Kathy Yamamoto shows a gift from a well-wisher at her retirement party a Boise’s Basque Center last month.
After 50 years, Idaho Education Association’s most beloved advocate took a bow.
Kathy Yamamoto — veteran region director, human rights activist and mentor to hundreds of educators — was celebrated recently during a bash in her honor at Boise’s Basque Center.
“Fifty incredible years have flown by, and she has been our steadfast beacon for so, so many years,” said Jim Shackelford, former executive director of Idaho Education Association.
WATCH THE VIDEO: KATHY’S FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES SAY THANK YOU!
More than 100 former coworkers, current and retired educators, past and present school district administrators and lawmakers, and Yamamoto’s IEA colleagues traveled from around the state and beyond to pay tribute. Guest speakers included Shackelford; Dan Prinzing, the former executive director of the Wassmuth Center for Human Rights in Boise, where Yamamoto serves on the advisory board; Coby Dennis, former Boise School District superintendent; and John Stocks, former executive director of the National Education Association.
National Education Association Executive Director Kim Anderson was scheduled to attend and speak but was unable to make the trip due to illness. Stocks read from a letter Anderson sent in her stead, highlighting Yamamoto’s long commitment to creating inclusive classrooms, organizations and communities.
“Your commitment to mentoring others has impacted more staff leaders and affiliates than I can count,” she wrote. “And your commitment to human and civil rights has been ever-present and longstanding, frankly, long before it ever became an organization-wide priority.”
Yamamoto joined IEA in 1974, originally serving in the Coeur d’Alene office. Throughout her career, she placed the focus on the potential of others, encouraging IEA members to follow their ambitions, step into positions of greater responsibility and become leaders. She provided crucial support in the formation of the IEA Women and Minorities Caucus, and her work with the Wassmuth Center has been key to that organization’s success, Prinzing said.
“The one thing we knew with Kathy is that she was defined by action, not just talk,” he said.
In celebration of her years of service, friends and colleagues pitched in to present Yamamoto with an engraved paver that will be installed in front of the Wassmuth Center’s new building.
“Those of us here join people all across Idaho in saying, ‘We understand the significance of your work, and we thank you,’ ” Shackelford said.