October is Friendship Month at the YMCA of Snohomish County, and no one embodied the meaning of friendship more than Tomoko Bryant.

Tomoko, a longtime group exercise instructor at the Mill Creek Family YMCA, passed away in June after a courageous battle with cancer. Her colleagues describe a loss that is felt in big and small ways, and a legacy that shows up in nearly every corner of the Y.

"There are very few programs, classes or events at the Y that I don't associate Tomoko with," says Anneke Matray, a fellow Well-Being Instructor at the Mill Creek Family YMCA. "She gave her heart and soul into everything she did for the Y. She helped make things fun but also to mean something."

For Kaylene Brewer, Personal Trainer and Well-Being Instructor at the Mill Creek Family YMCA, the friendship began with one Zumba class in 2010. "I thought I was simply going to a workout," she says. "I had no idea I was about to meet my best friend." Together, they built traditions that became the heart of the Mill Creek Y, including the Zumba Eve Cheer, which started as a Sunday afternoon class with donations and grew into the branch's largest fundraiser. Today it draws 100 or more dancers, including people from other Ys and gyms, and kicks off the annual Community Campaign. It has even outlasted a pandemic: when the Y closed in 2020, Tomoko moved it online.

Sara Thompson, Health and Well-Being Director of the Mill Creek Family YMCA, says Tomoko's drive came from believing people deserved the best. "She really truly wanted excellence," Sara says. "And she's a huge part of why Mill Creek's group exercise program is so good." Tomoko mentored new instructors for hours at a time, even when it had nothing to do with her own classes. "She was just very kind and generous with her time, not just with members, but also with other staff," Sara says. During the pandemic, she led Zumba and TRX workouts online and answered every comment on social media, and Sara believes that kept members connected and helped bring many of them back.

The instructors she mentored carry her influence into every class they teach. Anneke first met Tomoko as a student in her Hot Hula class and later became an instructor because of her. "Before I started teaching, I couldn't even speak in public without stammering and having my voice shake," Anneke says. "Now I can teach classes of 100 people. I have a confidence I never did before." Anneke still dresses in costume before Halloween and invites students to wear their team spirit wear, a habit she picked up from Tomoko. "There's not a day that goes by that I don't ask myself what Tomoko would do in a certain situation."

Tomoko's friendships reached well beyond the Y. For over a decade she traveled to Portland for the Pink Warrior PDX Zumbathon, a breast cancer awareness event, eventually leading a team of about 15 members and staff and organizing the weekend so they could bond outside the Y. This year will be the first year Tomoko won’t be there. The Y community will carry on the tradition in her honor.

Her colleagues say the traditions are only part of what she left behind. "To Tomoko, you were never just someone who came to her class," Kaylene says. "Before long, you were her friend." She noticed when someone hadn't been to class, celebrated birthdays and milestones, and made newcomers feel they belonged.

"What we do at the Y is about so much more than fitness," Kaylene says. "It is about connection. Tomoko lived that every single day."

Sara describes the spirit simply: "showing up for yourself and each other and coming together." Kaylene says Tomoko is still everywhere. "She is in the traditions that continue, the friendships that began in her classes, the instructors she inspired, and the community that still shows up for one another."

"Tomoko was everything the Y hopes to be," Kaylene says. "She brought people together, made them feel loved and included, and left her community better than she found it."