Shizuko Omiya

Shizuko was born on March 26, 1930 in Yokohama, Japan and passed away at her daughter Nancy’s home in Benicia, CA on Tuesday, June 12, 2018. Shizuko was the daughter of Nobuo and Ine Akimoto. She was the oldest of four children with sister Setsko (deceased), brother Junichi (deceased) and youngest sister Katsuko, who is still living in Japan with her husband and children.

Shizuko had four children and ten grandchildren and one great grandchild. Her first born, John Stout has a daughter, Amoreena Stout. Her daughter Linda Freeman has a son Noah Freeman, who is Shizuko’s first grandson. Noah’s son, Forrest Freeman is Shizuko’s only great grandson. Her daughter Barbara Patrick has four children: Raime Patrick, Chelsea, Cameron and Angel Smith. Her daughter Nancy Stout has four children: Joshua Chavanne, Bergen, Donovan and Orion Kimenker

Shizuko was a mother, grandmother and homemaker. She worked at Miyako’s restaurant in Pasadena for many years, as well as other Japanese Restaurants. Her other skills included modeling and flower arrangements. Shizuko had a lifelong love of music, especially the Beatles “Let it Be”. She loved cooking, shopping, crocheting, origami. Cooking for others gave her such pleasure, as this was her way of showing her love through the simple enjoyment of a meal. Traveling in the RV across the country with her husband Richard gave her great joy. They also took trips to Hawaii and Japan.

Shizuko loved her family, had a kind heart and always lived her life with a great sense of dignity and decency, during both the hard and good times. She was the most generous lady, who would always offer food when someone visited and packed a little bag of goodies for everyone as they left. She was dainty, warm-hearted, and a very strong woman.

Her beloved husband Richard Yoshio Omiya was born on April 22, 1930 and passed away on Friday June 30, 2017 at their home in La Verne, CA. His parents were Hajime and Hatsuno Omiya, immigrants in the 1920’s from Miyagi prefecture in Japan. He died suddenly of heart failure at the age of 87.

Richard had nine brothers and sisters; he was the fourth oldest. He lived longer than any other brother or his own father. Richard’s siblings: Kazuo (deceased), Shoichi (deceased), Henry (deceased), Edna (Mukai) (surviving), Clarence (surviving), Shige (deceased), Naomi (Venables) (surviving), Charles (surviving), Jean (Nohara) (surviving). Richard had two children. His first born is his son Elliot H. Omiya (EHO) and his daughter Cindy Omiya.

Richard went to McKinley High School in Honolulu and graduated from UC Berkeley in Electrical Engineering. He worked at General Dynamics for most of his career with a small stint at Aerojet. Richard was a lifelong avid deep sea fisherman and organized many long range trips to Mexico on the Searcher and Shogun. He was a fixture at Yo’s tackle shop in Gardena and hand wrapped many Sabre rods in his garage. Some say his rods were as good as Yo’s. In his 50’s, Richard became a dedicated hiker, training on Mt. Baldy and hiking many area peaks and the Grand Canyon. Richard and Shizuko met in Pomona, CA in 1984. They were married in Las Vegas, Nevada on December 23, 1985. They were married until his passing on June 30, 2017. They shared thirty-four happy years together, which included fine dining, long walks together, traveling across the country in their RV, and flying to Hawaii and Japan with his son Elliot and wife Theresa Lovering-Brown. Richard loved classical music and Shizuko loved pop music. Both were creative in different ways. Richard enjoyed volunteering at the computer club in La Verne and Shizuko loved to draw still life. In the later years, Richard became Shizuko’s caregiver and did all the cooking and shopping. His brother Charles and his wife Judy Omiya contributed many holiday meals and weekly visits to help support Richard with the cooking.

Services for both will be held in San Pedro, CA by “Ashes by the Sea “on Saturday, July 14, 2018 at 10:30am. Their ashes will be scattered together in the Pacific Ocean. We will be carrying out their final wishes as they had planned.

They were both loved very much by both families and will be greatly missed.