Amy T. Tamura, of Oak Ridge, passed away Wednesday, July 1, 2015.
Amy grew up in Hawaii, where she attended the University of Hawaii and received degrees in chemistry. Her first job as a chemist was with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. She worked on the Oriental Fruit Fly Investigation. During World War II, fruit flies had invaded the Hawaiian Islands from southern islands. They were attacking and destroying crops.
Amy’s second job was with the University of Wisconsin’s Zoology Department. She worked in the area of endocrinology during the time that her husband was there completing his PhD in soil chemistry.
Amy remained home while her three sons were growing up. When the youngest son graduated from high school, she applied for a job as a chemist with the U.S. Civil Service. While waiting to hear from them, she audited courses in chemistry at the University of Tennessee and also took language classes in Japanese and Chinese. An offer for a chemist position came in 1980 from the Department of Energy at the Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI). She worked there for 17 years.
Read the full obituary here.
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