Eggs help war spouses connect
By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer
Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser
Eileen Tokita knows what the spouses of military personnel are going through as they wait for word that their husbands or wives serving in Iraq and the Middle East are safe.
Eileen Tokita created the Proud American pin with a half quail egg and rhinestones in the design of the U.S. flag.
"I'm an ex-military wife myself, so I know what it feels like when you don't know where your husband is and you don't know when he is coming home," Tokita said.
Tokita's husband, Yuzo, was a pilot during the Vietnam War. To keep herself busy during those years, Tokita took up several hobbies, including making decorated eggs in the Faberge style.
Now she wants to help others cope with their wartime wait.
She has created what she calls a Proud American pin made from a half quail egg and decorated with Austrian rhinestones to form the design of the American flag and has decided to offer a free class to military spouses to help take their minds off their troubles.
"I have been so fortunate here in Hawai'i, so I thought what can I do as a person to give back?" she said.
The free class will be held today and will bring together about 25 military spouses at the Armed Services YMCA at Marine Corps Base Hawai'i to learn to make the pin.
Julie Aycock's husband, Lt. Col. Mark Aycock, is stationed in Kuwait. He is commanding officer of the 1st Radio Battalion, which is supporting forces in Kuwait and Iraq. The Kane'ohe-based unit has raised the Hawai'i flag above its headquarters in Kuwait and named their camp "Hale Koa," using the Hawaiian phrase for "house of warriors."
TOKITA
Aycock will be taking the egg class and thinking about her husband.
"I certainly will never forget why I made it and where I was when I made it," Aycock said. "I would hazard a guess that no one else will give theirs away either."
Aycock said the class is a great way for the spouses to get together and talk.
"A lot of people just need to get out of the house and away from the war and the television," she said. "We are all in the same boat, so when they are talking about how often they have heard from their husband, then other people speak up and say 'I haven't heard from my husband either,' and that is comforting to know that you are not the only person."
Eileen Tokita will offer public classes to make the Proud American pin at two locations: • Friday at Flora-Dec Sales, 373 N. Nimitz Highway, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. $50 for the pin. Call 537-6194 to register. • April 27 at Kapahulu Senior Center, 3410 Campbell Ave., 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. $50 for the pin or $77 for the jewelry box. Call Nancy Ching, 239-2263, or Tokita, 456-9477.
Tokita was a nightclub singer before she was married to Yuzo in 1971. When the couple was briefly stationed in Alabama in 1973 she took private lessons from another military spouse on egg decorating and she has been at it ever since.
Make your own pins
Tokita estimates that she has taught thousands of people to make art work out of egg shells in Hawai'i and worldwide. She routinely gives free classes and will teach a group of Easter Seal children to make decorated Easter eggs next week.
Also this month, Tokita is offering public classes to make the patriotic pin and an ostrich egg jewelry box with a flag on top, which she hopes people will proudly wear and use.
"For me, wearing the flag is like an indication that we are not forgetting our troops."
Reach James Gonser at jgonser@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2431.
