Setsuko T. Choo

Ms. Setsuko “Tammy” Choo, of Buzzards Bay, passed away on January 30, 2012, 83 years young. Her life ended a seven month battle with cancer. Setsuko was born in Hawaii on August 2, 1928. She was the daughter of Kokichi and Mashi Tamashiro. As a young girl she witnessed the bombing of Pearl Harbor. She later moved to the mainland to attend college. She earned a BS degree from Kent State University and attended graduate school at Oregon State University. She returned to Hawaii to teach High School Science and become the boy’s varsity baseball coach. She then traveled to Yale to marry Arthur Choo, whom she had met in Oregon, and they moved to Massachusetts while he continued his education. Her first job in Massachusetts was in a lab studying cancer treatment with Dr. Sweet at Mass General / MIT in the 1950s. Her other professions included, co-owning the Sharon Country Store, co-founding a nursery school in Buzzards Bay, teaching life skills at the Pocasset Mental Health center, and activities director at the Cape Cod Nursing home. She was an avid gardener; however, her proudest achievement was being a mother and grandmother. She also enjoyed spending countless hours doing crafts with her grandchildren and loved all her time spent on Cape Cod. She would like to thank the numerous health care professionals that helped both her and her family during her battle with cancer. She is survived by her son Arthur Choo Jr., daughter-in-law Theresa, and grandchildren Stephanie, Victoria, and Arthur of Hingham, MA; son Victor Choo and daughter-in-law Carrie Kindler of Rome, NY; Arthur Choo Sr. of Quincy, MA; and brother Thomas Tamashiro of Idaho Falls, ID. Calling hours will be Friday, February 3, 2012, from 4 pm to 8 pm, at the Pyne-Keohane Funeral Home, 21 Emerald Street, Hingham, MA. A memorial service will be held on Saturday, February 4, 2012, at 11 am at the Hingham Congregational Church, 366 Main Street, Hingham. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in her memory to either Hospice & Palliative Care of Cape Cod, McCarthy Care Center, 73 Service Road, East Sandwich, MA 02537, or to the Massachusetts General Hospital Development Office (Cancer Center), 165 Cambridge Street, Suite 600, Boston, MA, 02114.