Sumi (Kitahata) Ujimori (1924 - 2016)
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| Sumi Ujimori |
Sumi Kitahata (Poston 318-11-C) was born in
September 1924 in Reedley, California to Japanese immigrants, Kintaro and
Kachiko (Obara) Kitahata. She was raised in Reedley, California. After the signing of Executive Order 9066, she
was forcibly evacuated with her parents and siblings to the Poston, Arizona
concentration camp 3. They arrived on August
6, 1942. On November 16, 1943, she found a job and departed for Shaker
Heights Ohio, leaving her family behind at Poston. In June and September 1945,
her parents and siblings left Poston and departed for Cleveland, Ohio.
She
married Tamio Ujimori in 1952 in Los Angeles, California and was employed as an
electrical designer for 30 years in Los Angeles County.
Sumi Ujimori, 91, died following
complications after surgery on June 18, 2016 at the San Antonio Regional
Hospital in Upland, California. She was predeceased by her brothers Henry and
Ben Kitahata; and sisters Sunny Otani and Taye Umade.
She is survived by her friend and former
spouse, Michael Hadley; her sisters, Tomi Tanaka and Aiko (Hide) Matsuno; children,
Miyoko Pruitt, Helyne (Kent) Noyes, and George Ujimori; granddaughter, Sheri
Yamasaki (Steven Kim); great-grandson, Tyler Yamasaki Kim; and many nieces and
nephews.
