[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 27 (Thursday, March 4, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E311-E312]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    TRIBUTE TO JEANNE YOSHIDA HONDA

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. ANNA G. ESHOO

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 4, 2004

  Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to place into our Nation's 
Record the tribute which was given by Art Honda at the memorial service 
for his sister-in-law, Jeanne Yoshida Honda, beloved wife of 
Congressman Mike Honda, on February 21, 2004.
  ``Jeanne would really be blown away with all of you being here 
(especially in this weather). She would also be a little embarrassed 
but pleased all the same. Thank you for being

[[Page E312]]

here to share this time with Mike and the family.
  I have strict instructions from Mike to keep this brief since he 
wants to reserve as much time as possible in order to share a moment or 
two with each of you personally. That might be difficult, but Mike 
always thinks big.
  In remembering Jeanne I'm sure my thoughts will mirror many of yours 
since Jeanne was pretty much the same person no matter who she was 
with. She was comfortable in her own skin, so to speak, and never tried 
to be anyone but herself . . . and although Mike casts a big shadow, 
both literally and figuratively, Jeanne was never overshadowed. She had 
her own life plan, developed her own career and went about it in her 
own unassuming but resolute manner.
  I remember Jeanne as one of those rare individuals who knew early on 
what she wanted in life and set about achieving them in her own quiet 
and measured way . . . I think that all she really wanted was to marry 
Mike, teach little kids and have a comfortable home where she could 
raise a family. She achieved all that, and I don't think she ever 
needed nor wanted anything more.
  I first got to know Jeanne when she began dating Mike over 40 years 
ago. We were all young then if that could be imagined. She was a 19-
year-old freshman at SJS majoring in teaching.
  She adored Mike. As a brother, I couldn't see it, but, eventually, 
even I had to admit that Jeanne was a good judge of character. They 
were well suited to each other. They had a loving and playful 
relationship, they filled each other's voids, and their separate 
strengths--she being introverted, disciplined and structured and Mike 
being extroverted, spontaneous and hardly a slave to the clock--rather 
than being incompatible, they dovetailed perfectly and like fine 
joinery their union was strong and enduring.
  Now I have to say here that I'm younger than Mike--I try to point 
this out every chance I get--being the more youthful is one of the few 
things I have over him. He's got me in most every other area--
especially in that full head of hair. Anyway, I got married first--I 
don't know if that had anything to do with it, but one evening shortly 
after I got married, Jeanne visited Yoshiko and me at our little duplex 
apartment, and being Mike's brother, she wondered if I had any insights 
into his intentions as far as their future was concerned. Well, hoping 
to reassure her but not wanting to commit Mike to anything that he 
wasn't ready for, I told Jeanne that when Mike was ready to settle 
down, it wouldn't be with anyone but her. I told her that I thought it 
might be soon. She seemed OK with this, but a couple of months later 
there goes Mike, along with my credibility, joining the Peace Corps, 
and off to the jungles of El Salvador he went for the next 2 years.
  So things didn't always come easy for Jeanne, but resolute as always, 
she simply turned her full attention to her studies, finished school 
and got a job teaching kindergarten in the little town of Agnew and 
waited for Mike to come home. Two years passed and Mike, or someone 
that looked vaguely like Mike, finally came home--all 130 pounds of 
him--imagine a dark-skinned pumpkin-on-a-stick and you'll get the 
picture. He also morphed into an Asian Desi Arnaz speaking fluent 
Spanish and singing Latin love songs to his fiancee. But of course to 
Jeanne he was the same Mike and they married that following June of 
1967; and with her home cooking and TLC, Jeanne got Mike back up to his 
fighting weight and then some. I think, though, that she deferred to 
Mike when it came to making the menudo. I'll let Mike tell you about 
their belated honeymoon when he took Jeanne to visit El Salvador, deep 
in the heart of Central America--by the way, they didn't fly . . . they 
drove round-trip . . . in his Volkswagen beetle. Talk about a tough 
lady.
  So just a month shy of turning 25, Jeanne had her man and she had her 
career. In a few short years she and Mike moved into their first and 
only home where she raised two kids and a German shepherd named Orejas. 
Jeanne was a full-time Mom by then and under her ever present guidance, 
Mark and Michelle grew into adulthood, graduated from college, married 
and embarked on successful careers of their own--and to Jeanne's 
delight--one grandchild on its the way. Once the heavy-lifting part of 
motherhood was completed, Jeanne returned to her other kids, this time 
at Baldwin School in the Oakgrove School District. I think she achingly 
missed her school kids as well as her colleagues this past year--the 
obvious became clear to me that school was a very big part of Jeanne's 
life.
  Just a brief mention about Jeanne's values . . . Anyone who knows her 
would agree that she had solid June Cleaver values and a kind of 
childlike innocence, but she also possessed common sense wisdom and 
carried a kind of moral authority about her that was both subtle and 
understated--and not at all preachy or controlling. It was evident in 
her conduct and sometimes, as I've experienced on occasion, in just a 
look or a well-timed comment or two.
  I think Mike would be the first to agree that he owes much of his 
success to Jeanne. The constancy and stability she provided helped him 
stay the course in a hectic public life that often overlapped into 
their private lives, something that Jeanne had long ago adapted to and 
accommodated with grace. But the title of Honorable didn't exist at 
home. Over the years, Jeanne kept Mike grounded in her gently assertive 
way. Her moral compass always pointed north and whenever Mike needed to 
check his bearings he never needed to look any further than his 
partner. Jeanne will always remain in his thoughts--one could be 
certain of that.
  Although Jeanne was very much a part of our family for all these 
years, she never stopped being a Yoshida. She continued to be a source 
of strength and a source of support to her mother, Rose Yoshida, who 
had been so extremely proud of her eldest and only daughter . . . and 
she never stopped being a big sister to her brothers, Stanley and Dick, 
whom she remained devoted to.
  Brother Dick and daughter Michelle were Jeanne's primary care givers 
over this past year--joined of course by Mike, who rushed home when she 
took a turn for the worse, and son Mark and his bride Mekar who both 
made repeated trips from LA, and not least of all Jeanne's son-in-law, 
Travis Phillips, who shuttled back and forth from Seattle.
  In the end Jeanne was surrounded by her family and by an abiding love 
that had its genesis in that 19 year-old freshman who began dating Mike 
over 42 years ago. In a very real sense Jeanne's life had come full 
circle. She wanted to go on of course and she fought the good fight, 
devoid of self-pity and with extraordinary courage and a stubborn 
optimism. But Jeanne prevailed long before the events of the past year, 
because she had attained the only things that were important to her. 
Those life accomplishments, and the values that she instilled, will 
live on.
  You did good, Jeanne. I know I speak for everyone here, family and 
friends, when I say thank you, Jeanne. Thank you for being part of our 
lives. We're all the better for it.''
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring the 
extraordinary life of Jeanne Yoshida Honda and in extending our deepest 
sympathies to her beloved husband, our colleague, Congressman Mike 
Honda, their children and their entire family.

                          ____________________