 |
| Beverly May Shimizu |
Beverly May Miyamoto (Poston block 329) was born on September 28,
1923 in La Mesa, California to Japanese immigrant parents, Otokichi and Tamayo Miyamoto. Otokichi was a farmer from Fukuoka-ken,
Japan and he left Japan and arrived at Hawaii on January 19, 1906. Tamayo immigrated in 1915.
Beverly obtained a passport to travel to
Japan to visit her grandparents on February 14, 1925. She stayed less than 6
months before returning to the U.S.
Beverly
was a 1941 graduate of Grossmont High School in La Mesa, California.
During
World War II, Beverly, Tamayo and Yukio, her brother, were forcibly evacuated
from La Mesa to the Santa Anita Assembly Center. Several months later, they were incarcerated
at the Poston Arizona concentration camp. They arrived on August 27, 1942 and
assigned to block 329 in camp 3. Yukio played the tenor saxaphone for
the camp's band, the "Music Makers. " He was also the dance band's manager. Yukio Miyamoto left Poston, Arizona on August 4, 1943 after receiving an invitation
to Chicago. Beverly and her mother departed
from Poston on October 2, 1943 and went to Chicago.
In Chicago, Beverly met and in 1948, married
Sho Shimizu. Several years later, they moved to Redondo Beach, California. In 1962, the Shimizu family moved to Anaheim. While they lived in southern California,
Beverly was employed as secretary and bookkeeper. Beverly became a member of the Anaheim Japanese
Free Methodist Church where she served as a Sunday School teacher, and participated
in the church choir.
In
1971, the Shimizu family moved to Santa Rosa where Beverly became a member of
the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church. In 1986, Beverly retired at State
Farm Insurance as a word processor. Four years later, she moved to Middletown, California
in Lake County, and attended the Middletown Bible Church. A few years later, they moved to Shady Cove, Oregon
and attended the First Church of the Nazarene in Medford. After her husband, Sho Shimizu died in 2008, Beverly
moved to Phoenix, Oregonand a few
years later, she returned to Santa Rosa.
Beverly May (Miyamoto) Shimizu died on March 20, 2011
in Santa Rosa. She was preceded in death by her husband, Sho Shimizu (2008); father,
Otokichi (1936); mother, Tamayo (1979); son, Gregory Kazuo Shimizu (1983); and brother,
Yukio William (2010).
She is survived by her daughter, Cynthia
(Robert) Bisagno of Santa Rosa; and grandchildren Naomi Bisagno of Tustin, CA and
Jessica Bisagno of Davis, CA
Source:
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/pressdemocrat/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=149893224#fbLoggedOut
