Tsugiko Thomas

Tsugiko SHINZATO was born on the first day of October 1947 in Naha, Okinawa, the largest city on that small island. She met her husband, Dennis THOMAS, a naval officer, while working at the Navy Exchange at the Marine Corps Base at Camp Hansen, where she sewed and altered military uniforms. The two dated for the year that her husband was stationed with the 3rd Medical Battalion, USMC Unit, and was then transferred to the Naval Hospital in Brooklyn, New York. Tsugi was invited to join him, did so, and in 1972, the two got married in Baltimore, Maryland.

Her husband was later transferred to Washington, D.C. to finish up a degree at George Washington University, and Tsugiko was able to pass her English-written Driver's Test and get her first Driver's License while living in Fairfax, Virginia. The couple retired from the Navy in 1982, bought a home, and moved to Florida. The first thing they did after the move was purchase the 100K coin Laundromat on East Cervantes Street in Pensacola, where Tsugi was primarily responsible for managing and operating the unit for the next 10 years while her husband was running the Modern Dry Cleaners business at 2502 West Cervantes. She later got a job at the Hampton Inn on Pensacola Beach, where she worked for another 12 years with their Housekeeping Service. Tsugi was a hard worker who always played the game straight.