On Thursday, May 7, Shoko Martin died peacefully at Careage of Whidbey with family members and friends present. She suffered from bone cancer and welcomed a quick release.

Shoko was 68, the wife of John W. Martin and adoptive mother of Donna and Richard Martin.

Shoko and John married in Japan in 1962, went to Sitka, Alaska, where John worked for the FAA. Shoko soon became well known for her good looks, friendly outgoing personality and kindness.

She fit into the Sitka lifestyle; enjoying boating, fishing and abaloning; smoking salmon and getting herring eggs. She became a Keystone Cop on Alaska Days; co-operated a small restaurant, became a popular dining room helper in Sitka’s Pioneer Home and especially enjoyed bringing eight or 10 pioneers home for a feast and party and storytelling.

Perhaps most illustrative of Shoko’s nature was volunteering on her own volition to aid the injured or sick Japanese long-line crewman who ended up in the Public Health Hospital by interpreting for the doctors and bringing Japanese meals to the seamen. She also aided the big boats when they came in for fuel and supplies.

After a time word spread in Hokkaido Island of the “Sitka Florence Nightingale,” which produced visits and honors from the fleet owners and a detailed tour of Hokkaido for Shoko and her family.

One year, a Japanese movie crew and several well-known stars arrived in Sitka to shoot a drama loosely based on Shoko’s life in Sitka. Though she didn’t act in it, the townspeople had fun watching the production.

In 1978, Shoko and her husband moved to Whidbey, buying a home in Sunlight Beach of Useless Bay. She and John played golf for years at Useless Bay Golf and Country Club and joined and enjoyed the Island Athletic Club until their move to enjoy “city life” in Oak Harbor. Here again, Shoko made numerous friends.

She will be missed by many. They don’t make many like her.