Obituary: Jordan, Isamu Lee
Born in Spokane, September 28, 1975, Som graduated from Lewis and Clark High School in 1993.
He was one of the first writers for The Spokesman-Review’s Our Generation page, bringing voice to the issues and lives of Spokane teenagers.
He attended Washington State University and returned to The Spokesman-Review, eventually landing his dream job as a music writer.
A gifted musician, Som played with the band The Dead Casuals and performed as a rapper before helping to found the hip-hop orchestra, Flying Spiders.
After leaving The Spokesman-Review in 2008, he continued writing and performing as a poet and rapper.
He was a unique civic leader who inspired young people and others, speaking in schools and at community events.
He later taught as an adjunct at Whitworth University and worked as a DJ.
He was known for his electric smile, for his Flash sweatshirt and for his love of comic books, Magic cards and Yu Yu Hakusho.
He was hailed for the generosity with which he treated other musicians and fans.
As a songwriter, he challenged Spokane to look hard at itself, with searing social commentary served up with equal doses of love and rhyme.
Revered and respected throughout Spokane, Som saw music as a way to bring people together.
His great passion in life was his family and he will be deeply missed by his wife of twelve years, Rachel, and their beloved sons, Caleb and Osiah, who loved watching late-night movies and playing games with their dad.
Som was preceded in death by his mother, Tangi, and his father-in-law Rick Shulman.
In addition to his wife and sons, he is survived by the grandmother who raised him, Carrie Jordan, by numerous Jordan aunts, uncles and a vast extended family; by his mother-in-law Yvonne Shulman and the whole Shulman family, by his father, Charles Knight, and by a list of friends too long to name.
In lieu of flowers, an education fund for Rachel and Som’s sons has been established at Washington Trust Bank, accessed through www.fundrazr.com (search Isamu Jordan).
A public service and celebration of his life will be held Sunday, September 15, at 1:00 p.m., at The Bing Crosby Theater.
As Som wrote in one song, “I rest peacefully/and my whole family’s proud of me.”
Rest now, Som.