GREELEY — Bob Tokuyasu had no interest in selling the land that takes in the confluence of the South Platte and Cache la Poudre rivers until Robert Henry showed him the Tower of Compassion in Kanemoto Park in Longmont.
The tower and park were a gift to the residents of Longmont in 1973, intended to show appreciation for the empathy the community showed for the Kanemotos and other families of Japanese descent, particularly during World War II, a period of extreme xenophobia that Tokuyasu’s own family had experienced.
Henry was a friend and enthusiastic client of Tokuyasu’s welding skills. He also ran his own business preparing grain for storage from his friend’s property and loved to take his lunch a few hundred yards from the shop to where the rivers melt together…