Irene Yukie (Kubota) Neves passed away June 22, 2024, in New York City at the age of 91. She was born November 12, 1932 in Metaline Falls, Washington. Her parents, George and Nobuko Kubota, were Japanese immigrants from Hiroshima, Japan. She was the youngest of seven children.

Irene spent her childhood years in that small town and graduated from Metaline Falls High School. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor she witnessed her father being taken into custody by the FBI, but released immediately at the request of the mayor and town leaders. Irene loved the people in the community and kept in contact over the years with many after she moved to the East Coast. She graduated from the University of Washington. For a time, she was married to a jazz musician who she met at UW. She remained a lifelong jazz enthusiast.

After living in Puerto Rico and Boston for a few years, she moved to New York and began work with Life magazine in the copy room and then as a reporter where she contributed to the coverage of Winston Churchill’s funeral, Pope Paul IV’s visit to New York and the 1969 Woodstock music festival. In 1974 she moved on to People magazine, where she started as a researcher and then the deputy chief of correspondents. She worked there many years until retiring, maintaining relationships with many of her coworkers.

Irene lived in New York City in the same building for more than 60 years and made the West Village seem like a small town in the middle of the Big Apple, forging lasting friendships with many of the shop owners and her neighbors. She passionately participated in efforts for women’s rights and human rights. She travelled to many places with her close friends working on these important issues.

Family was also so important to Irene. She visited her family in Metaline Falls in the summer and at Christmas and went home for an extended time to help when her mother and father were ill. Even though she only saw her nieces and nephews for a short time each year, she had an impact on them and their friends.

She was the “very cool and stylish aunt from New York.” She was a gifted photographer who would take photos of her nieces and nephews and their friends at various sporting events and then send pictures to them all. At Christmas she would make her signature spritz cookies, wrap up many plates and distribute them to family friends, an opportunity to catch up and see how everyone was doing. She also made the Christmas cookies for all her many friends in New York.

Irene had a gift for people. Whether a first-time acquaintance or a lifelong friend or family member, she made you feel important and seen. She was curious and inquisitive, and genuinely wanted to hear about you. To close friends she was a sophisticated but never intimidating conversationalist with a robust and sometimes wicked sense of humor. She was always grateful for the special friendships and experiences that life gave to her. She will be deeply missed by all.