how to make even his ailing mother laugh. Once, when medication made her face swollen, he told her, "Looks like you've been in with Mike Tyson."
It hurt for his mother to laugh.
Tod Alan Fujioka spent his last moments with his mother, Yaeko. He lived only a few miles from his parents' home in Renton and a short distance from Lindbergh High School, where he graduated in 1980. Mr. Fujioka's life rarely ventured far from where he was born and raised in South Seattle.
Through the years, his parents' home was still home base, and he often had lunch with them before going to work. Last Friday (May 11), mother and son had rib steak with white rice and a simple green salad.
Then he said he had to get ready for work. He said goodbye to his mother and a nephew who was visiting. To his younger brother Ross, he said, "I'll help you move on Monday."
Then he jumped into his car and drove off onto Petrovitsky Road. Within moments, Mr. Fujioka was dead at age 37, a victim in a head-on collision.
The accident that killed Mr. Fujioka tied up traffic most of the day. Two of Mr. Fujioka's siblings drove past the accident scene without realizing their brother was involved. They saw the report on TV news. Hours later they were informed.
One thing the entire Fujioka family agreed on - parents and six siblings - was that Mr. Fujioka was always there when family needed him.
Whether it was to settle a family conflict - "He was a natural mediator," said brother-in-law Arnold Mukai - or to help a brother or sister move to a new house or apartment. With six siblings, someone was always moving, and Mr. Fujioka was there to help.
He was the same way at work. He was a checker at the QFC in Harvard Market on Capitol Hill. He had worked there for four years. He liked his work. He liked helping lost customers.
One of the gifts Mr. Fujioka had was knowing how to live peaceably in his own skin, family and friends said. Some people might say he lacked ambition, but those who knew him say he had a greater blessing.
He knew how to be happy in the moment, and in the exact place where he was. It was a Zen state without the Zen. And it wasn't like he had no aspirations.
His younger brother said Mr. Fujioka would have liked a way of living that would allow him to golf every day. Not just once a week, as he had done for years. He liked the quiet of the sport, the greenness, the smell of rain-cleansed air. He liked being outside.
In a written notice, the stunned family wrote, "We will miss your gentle and soft-hearted soul."
Mr. Fujioka is survived by his parents, Sueo and Yaeko Fujioka, of Renton; brothers, Timothy, Lane and Ross; and sisters, Joyce Mukai, Laurie Nakagawa and Tammy Fujioka.
Memorial services will be held at 2 p.m. tomorrow at Evergreen-Washelli Funeral Home, 11111 Aurora Ave. N., Seattle.