An Interview with Rymii Kaio
I enjoyed getting to know more about Rymii Kaio. I know her for her quiet and thoughtful presence in our community. She was a skilled Board President when I served. Rymii feels blessed to be with us and I feel blessed she is here.
What would you like to share with the community about your life?
“My parents, Edward and Pauline, met in Germany when my father was in the service. My dad worked with her German father on the base so that’s how they met.” Rymii’s grandfather took the Hawaiian service members home with him and the service members shared food with his family because they were starving after the war.”
Rymii’s parents married in February in 1951. “I was born in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1952. My father wanted to name me after his sister, Ryminhild Maria Kapena Kaio. My family calls me Kapena. I acquired the name Rymii in 6th grade when my teacher started calling me Rymii. I have a sister and had a brother fifteen years younger. He died a few years ago in the hospital with COVID. We are still very sad about losing him..”
I grew up in several different countries because my father was in the Air Force. First, we were on a base near Albuquerque, where my sister was born. Then we were in Japan and lived in Nagoya with Japanese people. All my friends were Japanese. I could speak a little Japanese at the time. My friends loved to play with my Annie Oakley paper dolls.” Rymii was five.
“After that, my father was sent to a base on Okinawa, and we lived in base housing. We lived there for three years and then were sent to Fairchild Air Force base near Spokane, Washington. After my father retired from the service, I went to high school in Spokane.”
In 1971 Rymii married Richard Maras and they had one child, Aaron. After divorcing, Rymii and Aaron moved to Seattle and lived there for forty years. Rymii worked part time for Pacific Northwest Bell when she was in high school and had several different jobs there. She was promoted several times and retired with forty-nine years of service.
“Many wonderful things happened while I worked there. I worked for the vice-president of finance, and I had to travel to Colorado a lot. I was a diversity specialist and did workshops that were three days long. I also started working with the Leadership Group, a consulting firm that
did seven day workshops. I was a lead trainer, and we taught communication skills for four days followed by organizational skills for three days. We worked with directors and their teams on organizational problems they were trying to solve. I loved doing this work"
After four years of being a consultant, Rymii went back to work in Information Technology as a project manager who worked with programmers and developed new billing systems. “I loved that work too. All this work helped me.”
“I retired in 2002. My dad had died and my mom was not doing well, so I moved from Seattle to Spokane to take care of my mom.” After Rymii’s mom died in 2016 and she settled her mom’s affairs, she decided to move to Madison to be near her son and his family.
“A moving van took my furniture and I drove to Wisconsin. I drove ten hours a day and spent the night in different cities on way to Madison. I moved to my current apartment because my son had been looking at apartments for me and he told me I should move here so we could see soccer games at Breese Stephens. I decided to rent the apartment after seeing it on video. I plan to stay here for however long I am around.”
Rymii’s son, Aaron, knows all her business and knows what she wants when she passes. “You never know when you will go. I have everything arranged. Though I hope I’m here longer, I’m prepared.”
“I love to travel. I think it is because of being in the service. I’ve been to Germany several times to see my German family. I’ve been to Ireland. I loved England. I went to Berlin right after the wall came down. I went to China for ten days with a friend and her company. I went to Hawaii in March to celebrate my sister’s 70th birthday. I hope I have it in me to travel out of the country some more.”
Rymii has traveled a bit in the U.S. as well. She loves the four corners in the southwest.” It felt so spiritual to me. I took that trip with my parents and my aunt from Germany. They loved it. My aunt had watched travelogues and that’s the reason we went. It feels so sacred and holy.”
“I have three grandsons, one fourteen and two ten year old twins, all born in June. I love them so much. A lot of my time is spent going to their sporting and musical activities. I am so happy to be here. We have such good relationships. My son walks to Shabazz High School where he is a teacher, and he calls me when he’s walking. I take my twin grandsons to jujitsu and out to dinner afterwards every week.” Rymii enjoyed taking her oldest grandson, Sal to his drum practice at Black Star Drumline and feels sad that time is past.
What brought you to Unity?
Rymii grew up Catholic. “After I graduated with a master’s degree in 1994 in Organization Development, I was looking for a community.” She missed the community her graduate program provided. “My friend, Deborah Boomer, recommended Seattle Unity. I loved it so much that I stayed until I moved.”
“I joined Spokane Unity and then Unity of Madison. I’ve been a Unity girl all this time. I can’t imagine my life without it. All these communities were so welcoming. I did board service and was a chaplain at all these places. I dearly love being a chaplain. I’ve been thinking about working in hospitality.”
What are your favorite activities at Unity?
Rymii said she loves the music, including the Unity jazz band. “We’re so fortunate that different people come and play on Sunday. I love our Youth Ed program. Kate is so amazing and creative. I worked for a while as a youth ed volunteer, and some of the kids still come and sit with me. I feel so blessed by all of that.”
Is there anything you’d like to see Unity do that would make your experience even better?
“I think continuing to have events where we socialize and social justice events are very important. And keep supporting the youth ed program. I love Rev. Debra and Don. We are blessed that they came to our church. Whatever we need to do to keep her happy, we should do it!”