Obituary of Hisako Tsujimoto Labrecque

Hisako LaBrecque, Born 1929, Died 10/20/2021

Hisako, known to friends at “Sako,” was a native of Japan. She met her husband, Richard LaBrecque, while they were both employed on the Yokusuka naval base. They married in 1960 in Japan and then moved to Alexandria, Virginia where they started a family. The family lived briefly in Massachusetts where Richard completed his graduate studies in Education. In 1970, the family moved to Lexington, Kentucky where their daughters Leslie and Margaret completed grade school. In 1974, Hisako went back to school to become a respiratory therapist and was employed as such by the University of Kentucky Medical Center for the rest of her career. 

Hisako sang in the United Methodist choir and was a prominent member of the Lexington International Women’s Club. She was an expert seamstress and made most of her clothes as well as costumes for the church madrigals. Later in life, Hisako studied painting under Lillian Boyer, an accomplished painter and printmaker. Using oil paints, Hisako loved to paint landscapes, scenes from her travels, and children. In 2006, Hisako moved to Portland, Oregon to live with her daughter there. When Margaret had twin boys, even at 79 years of age, Sako prepared most of the family’s meals. Hisako became a devoted member of the Japanese International Baptist Church in Tigard, Oregon where she engaged in bible studies, sang in the choir and participated in church activities several times a week.

Hisako is survived by her sister Nobuko Ogawa of Yokohama, Japan, her daughters Leslie and Margaret LaBrecque and her grandsons, Brady and Nathan.

There will be a memorial service on Sunday 11/28/2021 at Japanese International Baptist Church at 1:30PM. View or Join live online at: youtube.com/jibconline