[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 67 (Wednesday, April 25, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5079-S5080]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     HONORING THE LIFE OF FRED OCHI

 Mr. CRAPO. Mr. President, I note the passing of a most 
distinguished and

[[Page S5080]]

talented Idaho artist and businessman, Fred I. Ochi, on February 18, 
2007. Fred lived in my hometown of Idaho Falls and was best known 
throughout Idaho and the West for his beautiful paintings; barns were 
one of the trademark subjects of his Japanese-influenced art. Although 
known for his art work, Fred's life reflected a penchant for 
perseverance, business, and appreciation of the importance of art to 
communities.
  Fred, a Japanese American, was born in California in 1913. After 
losing his mother at the young age of eight, Fred and his brother spent 
3 years in Japan living with their grandparents. He returned to 
California where he studied art and became a theatre manager in the San 
Francisco Bay area in the 1930s. He found a public place for his 
artwork back then--movie marquees of the 17 theatres he managed. Due to 
the war, Fred was evacuated from California in 1942 and moved to 
southeastern Idaho, where he managed marquees for theatres there. Fred 
was an unfortunate victim of one of the darker periods in Idaho 
history; he had to be escorted by Idaho National Guard troops when 
people organized a protest against the theatres based on Fred's 
ethnicity.
  Fred continued his life's work in Idaho Falls. He settled there in 
1943 and spent the rest of his life working there, raising his children 
with his wife Yoshiko. The man who completed 10,000 watercolors over 
the course of his lifetime opened a commercial art and sign shop, and 
was a founding member of the Idaho Falls Art Guild. In Idaho Falls, he 
served as a longtime member of the Chamber of Commerce and the Kiwanis 
Club. Fred left an indelible mark on arts in Idaho. He served as 
president of the Idaho Art Association and earned the 1998 Governors 
Award for Excellence in Art. During Idaho's State Centennial, Fred was 
named one of the ``100 Citizens Who Made a Difference for the State.''
  Fred was generous with his talent, sharing it with students of all 
ages throughout Idaho and western Wyoming. Fred's ready smile and sense 
of humor was well-known: his business cards read ``Smiling Irishman, 
Fred O'Shay.'' My sister Christine knew Fred well. Knowing of her 
interest in art, Fred would invite her to watch him work at his studio, 
the ``log hut.'' She remembers his painting style as fast and powerful; 
he used many different brushes with big brush strokes. It was 
intentional and bright, like his personality.
  Fellow Idaho Falls artist Gloria Miller Allen observed:

       I will always remember him in old white dress shirts 
     slightly spattered with paint, and with his glasses spattered 
     as well. I can still see him in his red kimono selling 
     paintings down by the river. Idaho Falls will miss this good 
     man.

  Fred's legacy lives on in his 5 children, 11 grandchildren and 2 
great-grandchildren. He will be sorely missed, and I offer his family 
my condolences and our gratitude for sharing Fred and his art and 
legacy with us all.

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