Collage of portraits of first generation students, alumni, faculty, and staff.

Kay Tomita Hashimoto's First-Generation Story Remembered

Back to All Stories
10/19/2023

In the College of Arts & Sciences, we are proud to celebrate our first-generation community through a collection of stories! We honor our students, alumni, faculty, and staff, and their many contributions to our university community and beyond.

Kay Tomita Hashimoto on campus when she was a student at the UW in the late 40s-early 50s.
Kay Tomita Hashimoto on campus when she was a student at the UW in the late 40s–early 50s. Her family shares about Kay's experience as a first-generation student during her time at the UW and what that means to them.

Kay Tomita Hashimoto

Alum – B.A. Communication: Journalism and Public Interest Communication, 1952

Kay Tomita Hashimoto's (August 26, 1928 - February 10, 2023) first-generation story is remembered by her daughter, Lynn Hashimoto.

What brought Kay to the University of Washington?

Kay grew up in Washington State and her dream was to become a journalist, so after graduating from high school, going to the UW and enrolling in its strong journalism program was her goal. She couldn't attend right away, but worked for two years after graduating from high school to save money for tuition and to help her family get back on their feet after being incarcerated in internment camps during WWII.

Kay Tomita Hashimoto on campus when she was a student at the UW in the late 40s–early 50s.

Kay Tomita Hashimoto on campus when she was a student at the UW in the late 40s–early 50s.

Kay Tomita Hashimoto working as a journalist for the Redwood Journal, a regional newspaper in Ukiah, CA, in in the early to mid-50s, shortly after graduating from the UW.

Kay Tomita Hashimoto working as a journalist for the Redwood Journal, a regional newspaper in Ukiah, CA, in in the early to mid-50s, shortly after graduating from the UW.

How did Kay reflect on her College experience? Did she ever talk about what it meant to be a first-generation graduate, either for her or her family?

Kay loved her college experience – she loved studying journalism, and she also loved expanding her horizons and meeting new people (many of whom became lifelong friends). She didn't talk much about the hardships her parents endured, but she knew they had suffered through the Depression and WWII. She wanted to honor them by doing well in school and building a career so that she could take care of them in their later years. I think that part of the reason Kay may have chosen journalism was because her mother was a poet (she wrote Japanese tanka poetry under the pen name Yukari Tomita) and understood the power of words, including to provide comfort during stressful or trying times.

What did it mean to Kay's family for their mom to be a first-generation graduate?

Kay was and remains the ultimate role model for all of her children. Making her way through four years at the UW, graduating, and finding work in journalism in the late 40s and early 50s, only a few years after the end of WWII, were huge accomplishments and showed a lot of grit and determination. For us kids, what was most inspiring was that she never complained about the hurdles she encountered, but faced each day with positive focus.

What inspired Kay’s children to honor her legacy with a gift to the Department of Communication?

My two siblings, Gregg and Jill, and I are excited to make two gifts to the UW Department of Communication as a way to honor our mother, Kay, because her experience at the UW and the degree she received from the university gave her critical skills and enabled her to pursue her career dreams. Kay would have loved to help others gain access to the opportunities the UW provided to her, so my siblings and I are honored to be able to do so in her name. In addition, we miss our mother dearly, so we are happy that our gifts to the UW will allow Kay's legacy to live on in a tangible way.

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