Yoshie (Tobe) Good

Yoshie (Tobe) Good died peacefully in her home at age 93 on September 29, 2025. Her memorial service will be held at 2:30 p.m. on Friday, October 3, 2025 in the Ferguson Funeral Home Chapel.

Yoshie was born in Chiba, Japan in 1932, the second of ten siblings. Her parents, Shinzo and Kono Tobe, were agricultural landowners who raised silkworms before World War II but then suffered greatly during the war. Yoshie's many siblings remember her as studious, capable, kind, caring, and strict.

After graduating high school Yoshie studied to become a Bible School instructor. There she met missionaries; Mr. and Mrs. Huttenlocher, and started working for them as a housekeeper. Japan was economically declined after the war and as Yoshie learned more about America from the Huttenlochers she yearned to move there. So, she began to study traditional Japanese Ikebana flower arranging. The Huttenlochers agreed to sponsor her to come work for them in the United States. Yoshie came and assisted Mrs. Huttenlocher who was an editor for the magazine, Better Homes and Gardens. The magazine appreciated the Japanese crafts and unique ideas Yoshie brought. The Huttenlochers encouraged Yoshie to enroll at Drake University where she received a degree in Art.

At Drake, she met Leonard Phelps Good, who was chair of the Drake Art Department at the time. They married on November 26, 1970, and they shared 30 years together until Leonard’s passing in 2000 at the age of 94.

Her siblings recall that Yoshie was concerned about her family back in Japan and would mail items that were unusual in Japan such as chocolates, snacks, and money.

In 1977, Leonard and Yoshie moved back to Chickasha (where he was born) and built their unique home neighboring the old Good homestead. In the 70's and 80's, Yoshie worked at Mui Designs Orient, a luxury interior design, furniture and clothing store in Oklahoma City. Over the years of their marriage, Yoshie organized exhibits of Leonard's artwork including a postmortem exhibit in Japan in 2007.

In her later years, Yoshie was very active in the Chickasha First Presbyterian Church, where she was involved in Sunday School and decorating with origami and many Ikebana flower arrangements. She loved to garden. She had Japanese plum trees and many flowers, that bloom throughout the warm seasons, in her lush yard. Yoshie was beloved by many in the community, who would comment and ask after "Sunshine", her Japanese speaking doll.

She was preceded in death by her parents and husband Leonard Phelps Good.

Yoshie is survived by five of her siblings and her stepson, Leonard Jacob Good. Her siblings say she never regretted leaving Japan and she lived life in her own way.

Yoshie’s memorial service will be recorded and uploaded to our website in the days following the service, please check back at a later time to watch it here Ferguson Funeral Home | Chickasha, OK.

The memorial service and cremation arrangements are under the direction of Ferguson Funeral Home. Burial of her cremains will be in Rose Hill Cemetery.