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Albert Yoshio Ouchi MA ’49

Albert Yoshio Ouchi MA ’49, May 2, 2013, in Portland. Al was enrolled at the University of Washington in 1942 when the federal government ordered him to report to the Minidoka internment camp in Idaho. During World War II, he enlisted with the 442nd Army Regimental Combat Team and went to Italy, Germany, and France, earning a Purple Heart and, he remarked, a hearing disorder. In 1946, he married Yoshie Terayama, whom he had met in Minidoka. Al completed his bachelor’s degree at Whitman College and taught high school social studies in Portland; he was greatly revered by his students. He also was the economic education coordinator for the school district and helped develop programs and textbooks for elementary students. Al was a resourceful individual, who supported his family and provided for his children’s education by taking on many additional positions, such as driving Gray Line buses on weekends. (Highlights of his work with Gray Line included teaching his passengers about the geology of the Columbia Gorge and transporting the Beatles.) Al worked for the U.S. interior department in Washington, D.C., and the Bureau of Land Management, specializing in training, evaluation, and compliance. He developed education programs for the Bureau of Indian Affairs and was superintendent at the Chemawa Indian School in Salem. In addition to completing an MA at Reed, he also did graduate work at Purdue. Al and Yoshi settled in Portland in retirement and enjoyed golfing, fishing, and traveling. Yoshie died in 2007. “Al led a long and full life with many twists and turns, but always with his own sense of direction and his own brand of humor.” Survivors include a daughter and son, two grandchildren, and a great-grandson.

Appeared in Reed magazine: December 2013