Nobuko Fujioka was born August 19, 1929 in Watsonville, California to Katsu ("Kaku") and Masuyo Fujioka. She was raised planting and harvesting strawberries on her family's strawberry farm.
On May 15, 1942, her family was evacuated from Santa Ana County, California to the Poston, Arizona internment camp block 11-11-B. While at Poston, she encountered a desert scorpion and was injured, and enjoyed playing baseball and basketball with her friend 'B-29'. Nobuko left Poston with her family on October 15, 1945 and resettled in Santa Maria, California.
In 1948, Nobuko graduated from Santa Maria Union High School. She went to work in San Francisco, and met Reverend Paul M. Kato. In 1954, they were married in San Anselmo, California, and eventually four children were born in Sacramento, California. In 1966, the family moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, where her husband, was minister at the Salt Lake Japanese Church of Christ. Tragically, he died in an auto vs pedestrian accident in 1979 in Salt Lake City.
Nobuko was employed as a microfilm clerk for Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Utah and retired in 1987. She remained active in church serving as a Sunday School teacher, church clerk of sessions, and president of the Women's Agape group. Nobuko Kato passed away on January 27, 2005. She is preceded in death by her parents; husband, Reverend Paul Kato (1979); brothers, Tom Tamotsu (2001) and Yasuto G (2003); and sister, Sumako Rosie (1981).
She is survived by sons, Stephen (Rennae) Kato, Jason Kato; and daughters, Miriam Kato, and Eunice (John) Griffin; sister, Helen Ryoko Honbo; and brother, Henry Tetsuo.
Source: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4188/is_20050130/ai_n11500438/?tag=untagged
