Fukuyama, Betty

Betty Fukuyama (1922-1992) was a Tacoma, Washington, poet. She was born Betty Marie Adkins in Heppner, Oregon, and came from an Oregon pioneer family of Scottish descent. Betty met her future husband, the Reverend Tom (Tsutomu Tom) Fukuyama at Camp Minidoka in Hunt, Idaho, while she was a college student on a church mission project. They were married as soon as Tom left the camp, in August 1945. They had five children.

Betty Fukuyama attended Willamette University and Boston University, graduating in 1947 with a degree in English language and literature. She received a Master of Arts degree in creative writing from the University of Washington in 1972, and an M.A. in psychology from Antioch University, Seattle, in 1986. Fukuyama co-founded the Washington Poets Association in 1971, serving as secretary from 1971 until 1975 and president from 1975 until 1978. The association published an anthology entitled Pierce County Poetry, for which Fukuyama was editor. She also published a chapbook of her own poems that year, entitled 25 Poems . Fukuyama's poetry has been published in numerous periodicals and newspapers, including the Alaska Review, the Christian Century, Crosscurrents, the West Coast Poetry Review, the Seattle Times, the The Oregonian and the Tacoma News Tribune .

Tom Fukuyama, the son of pioneer Japanese immigrants, was born on Bainbridge Island, Washington, in 1915. He was educated at Seattle Pacific University and at Berkeley Baptist Divinity School. Fukuyama began his ministry while incarcerated in Idaho at Camp Minidoka during World War II. He served as one of several pastors of the Federated Christian Church of Hunt, Idaho. After the war he directed Brotherhood House in Denver and later held pastorates in Iowa, Idaho, and Washington State (primarily United Church of Christ congregations). He died of cancer in 1988.

Betty Fukuyama, 1922-1992, was born in Heppner, Oregon, as Betty Marie Adkins. She attended Willamette University and Boston University, graduating in 1947. While attending Willamette University, she participated in a church mission project at Camp Minidoka, one of the internment camps where Japanese-Americans were detained during 1941-1942. It was there that she met Reverend Tom (Tsutomu Tom) Fukuyama, whom she married in 1945. Betty Fukuyama received a Master of Arts degree in creative writing from the University of Washington in 1972 and co-founded the Washington Poets Association in 1975. For the association she edited an anthology entitled Pierce County Poetry, and she also published a chapbook of her own poems entitled 25 Poems. Her poetry has been published in numerous periodicals and newspapers. Betty Fukuyama died in 1992.