Summer drives from the Pacific Northwest to visit with my Uncle Shig and Aunt Esther in Los Angeles will always be a cherished memory of my childhood. I was always excited to see them and my cousin Carol. Uncle Shig was unfailingly polite and genial, and though he wasn’t one for long conversations, he never missed much. After growing up and moving to LA, I realized how smart he was—he could talk about pretty much any subject. In 2010, I was so proud of him, dressed in full graduate regalia when he received his Honorary B.S. degree from UCLA, nearly 70 years after being forced to leave the university, prior to World War Two incarceration for Americans of Japanese ancestry. That afternoon at UCLA was a wonderful, historic moment. So many Nisei have passed on, but their accomplishments, and the family legacies they have left will always be with us. Thank you, Uncle Shig.

My grandpa was always a very stoic man, and he could be hard to read at times, but you could always tell he cared deeply for his family and friends.  The best example of this I can remember is how he treated our family's dog, Toshi.  He always referred to him as "that stupid dog, and always wondered why we bother spending so much time taking care of him.

I know my mom asked him to come by during the day when everyone was at work or school so he could take Toshi out for a short walk.  I will never forget coming home early one day from school and catching my grandpa and Toshi running around and playing in the backyard together.  My grandpa was laughing and that dog was always so happy to see him every time.  

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Dad loved his grandsons.  As his dementia worsened, the only thing he remembered were Bobby and Stevie and asked me about them for hours. I was fortunate to be able to talk to him at the hospital a few days before he passed and became unconscious. He was very lucid and so enjoyed looking at the wedding pictures on my phone of Bobby and Belinda.  He said, “what a beautiful couple”.  He asked about Stevie and was glad that he was doing well.  He remembered he owned a condo, which is something he forgot a long time ago.  Then he said, “You know you could pay for a little bigger apartment for me than this – this is so small.”  I told him he was in the hospital, and he said, “No way, I’m fine, it’s just a little small.”   I was glad Dad was comfortable.
Dad was a gentle funny guy.  He lived a good long life. After he retired, he was able to travel the world, take his walks to UCLA, read a lot, do crossword puzzles, Sudoku, spend time with family, and just putter. I miss him a lot, but he told me he had lived long enough and was ready to go. He is at peace now and hopefully looking down with that big grin. I love you, Dad.



PAGE 1
My dad was a gentle soul and not a very verbal person.  Most people thought he was always in his own world, which was sometimes true.  But often he was observing what was going on around him and would spend a lot of time thinking about things. When I was waiting for college acceptances or rejections to come in, I told my dad that if the envelope was small that would be a rejection and the thick envelopes were acceptances.  One day I was sitting in our living room and true to his non-verbal way, he didn’t say anything – just started dancing, jumping up and down and twirling. I thought he had lost his mind. He had a huge grin on his face and held up a thick envelope; it was an acceptance from Stanford.  He didn’t say, “Congratulations” or “Great job”, he just danced and grinned.
I applied to medical school before I realized that I passed out every time I saw blood and being a doctor was not in the cards. After I returned from one of the interviews, I saw a letter on my dad’s desk. It started out, “Dear Medical School Admission Office, my daughter is a very bright young woman, but I think she inherited my inability to express myself verbally.  I feel badly that she inherited this flaw from me but please disregard the interview if she can’t express herself well.”   I knew he did that out of love, but I wanted to strangle him.  I never told him where I was going for other interviews.  Thankfully when I went to graduate school, they didn’t require interviews.
Jon and I would take my folks on vacations with us, especially cruises. Dad loved cruises. Once Bobby and Stevie were born all of us would go together to Hawaii, Mexico, San Diego, Palm Springs, Oregon and other places. My dad had such a good time travelling with us.



When I was in elementary school, I spent a lot of time with my grandpa.  We would watch Dodgers games together; he even took me to a Dodgers game which was exciting.  That may have been what got me interested in playing baseball.  When I was 12, I joined a Little League team at Barrington Park not far from where Grandpa lived.  I also played baseball in middle and high school.
As a child, I would get excited about eating lunch with Grandpa because he would take me to places like Jack in the Box, Sizzler's, and the sandwich place at the Mobil Gas Station.  As I got older, I realized that these places were conveniently located close to his condo, which is why we went there.  As a kid i thought it was great.
I played saxophone in the jazz band in high school.  Grandpa and Sadie made it to every one of my concerts.  My school would take over an entire restaurant and we would play.  I don't know that Grandpa liked jazz that much but he never missed a concert.
Grandpa and Sadie attended my high school graduation. Larry David of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" was our speaker. He was hilarious and the best graduation speaker I've ever heard. Grandpa laughed so hard and really enjoyed it. He was still grinning after it was over.
I loved my grandpa and miss his smile, our funny lunches together and will never forget how much he loved his grandsons.

I first met Shig in 1975 when he dropped Carol off for a college summer program.  I believed that he looked past my long hair, beard, worn clothes and flip-flops while we got acquainted over the course of the afternoon before his drive back to L.A..  Turns out he was acutely aware of my 70s student pseudo-hippie look but he made a point of telling Carol that appearance wasn’t as important as character.  I’d like to think that was a compliment.  Maybe it was a disclaimer.  Regardless, over the following 47 years Shig demonstrated his own solid and wonderful character as a man whose greatest joy was his family, especially his grandchildren.  A very close second in the joy category was Vegas, especially the slot machines.  In addition to the countless family trips to Vegas and many vacations he was a constant presence in the lives of his grandchildren, reading to them, picking them up and taking them out to eat after school, constantly giving them advice on their education employment, marriage – the big things.  That his advice was a bit dated didn’t matter – it held up well and I know they appreciated it.  He was a wonderful father, father-in-law, grandfather, and role model for all.  I believe that he did more dining out, traveling, cruising, and far, far more gambling in his 80s-90s than I will ever do in my lifetime.  He lived a great life and he deserved it. 

I loved seeing Uncle Shig every year for the holidays and the occasional family gathering. As my Great Uncle, he was someone I looked up to, figuratively and literally. He was one of the tallest people in our family! He's also one of the reasons I became an engineer. I loved that he could solve math problems in his head within seconds. I wanted to be just as smart as him. I'll always remember Uncle Shig's booming voice asking how I'm doing at Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year's, and his mischievous grin when he found something funny.  

One of my favorite memories of Uncle Shig doesn't include me, but my grandparents, Shig's brother and sister-in-law. Before my grandparents passed they would get lunch with Uncle Shig almost every week. When I would visit my grandparents they always told me about the good food they ate together and how much time Uncle Shig had spent at their house. I could see how much my grandfather loved spending time with his brother. 

Uncle Shig provided me with some great memories from our yearly holiday dinner meetings. The first time we met, although I was a stranger to him, he made me feel welcome with his genuine interest in me - every 15 minutes. He'd ask who I was and what I did. I'd tell him that I'm with Cami and that I was studying engineering. His face would light up and he'd ask what kind of engineering. I'd tell him I was studying mechanical engineering and he'd acknowledge, following up by proudly proclaiming that he was a civil engineer.  We'd get silent, but a comfortable sort of silent, basking in the glory of our shared intellect. Then, 15 minutes later that same conversation would happen again. I loved his continuous enthusiasm and I now I miss it dearly.

Later on, I believe he became more familiar with me because the introduction conversation ceased. Instead, a new conversation topic came up which I don't miss as much. He'd ask Cami to hold up her left hand. She'd comply. He'd then look at me, hold up his left hand, and point at his left ring finger with an incredulous look on his face. He'd ask where the ring was and Cami would graciously explain that there was no ring. To which Shig would invariably respond by saying she needed to dump this "one" and get a new guy who was serious. This time when it would get silent, Uncle Shig would look smug knowing he'd made a good joke at my expense. I'd hope that someone else would break the silence because if not he'd be back at it again 15 minutes later.

I sadly didn't know Uncle Shig for long or in his prime, but the Uncle Shig I knew was a kind man with a great heart - someone I aspire to be like.

Uncle Shig was a character. During my childhood family visits invariably he would burst out “Dog gone it I should’ve held onto that IBM stock!” and laugh. While an engineer at DWP he had a reputation of being able to perform math calculations in his head faster than anyone else. He was amazing. I loved those Thanksgiving dinners hosted by Uncle Shig and Auntie Esther with the rest of the family. They are some of my happiest childhood memories. 

Continued from Page 1 of Michi's Memory:

As an adult I sometimes flew to LA. Uncle Shig was my driver. That began some hair- raising trips around downtown Los Angeles. He was retired by then and was ready and willing to drive wherever I wanted to be.  Regardless, we made it safely to the Getty Museum. He made a point of showing me the exhibits at the Japanese American Museum because there was a photograph with my dad, and there was a rebuilt barracks from Heart Mountain, Wyoming where my parents and I were interned during the war. Our Uncle Shig was a caring, thoughtful man who did his best to share himself with those he loved. 

My real memories of Uncle Shig began when my mother took us to Cleveland, Ohio, one summer. I was nine years old, and my brothers were 7 and 4. That was the first time my brothers had ever met Uncle Shig.  They were impressed with his height because our family was much shorter. He wanted us to enjoy our time there, so he took us to Lake Erie several times. Those trips always included a picnic basket filled with delicious food. Another time he made sure we visited President Garfield’s home even though we did not know who President Garfield was.  My brothers and I sometimes stayed in Uncle Shig’s and Auntie Esther’s apartment. I was impressed with the bed that was folded up in the wall.   We had relatives in Cleveland that we had never met. Uncle Shig wanted us to get to know them and drove us to our Auntie Hisaye’s house where we stayed a few nights in her attic. We played with our cousin Donna for the first time. That was a huge house. We were able to play all over it, even in the basement which was a little scary. Uncle Shig and Auntie Esther finally moved to Los Angeles which made my mother happy because all her family were in the same state. By then we had moved to Monterey and only visited LA for two weeks in the summer. Uncle Shig was very protective of his whole family, including his nieces and nephews. I was a recipient of his care when I spent a summer with him and Auntie Esther and Cousin Carol. I had taken a job in LA and he made sure that I knew how to get to there and back on public transportation. He was also tasked with acting as a chaperone when my one male visitor came to call. That was my future husband Gene who was stationed at Camp Pendleton at the time. Uncle Shig cautioned me that I was a little young, 17 years old, to be seeing him. Gene was only 22, but he was considered too old. Uncle Shig was doing his best to protect me. 

Shigeo Yuge was my uncle, Uncle Shig. I think few people know that when my wife, Alice, and I were married we needed to rent a car for our honeymoon. As we were just starting out in life, we didn't have the required credit card to rent a car. Uncle Shig saved the day by providing a credit card to guarantee the rental for which we, of course, paid when the car was returned.

Early in married life I was looking for a better job and out of the blue Uncle Shig sent me a job description and application for an entry level position for the City of Los Angeles in which he thought I might be interested. I took the civil service exam and eventually ended up getting a job with the City Clerk's Office. As such he was a huge influence on me which led to my retirement 34 years later.

Thank you and rest in peace Uncle Shig.

i loved Uncle Shig, except when he was driving? He seemed to be in a big hurry to get to point A and he would accelerate and rush forward and then brake, brake, brake!  But outside of the car he was always good humored and calm. He was always curious about what was going on in your life.  He was a realist and knew that a good job meant security and he wanted that for you.
He was a letter and note writer, not a trait you often see in men. He wrote with insight, humor, and compassion and I always appreciated that he took the time; it showed he was a caring person.
He loved family.  I noted that he had affectionate feelings for his sisters and brother. He was nostalgic about places and times gone by.
I was always happy to be in his company and comfortable. Except maybe at a restaurant that he thought was over priced.  LOL. A survivor of the depression, I don't think he could see the sense of spending a lot on fancy food when a plate of his mom's pork rib sauerkraut and potatoes was an alternative, or rice and okazu. 
He had personality and joie de vivre which I hope I can emulate  if I live as long as he did.  He was a good man.
Peace on your journey forward Uncle Shig.  Love Ann 

OBITUARY

Shigeo Yuge

13 October, 1922 – 30 August, 2022

Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park & Mortuary

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