Dad - part 2

So I think here goes the beginning of the obit

Born on June 7, 1918, my dad went up to Heaven on___________   The problem of dying so old is that there are no contemporaries left.  The last of his classmate from elementary school dropped dead last year, but by then dad had forgotten most of them.  Dementia is a bitch, ain't it.

Dad is the oldest of two, his sister Mary is 5 years younger.  Both parents are from Japan.  Dad was only 29 when his own father passed away from cancer.  Growing up near Little Tokyo, he went to Maryknoll Elementary School at the edge of downtown Los Angeles.  According to Mary, dad was a sickly child and did not participate in any strenuous sports, but he was a good swimmer.

  Tokujiro (Tom) Yamasaki and Taneye (Anna) Miyamoto (maiden name).  She remarried to    

     Ichisuke Kakishita about 5 years after dad died.

2.  Born:  10/18/1888   Died:  11/28/1947  Cancer of the cardiac end of the stomach

     Born:  1/1/1898       Died:  4/9/70         Tumor in the heart

3.  George education:  Maryknoll elementary, Lincoln H.S., UCLA

4.  Sports: He was sickly as a child and couldn't participate in any strenuous contact sports  Was on        the swimming team in a Japanese League

5.  Was drafted about 1943 or 44. 

6.  Living on 6th and Crocker, L.A. before going to Rohwer Camp in Arkansas

7.  Incarcerated at Santa Anita Assembly Center in the horse stables in early 1942 for a few months,      then moved to permanent quarters in Arkansas until  1944.  Our dad was picked up by the FBI on      the day of December 7, 1941, as all community, business leaders, teachers, etc.  The FBI didn't        tell us where he was taken until around Xmas time, to Missoula, Montana.  He was later cleared        of any wrongdoing and joined us in Santa Anita.  

9.  George met Fumi in Los Angeles and married around 1953.  After he was married (in Las Vegas)

     he lived upstairs from us in one of the 4-unit flats my mother owned.  Roger was about 4 years          old when he told people that "Uncle was living upstairs with a woman".

10. He worked in a carbon paper manufacturing in Chicago until he was drafted and after the war            worked for Capital Records and the paint company as a paint chemist. (Might have had other jobs      but I don't recall.  Don't remember the names, either)

My Dad

My dad is 95 1/2 and declining.  I just got home from seeing him tonight and I don't know how much longer he can hang on.  He is forgetting how to use his electric razor, and was using it as an electric toothbrush.  When I went over earlier, about 5, mom had dragged him out for a walk, with his walker, but he forgot that she told him to wait, and proceeded to try to get himself and his walker down the curb.  I am afraid my mother is going to kill him but not being observant and being too stubborn.

What do you say about a man that has been your dad.  Dad is not my biological dad.  He and mom married in 1989.  From day 1, I knew he would be DAD.  He was never Daddy George to me, maybe to my siblings.  He loves us dearly.  He loves mom like no one has ever loved.  They met after his wife passed and mom's divorce has been final for years.  It was a a ballroom dancing class that he first laid eyes on mom.

What makes him a great dad is is utter devotion to mom.  It didn't matter that she had four kids and that mom's parents didn't like Japanese.  He is 12 years older than mom, and with his body failing, mom is really lost.  Mom is legally blind and still living independently with dad nearby.  There is so much that I want to say about dad, it is hard to know where to start.

I think I should write an obit now, because it would be too hard to write once he passes.  Why is he the world's greatest dad?  He did not win any medals in World War 2, he did not get any commendations from the city of his birth, Los Angeles.  What he did, he did well.  He worked all his life, and after he retired, he and mom traveled the world.  When I had kids, he and mom would drive down and baby sit the kids so I can work.  He treated us like his own blood and mom as his queen.

He is old now, and is so forgetful, and often cannot remember his name.  But tonight I sang a Japanese song to him and he remembered and started humming along.  I will look up more Japanese songs so I can sing him a lullaby when he falls asleep.

Well, it is about time

So the last blog was in May and now it is December 15, my son Will's 20th birthday

End of the School Year

The year is almost over, and the kid is almost done with 10th grade and I am almost done in.  The first one is still in the army, and having a great time.  The second one is still amok, and not having a very good time.  Just seems like no matter what you do, the kids will do what the kids want to do.  Nature vs. Nurture theme is debated ad nauseam at this house, and we all vote for nature.  The genetics seem to win over any outside influences.  More later

Dad Alagata passing

After Chinese New Year, we thought Dad would probably last til July when the gang returns from Taiwan.  He went to the Lord last week, and Alan flew home.  It has been a very interesting week, with Kurtis off school, Alan here, and all the relatives visiting and staying with us.  Eleane also flew down from Berkeley, and stayed with us for the week.  Kurt had no school, Easter break, and Lovely taking over Alan's courses, me trying to host Ethel, mom B's sister and her daughter Ida, plus Eleane at the house has been busy to say the least.  Next week we are off to North Carolina, to see Duke and Chapel Hill.  KR will have to mind the chickens and duck and the animals while we are away.

The kid is still in Hawaii, having a great time and spending all his money.  The other kid is completely amok, called us yesterday, and we just about given up on him.