Helen Shizuyo Nikaido, 94, passed away peacefully in her sleep on July 23, 2020. She was born in 1925 in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, and was the daughter of Junsuke and Michi (Okamoto) Fukuda.
In 1941, Helen was a student at McKinley High School. Soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor, she and her classmates were recruited to work in the pineapple fields in Central Oahu. Upon graduation, Helen entered the St. Francis Nursing program to become a registered nurse.
She corresponded with Thomas Nikaido while he was fighting in Europe during World War 2. When Thomas returned to Honolulu, they dated and were married on November 2, 1947. After a few years, they moved their young family, which included her mother, Michi, to the new house they built on Lakoloa Place. She and Thomas raised a growing family and lived there together until she moved into a care home in 2013.
As a nurse, Helen worked in private practice and then with Kaiser Permanente Hospital for 30 years. For most of her career she worked in the day clinic, where her efficiency would allow doctors sometimes to leave early to enjoy the Hawaiian sun and surf. Later, she managed Kaiser’s multiphasic program, an after-hours clinic for working people.
Helen taught her daughters the value of education and hard work. She and Thomas sacrificed to allow them to attend St. Andrew’s Priory, a private school in Honolulu. Their five daughters collectively hold thirteen degrees of higher education.
Helen and Thomas traveled to Japan, Europe, and various locations on the continental United States where their adult children lived. They also vacationed in Alaska and on Kauai, Maui and the Big Island, where they spent their honeymoon.
Helen enjoyed crafts, making Japanese dolls, tatting, crocheting and knitting sweaters, scarves and hats, making bead, shell and crochet leis, making and arranging chenille flowers, and sewing. She gifted her daughters with many crocheted and knitted clothing and blankets.
In addition to her parents, Helen was preceded in death by two brothers, Masao Fukuda and Yoshio “Reginald” Fukuda and his wife, Michiko. Her husband, Thomas, passed away in October 2020. She is survived by her daughters (husbands), Arlene (Rick Lung), Karen (Paul McGuffey), Madelene (Schuyler Antane), Selene (Jay Raveill), and Tamasene (Howard Young), eight grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. A private service was held.