Shiro Tokuno - My Dad
Shiro Tokuno - My Dad by Ken Tokuno © 2020 “Shine,” “Mond,” “Nursey,” “Fishface,” “Rikson.” Those were just a few of the nicknames that my father attached to people and animals of whom he was fond. The more creative ones, like the ones just named, were bestowed on those he knew from when they were children or to his pet dogs. Dad was a true animal lover. For adults, the nick-names would be more closely connected to their actual names; thus, his good friend Blaine O. Vogt was called B. O. It was a term of deep endearment, for when B. O. died, my mother told me it was the only time she had ever seen my father shed tears. When Dad’s mother died of a heart attack in 1956 at the age of 69, the toll and toil of her life making her much older than the mere count of her years revealed, my father did not cry. I know because I saw him right after the news came. He was just sitting in the kitchen looking down at the telegram in his hand. My grandmother was a tough, ...