Noriko (Shigeyoshi) Croker

Noriko (Shigeyoshi) Croker was born in Karenko City, Formosa on February 25, 1941; daughter of Kaichi Shigeyoshi and Fumiko Yamakawa. At age 5, her family moved back to the island of Kumejima, near Okinawa, where she attended public school, graduating from high school in 1959. She then moved to Kyoto, Japan for a few years, before moving back to Okinawa, where she worked as an office clerk at a U.S. Army base where she met and married her first husband, Walter Horn, who died in 1974, only one month after they moved to Ft. Lewis, Washington, which left Noriko alone in a new country to raise her daughter Julie who was only 4 years old.

Noriko had to learn the American way of life, like learning to drive, learning a new language and just plain surviving with basically no one to help her.

Noriko was known for her warm welcoming smile and hospitality. She enjoyed cooking, reading, planting flowers, keeping her yard looking beautiful, and most of all, raising her daughter, Julie, up the best that she could.

She met her present husband, Daniel Croker, in 2006, and in 2009 they bought a home in Spanaway, Washington, where they enjoyed keeping their yard looking beautiful and also taking trips around Washington State, Las Vegas, Texas, Kyoto Japan, Canada, Taiwan, two trips to Okinawa, and also her childhood home of Kumejima.

Noriko is survived by her husband Daniel Croker, her daughter Julie (Horn) Wray, her two sisters, Ayako and Yoshino, and her three brothers Koichi, Takeshi, and Masanobu.

There will be a graveside service at Calvary Cemetery in Tacoma, Washington on Monday, November 7, 2022 at 12:00pm.

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